Community Activist - Sarah Wolf

“The highways ruined Globeville,” Sarah Wolf explained.“Before the highways, Globeville was the best place in the world. We had people from all over the world - Austrians, Swedes, Germans, Russians, Polacks, Irish and one black family - and we all got along.” 
For years, rumors about construction of interstate highways were whispered and debated. In 1950, the Valley Highway (I-25) sliced off the western edge of the neighborhood, and in 1960 work began on I-70, the east-west thoroughfare that cut through the heart of the community. Battling the Valley Highway led to Sarah’s first experience fighting the city.  
“We had meetings at St. Jacob’s Hall, at churches, businesses and at city hall. When it’s your home, you have to stand up.” The neighbors even hired lawyers, but the decision to build the freeways through Globeville had been made long ago. Construction began and many long-time residents moved away. Not Sarah Wolf. “I was born in this house.” 
The house was built by her father, John Wolf. Sarah had a faraway look in her eyes.“My dad worked for the Globe Smelter for a dollar a day, using a wheelbarrow to move ore around. He worked nights, and during the day, he built this house. As soon as he saved a little money, he sent for other family members from the old country. My dad’s family and my mother’s family were all here and we all lived on Leaf Court.
“When they were in Russia, they had no say about their lives and had to answer to the czar. In this country, my dad, a poor immigrant, was elected a trustee of Globeville. He really liked having a say in making his town a good place to live.” 
Sarah inherited her father’s pride in his community as well as his talent for organizing. When plans to enlarge the Mousetrap were revealed in the mid 1970s, ramps to the neighborhood had been eliminated. Sarah’s voice rose. “Globeville would be cut off. There would be no access for the people who live here, fire trucks and ambulances would take longer to answer calls, and trucks would have to go through the neighborhood to get to their plants. 
“We held meetings at the churches, the lodges and the Globeville Civic Association. I persuaded the presidents of Noble Sysco and Anheuser Busch to write letters, and I got Councilmen Eugene DiManna and State Representative Ted Bendelow involved.” 
The letters and meetings paid off.
A bridge at 48th Avenue to the Pecos Street interchange was built and dedicated on August 30, 1978. Shortly after the bridge opened, Sarah’s neighbors petitioned the city to have the bridge named in her honor. In 1988, their wish was granted by Mayor Federico Peña. A bronze plaque that read “Sarah’s Bridge” was embedded in the base on the east side. The plaque represents much of what Sarah believed: that in America, an immigrant can make good, that persistence can prevail, and that the city government can be held accountable to all its citizens.   

 

The family of John Wolf about 1914.
Front row, left to right, Grandfather Peter Wolf, David,
John Wolf Sr., Sarah, Ann Marie (nee Kilthau).
Standing, left to right, Christine, Katherine, Adam, John and Hulda.
Used with written permission from Sarah Wolf.

Dedication ceremony, August 30, 1978
Left to right, Councilman Larry Perry, Councilman Sal Carpio,
Sarah Wolf and Manager of Public Works Harold Cook,
Used with written permission from Sarah Wolf.

 

Carpio Sanguinette Park

Pioneers. When brothers William and Louis Sanguinette arrived in 1876, the area was open prairie, populated by the Arapaho, Cheyenne and a few farmers. The brothers were soon joined by their father Peter, who purchased 10 acres of land from homesteader William H. Clark, and began building a home for their large, extended family. (Louis and his wife Mary had 14 children). Smelters and railroads built into the region and other settlers found work, built homes and incorporated their growing village, naming it Globeville.
Sanguinettes raised enough vegetables, turkeys and chickens to support themselves and to sell to local markets, delivered by horse and wagon and later by truck. But low crop prices during the Depression crippled farmers and, in 1936, the family sold part of their property to the City of Denver for a sewage treatment plant. Many members of the large family moved away as larger industries, trucking companies, and salvage lots took over the area.
Another pioneer associated with Globeville is Sal Carpio, the first Hispanic to represent District 9 on Denver’s City Council. Carpio served three terms on city council and gave a voice to the district’s growing Hispanic community. He led the Denver Housing Authority from 1994 to 2007 and helped bring low-income housing options to the city. Carpio was also known as a teacher and mentor. “He knew city politics about better than anyone else,” said former two-term Denver Mayor Federico Peña, who met Carpio in 1973. “I consider him to be the brightest mind in city politics at the time.” Sal Carpio died September 25, 2014 at the age of 73. 1.
Use of the sewage plant was discontinued in 1966 and the area weathered neglect and abuse until 1999, when the city transformed the site into a 13-acre park. The legacy of former plant remained, with the large concrete forms that once treated wastewater painted with graffiti murals.
Residents referred to the park as “Northside Park,” but wanted to find a name that honored the history of the neighborhood. On October 9, 2017, Denver City Council voted unanimously to name the park Carpio-Sanguinette Park to honor two pioneers, Sal Carpio and the Sanguinette family.

 Sanguinette Farm. Members of the family remain in Globeville.
Photo used with written permission from Nora  Landberg Duryea

 

 

Looking west. Photos ® Mary Lou Egan 

1. Denver Post, September 27, 2014