Working the beets

“No Race Suicide in Globeville Where Beetworkers Live on Summer Wages” proclaims the Denver Republican from December 8, 1911. The story begins, “Globeville, the suburb of Denver ... has just half the number of inhabitants in the summer that it has in winter. Its Poles, Russians, Slavs ...went forth in early spring to work in the sugar beet fields and earn their keep for the winter.” The Republican continues enthusiastically, “The Fijalkowskis spent the summer working in the beet fields at Monte Vista. They consider their farm lands regular resorts.”
Globeville resident Ann Morgan remembered it differently. “At that time, they had no machines - you were the machine. In the spring, it was always cold and we would wrap our legs with gunny sacks and then newspaper.” 

John Werner, whose family emigrated from Russia in 1914, remembers childhood summers in the fields. "Children were good beet workers because their small fingers could thin and weed around the plants. We stayed in these very crude beet shacks, a two room affair with a cistern. Periodically the farmer would haul water to the cistern and fill your tank. Outside plumbing, kerosene lamps. It was a minority job. You had no knowledge of the language and no particular skill."

Earnings weren’t guaranteed but fluctuated along with farm prices and the weather. Anna Machuga Worth recalled, "A neighbor took me over to work the beets. Sad deal. It was a bad year...the grass hoppers got all the beets. So our family, after three months of hard labor, had to come home without a dime. The farmer took a great loss."
Yet the sugar beet crop was a way for large immigrant families with few skills to supplement their income. As Globeville’s first generation of immigrants moved up to higher paying jobs in the 1920s, newer immigrants, the Mexican-Americans, began to take their places.
Globeville resident Bea Trevino recalled, "My dad came over here from new Mexico in 1938 to work the beet harvest for a farmer by Longmont. I was a kid working on the farms picking beets, beans, tomatoes, pickles...then in 1950, I started working at Plus Poultry at 40th and Colorado Boulevard. My husband and I bought a house in Globeville in 1965."

Today, sugar from beets has been supplanted by sweetener made from corn, but much of the hand labor in farm fields is still done by immigrants hoping to make a better life for their families.

"No Race Suicide in Globeville Where Beetworkers Live on Summer Wages"

Denver Republican, December 8, 1911

Photo of beet wagons near Fort Morgan used with written permission from Chuck Fortarel

Women's Work

The women in the photo appear pleasant although few are smiling. Surely they welcomed a short break from the heat and noise inside the building to pose for the photographer. Their employer, the New Colorado Laundry at 2207 Larimer Street, was the kind of business that hired women in the early 1900’s, since they could be paid little money and required minimal training. Many ladies from Globeville worked at one of the commercial laundries in downtown Denver, such as Silver State at 2441 Broadway, Ideal at 2500 Curtis Street and Enterprise Laundry at 17th and Champa, all within a couple of miles from Globeville.
These women weren't pursuing satisfying careers but supplementing the family's income with the kind of jobs available to them. Steve Machuga remembered, "My mother worked outside the home when I was growing up, scrubbing floors and cleaning rooms at the Brown Palace Hotel for 50¢ a night. She walked with two other ladies from Globeville, up 38th Street to short Larimer and 20 blocks to the hotel. The street car cost 10¢ each way, so they walked."  
Many other Globeville ladies worked as "domestics" doing cooking, cleaning and laundry in the homes of Denver's wealthier citizens. There were also situations available in the many local family-owned taverns, with the bar in the front of the building, living quarters for the family in the rear, and rooms upstairs for the men employed in the smelters. Newcomers like Jennie Hocevar could prepare meals for the family, pack lunches for the boarders and begin the process of learning English and American ways. Jennie later worked at Cudahy, trimming the fat from meat as it came down the chute. “I trimmed more than anybody else and I couldn’t even speak English,” she remembered.
Most women in the 1900s regarded work was a necessity and appreciated the kind of job that would help their family live a better life.

Photo used with written permission from Agnes Tanko. Her mother, Mary Holland, is one of 

the young women in the photo.

Jennie Hocevar Sadar, photo used with written permission from Dorothy Nevelos

Orthodox Food Festival & Old Globeville Days

Strains of accordion music waft across Argo park, accompanied by the aroma of roast lamb, Romanian cabbage rolls, Mexican tamales, German sausage and Serbian Povitica. Tamburitzans perform while patrons enjoy ethnic food favorites, European beer and the potent plum brandy, Slivovitz. Each July since 2003, Globeville invites all of Denver to join in the celebration of its ethnic diversity, a characteristic that continues to define the neighborhood.
The festival takes place Saturday July 14th (11:00 am - 9:30 pm) and Sunday, July 15th (11:00 am - 5:00 pm) at Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral and Argo Park, 349 E. 47th Avenue at Logan Street in the Globeville neighborhood. Admission is free. Sample foods from Russia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Greece, Mexico and Italy. Relax under the tents to experience ethnic music and dance, enjoy the children's activities, visit the craft and gift booths, iconography exhibit and tour the historic Orthodox Cathedral with its stunning icons and images. Dance to the music of Willie & the Po' Boys, Saturday 7:00 - 9:30 pm.
The event is co-sponsored by Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral and Globeville Civic Association. Call 303-294-0938 for more information.

http://orthodoxfoodfestival.wetpaint.com

Polish Heritage Continues in Globeville

Poles began arriving in the area that would become Globeville in the 1880s before the town was incorporated in 1891. Seeking jobs in the Argo, Grant and Globe Smelters, a small number settled in the 4500 to 4800 blocks of Washington, Pearl, Pennsylvania, Logan and Grant Streets, and on Emerson Street near the Platte River. Poles were never as numerous as the other groups who arrived in Globeville but they made their presence known by establishing fraternal organizations that would provide assistance in the event of injury, illness or death - common occurrences in smelters. There was St. Martin’s Society, Lodge #134, of the Polish National Alliance founded in 1889 and Group 62, St. Joseph’s Society of the Polish Union of North America organized in 1897. In addition to these insurance organizations, Poles formed the Polish Literary Club, the Polish Harmony Club and the Polish Falcons, all social groups for young adults. All the organizations worked to build St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church in 1902 and the school in 1926. All these institutions had the preservation of Polish culture as an integral part of their existence, hoping to convey that heritage to the next generation.  
As Poles succeeded in improving their lot financially and providing a better life for their children, they moved out of the Globeville neighborhood. (construction of two interstate highways through the heart of community accelerated their exodus.)
But Polish culture lives on in Globeville at St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church, with Mass in both English and Polish, and celebration of traditions such as the Corpus Christi procession through the neighborhood. Classes in the Polish language are taught at the school, and Polish choirs and the Krakowiacy dancers hold regular performances.

Krakowiacy singers

Altar for Corpus Christi Procession

St Joseph's Polish Catholic Church

http://www.krakowiacy.net/

German-Russian Wedding

Although Globeville's German-Russian immigrants were incredibly poor, they knew how to have a good time. One of the most memorable of those good times would be a wedding. Sam Dreith remembers stories of his parent's celebration. "When my folks got married, the wedding lasted three days. The first day, when they got married, the band walked down the wooden sidewalks (Globeville still had wooden walks) and played in front of them on the way to the church. After the ceremony the couple went back to the house where they were going to live.
"The first day of the celebration was only for the family and real close relatives, who were supposed to cook the food. And the traditional dish was a noodle soup and a butter dumpling made out of butter, eggs and bread. The second day was for extended family, maybe 20 to 30 people, and the third day was for everybody, maybe 50 people. Small by today’s standards. And everybody was supposed to bring food."
There were many traditions for helping the young couple raise money for their life together. Any man who danced with the bride pinned money to her dress, or the bride's shoe would be stolen and have to be bought back (presumably, the shoe would reappear for the bride to continue dancing). A beautiful pillow made by the bride's godmother would be passed around and money pinned to it. Sometimes men would steal the bride and make the groom buy her back, (a custom adapted from the Slovenians).

By the 1900s, white gowns were the custom with white gloves that were a gift of the groom. The groom wore flowers in his lapel and a long sash or ribbon. If the bridal couple traveled to church by horse and wagon, the horses were also festooned with flowers and ribbons.
Sam continued, "Folks used to chivareebeat on drums and wash tubs the night of the honeymoon. The groom was supposed to come out and throw money so you’d go away and leave them alone.”

from a conversation at the home of Sam Dreith, August 5, 1995 with Sam, Mary Dreith Modic, and Linda Dreith Kornafel.

1912 Wedding photo from First German Congregational Church, used with written permission from Sarah Wolf

Left to right, Christine Schwartz, groom John Lehl, Hrch Kildau, bride Katherine Hilzer Lehl, 

minister Adam Traudt at right, man with hat is Henry Treber. 

For more stories and customs http://www.volgagermans.net/portland/wedding.html

or http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/custom_traditions/index.html

Memorial Day 2012

The rumble of freight trains and trucks is constant and the smell of diesel and the nearby refineries competes with that of the native flowers. But when Riverside Cemetery opened in 1876, Denver was a young city hoping to appear civilized by dedicating a park-like setting to remember its dead. In 1876, Decoration Day was also a relatively new observance, created to honor soldiers killed during the Civil War. 
Today, Riverside Cemetery is home to over 1,200 Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate, who came to Colorado after the war to seek their fortunes in the gold fields, homestead, ranch or farm. Others found work on the railroads, as storekeepers, tradesmen, lawmen, politicians and preachers. Block 27, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Block, is the location of the majority of Union soldiers buried at Riverside. 
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization open to all men who had honorably served in the Union Army or Navy, regardless of race. The motto of the GAR was "Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty" and the organization lived up to its ideals, with members looking out for former soldiers in the area. A needy veteran and his family might find a box of groceries or a load of coal on their doorstep. The fraternal was instrumental in obtaining increased government pensions, the creation of federal and state veterans' homes and government-supplied headstones. In Denver, any veteran who was financially unable to afford a funeral was given one paid for by the post.
As the veterans of the Civil War passed away, the GAR also faded into history. There are many ways to hear their stories at Riverside Cemetery, including several self-guided tours and booklets.
(Information about the GAR can be found in a booklet by Raymond C. Thal "The Civil War at Riverside" available from the visitor's center at Riverside, open Thursday and the 1st Wednesday of each month from 10:am to 3:00 pm. 5201 Brighton Blvd. Denver, CO 80216    303-293-2466) 
http://fairmountheritagefoundation.org/

Decoration Day 2012

Once a Major Employer...

ASARCO's Globe Plant, once a major employer in the Globeville and surrounding neighborhoods, is now vacant. According to Globeville I, LLC, remediation of the environmentally contaminated site is on schedule, with the demolition of the external buildings completed in March 2012. Once cleaned up, the site will be home to a new "Globeville Commerce Center" with a potential 1.1 million square feet of commercial space. Although restoration of the area has been a goal of the community for a long time, it is hoped that the stories of the men who worked there will not be lost. 

51st and Logan, October 2011

51st and Logan, January 2012

51st and Logan, May 2012

55th and Washington, July 2016