SWANSEA has been combined with adjacent Elyria to form one of 73 neighbourhoods which make up the city of Denver.
According to the neibourhood's plan prepared by the Denver Planning Office Swansea and Elyria have "a lot of resident pride and history that gives the neighbourhoods an emotional bond of cohesiveness and stability".
Although Swansea and Elyria are similar in terms of income, ethnic make-up and housing each set of residents view them separately.
Indeed locals do not even pronounce their community in the same way as their Welsh namesake, opting for the more individualistic "Swansee-a". In mid 19th Century Denver was a miners' town and settlements began to form around it.
The Swansea-Elyria area was the site of two of them. They were favoured for their proximity to the South Platte River and their flat terrain, both highly valued in industry and commerce.
Research indicates that the Swansea neighbourhood was established around 1870 after the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads were completed and the demand for smelter facilities arose. Methods for extracting gold from ore had previously been perfected at the smelter in Black Hawk, Colorado. To satisfy demand, a company was formed and a sizeable parcel of land in the area now called Swansea was acquired at the junction of the two railroads
It is believed that due to the mismanagement and misapplication of the Black Hawk smelter process, the Swansea smelting process works were shut down and abandoned.In about 1875 the village granted H G Bonds, Mein Fisher and Charles Ruter a right-of-way for a "steam railroad" in Swansea.
However, it was never built and the right-of-way grant was repealed by the Swansea Town Council in 1881. Swansea was annexed to Denver in 1883 and 1902.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
According to the neibourhood's plan prepared by the Denver Planning Office Swansea and Elyria have "a lot of resident pride and history that gives the neighbourhoods an emotional bond of cohesiveness and stability".
Although Swansea and Elyria are similar in terms of income, ethnic make-up and housing each set of residents view them separately.
Indeed locals do not even pronounce their community in the same way as their Welsh namesake, opting for the more individualistic "Swansee-a". In mid 19th Century Denver was a miners' town and settlements began to form around it.
The Swansea-Elyria area was the site of two of them. They were favoured for their proximity to the South Platte River and their flat terrain, both highly valued in industry and commerce.
Research indicates that the Swansea neighbourhood was established around 1870 after the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads were completed and the demand for smelter facilities arose. Methods for extracting gold from ore had previously been perfected at the smelter in Black Hawk, Colorado. To satisfy demand, a company was formed and a sizeable parcel of land in the area now called Swansea was acquired at the junction of the two railroads
It is believed that due to the mismanagement and misapplication of the Black Hawk smelter process, the Swansea smelting process works were shut down and abandoned.In about 1875 the village granted H G Bonds, Mein Fisher and Charles Ruter a right-of-way for a "steam railroad" in Swansea.
However, it was never built and the right-of-way grant was repealed by the Swansea Town Council in 1881. Swansea was annexed to Denver in 1883 and 1902.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
A street in Swansea.
The railway line.
