Vanishing Colorado: Hi U Inn Cowboy

For decades, this 30-foot tall friendly cowboy has welcomed workers to the Hi-U Inn in Commerce City, a blue-collar industrial sector northeast of Denver. Newcomers to the sanitized instant suburban neighborhoods sprouting up in Commerce City want to change the town’s name – to something less “industrial.” But the old-timers think the current name, reflective of the calloused hands and dirty fingernail work at the refinery, the commercial bakery, the tractor-trailer maintenance and sales lots and the giant grain elevators over the years, is just fine. Commerce City is already attracting new development – with its original name – including the new home for Colorado’s pro soccer team and headquarters for the Colorado Crush arena football squad. But the big question: will the Hi U Inn Cowboy survive? Photo © 2006 Richard J. Schneider

Vanishing Colorado: Bennett Elevator

Sunset at the Bennett Branch of the Roggin Farmers Elevator Association. How long can it hold on? Click on picture for larger image. Photo © 2006 Richard J. Schneider

Vanishing Colorado: Reclamation

Earth races with subdivision developers to reclaim this abandonded right-of-way on the eastern edge of Lafayette, a mile or two from one of my favorite independent coffee shops. Click on picture for larger image. Photo © 2005 Richard J. Schneider

Vanishing Colorado: Way Out East Mansfield Ave

Drive out east of Denver, along Quincy Avenue, past the racetrack and Aurora Reservoir, just this side of Kansas, and gaze upon the rolling prairie. In a few years, some of us will be living in subdivison houses along Way Out East Mansfield Avenue, where the prairie used to be. Click on picture for larger image. Photo © 2005 Richard J. Schneider

Vanishing Colorado: Larkspur Farm

This old farm, rapidly wasting away along with the farm and ranch industry that built it, awaits its inevitable decay in the Larkspur area between Denver and Colorado Springs. Click on picture for larger image. Photo © 2005 Richard J. Schneider