UC Merced

Increased immigration in the late nineteenth century and the boom of industrialcapitalism by the turn of the twentieth century revolutionized the Southwestern region of the United States, most notably the state of Colorado. Furthermore, this boom diversified the region’s people, capitalist industries, and strengthened political strongholds in the West, which hastened the establishment of the U.S.’s industrial, and urban infrastructures. The increase in population and industrialization of the state, prompted the evolution of Colorado’s built environment, provoking the expansion of its cities and a transformation in architectural functions and aesthetics. These urban and spatial changes altered the usage and construction of Colorado structures, which fostered significant change within ethnic communities, specifically Mexican and Mexican American communities. A critical analysis of these structural, architectural, and spatial changes illuminates the processes of urban growth and the consequences of industrialization. These consequences included, but were not limited to, the formation and perpetuation of a discriminatory racial ideology, which permeated the major labor systems of the region; the displacement of ethnic communities; and the instigation of violence for the sake of progress and monetary gain. Furthermore, the processes of industrial and architectural change disenfranchised Mexican and Mexican American communities by stripping them of their communal and spatial cohesion, while simultaneously trying to erase their culture and practices of everyday life. I argue these consequences and effects of industrial capitalism, along with the movement and formation of communities, and the dramatic and complex transition from rural enclaves to modernized cities and industrial complexes adversely affected the development, and survival of Mexican and Mexican American communities of Colorado. I will delineate the indelible effects of industrial capitalism on Colorado’s built environment and its ethnic communities by exploring the establishment and evolution of Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad, between the years of 1880 and 1920. I will also analyze the tapestry of labor, community and space and their interconnections to show a holistic overview of how industrial capitalism shaped Colorado. By putting the transformation of the state’s built environment at the forefront and using spatial relationships and spatial analysis as analytical tools, this dissertation reveals the histories of the rise of industrial capitalism, the everyday actions of people, the creation of interethnic relationships, and the formation of community to be mutually constitutive.