Introduction by Johnathen De La Vaca

What are neighborhoods? Beyond places of comfort, spaces of familiarity, there are the small patches of planet Earth where we build our lives, grow our families, and plan for our futures. These neighborhoods are where we have our homes (if we’re lucky enough to be housed), and where we rest our heads will always be one of the most special of places: that is where our dreams are born. As adults, we dream of success at work, accomplishments in life, and for a beautiful future for our children, should we have children. As young people, we dream of our own futures, of a world we can still breathe in, of neighborhoods where we will grow and create and love.

President Lyndon B. Johnson  said that,

We live in a world that has narrowed into
a neighborhood before it has broadened into
a brotherhood.

His words echo across time and sting today.

The goal, of course, is to have livable, breathable, walkable, lovable neighborhoods. The fact is, not all of us do. “All of us” should be taken to mean all of humanity, or all of Americans, or even all of Coloradans. In fact, not even all of Boulderites has a perfect neighborhood. Boulder County has, by all reasonable comparisons, indexes, and accounts, done extremely well in spite of the all too common pitfalls of creating community. We look back on the history of Boulder County – on Boulder, Erie, Louisville, and Longmont specifically – with a fond and profound appreciation for what that neighborhoods were, and what they are today.

Neighborhoods change, and these changing neighborhoods are no less important or wonderful a place to have a dream. Enjoy the look back, but always remember to look forward. You have every chance, every day, to make a world – to make the neighborhood – you want to see. Dream big.

Boulder, Colorado

Enclosed by the Flatirons and flowery neighborhoods veined throughout the city, Boulder almost gives off a Truman Show persona.

Boulder, Colorado; seemingly a total utopia town. Sunny 245 days a year. Perched upon The Sound of Music-esque foothills. Populated by people that look as though they could easily be sponsored by *insert outdoorsy brand here*.  The estimated population of Boulder is 104,000, increasing steadily since 2010 with 97,395. The demand to live in Boulder is making it increasingly difficult to be one of the lucky ones. But who paved the way for the sunny little city?

Boulder Valley was originally home to Native Americans, predominantly the Southern Arapaho Tribe nearby Haystack Mountain. The first non-natives were gold seekers, who settled in Boulder County in October 1858. These early residents founded the trendy little city we recognize Boulder to be.

You cannot deny the beauty of this particular mountain town. Enclosed by the Flatirons and flowery neighborhoods veined throughout the city, Boulder almost gives off a Truman Show persona. With the University of Colorado being one of the number one schools in the state, and the characteristics of the place making the residents feel like they won the lottery just to call themselves a resident; it’s surprising the place isn’t growing more both by population and landscape.

Well folks, as you may know, this phenomenon is no mystery. According to statistics on https://www.zillow.com/boulder-co/home-values/ in 2019, the median home values in Boulder are $743,000. To put this number in perspective, this is more than the nationwide median for homes by around $449,000. According to Forbes, this number has gone up significantly fast since November 2011, rising by $212,000.

So, how does the city grow and prosper when the cost of living limits people from various economic backgrounds from moving to Boulder? It uniquely encapsulates both the small-town familiarity sensation and the exciting, buzzing, electric bigger city ambiance. But the small-town feel will most likely prevail, with the open space preservation program in full force. This program was first introduced in 1967. About twenty years later, the open space preservation program raised $116 million, made from a .4% local sales tax increase. With this revenue made from taxes, the government created a hypothetical blockade around Boulder now used for parkland. This prohibits outward expansion of residential areas around the city.

The open space preservation program created an interesting obstacle that Boulder neighborhoods now face. It is illegal to build out and up in the city, so this city’s neighborhoods have an interesting dynamic. Here are just a couple of the numerous neighborhood segments of Boulder that bring their own interesting aspects to the town.

The Hill/Chautauqua

This high-demand area is inhabited largely by Colorado University students with rented apartments and houses, as well as more expensive older (1950s) houses the closer you get to Chautauqua and Flatirons area. This part of Boulder is undeniably beautiful, with older houses keeping the surrounding neighborhoods charmingly vintage.

South Boulder (SoBo)

This area was primarily established in the 60s and 70s. When you visit this area, you will notice an abundance of ranch style homes. People enjoy the quieter atmosphere, as well as easy access to open spaces.

East Boulder

East Boulder contains a variety of large and somewhat moderately priced homes. This neighborhood maintains a suburban vibe, but with easy access to downtown Boulder.

Boulder is a captivating little city. Although the appeal may largely be the certain prestige of living in the glamorous mountain town, you cannot deny the charm of this Flatirons-enclosed city.

Erie, Colorado

Forty years ago, it was a small, rural town, both in size and in population, with barely over 1,000 people. Operations and Maintenance Manager for the Town of Erie and long-time resident of Erie, Jody Lambert, said, “Erie was seven blocks by seven blocks basically. It was a very small community. You knew everybody.” Now, Erie has grown to a population of over 28,000. That is more than a 2,100 percent increase in population in just 40 years. With that vast population growth came significant changes in the community.

Almost everything in Erie has changed over the last 40 years. Neighborhoods, schools, population demographics, parks, amenities, the quality of life, etc. Erie went from one or two established neighborhoods in the late 1970s to over 25 today, and two schools to almost 10. All of the new neighborhoods that have been sprouting up are connected via many miles of a trail system, which has fostered more time outside and more exercise. The age and demographics of the population have changed from older families and couples to younger families.

The neighborhoods have also changed in the way they look. Throughout the last 40 years, the houses have gotten larger, while the yards have gotten smaller. Houses are closer together, as to fit more of them into a neighborhood. In addition, the houses have gotten significantly more expensive. Now, of course, part of this increase is due to inflation. However, even taking inflation into account, Erie houses are now worth much more than they used to be because more and more people are trying to buy homes in the area. As the demand for houses in Erie has increased, so has the price of those houses. Even in only the last ten years, average house prices went from $301,000 to $493,000, according to Zillow, which is a 63.79 percent increase.

In the 2000s, the Wise Homestead Museum opened. Also in the 2000s, Erie built and opened its own library and community center. In addition to these buildings, over the last 40 years, hundreds of other amenities and businesses have opened in Erie.

Because of all of these changes, the quality of life has drastically increased. Both children and adults have better and more access to education and recreation, there are more ways to enjoy outside and inside exercise, there are more jobs, and there is more money within the town that it can use to continuously improve its residents’ quality of life.

Despite all of these changes, there have been a few aspects of Erie that have remained the same. The Town of Erie still feels like a small town, especially compared to others in the area. Although he doesn’t know as many people in the town like he used to, Lambert says that Erie has been good about maintaining the small, hometown feel. He said, “It’s home… It’s still a good place to raise a family.” Erie is still a tight-knit community that feels like home to those who have lived here for decades, as well as those who have lived here for only a few years.

Longmont, Colorado

Longmont’s identity began to shift from an agricultural community to a big city, a technological community.

Longmont, Colorado is another example of a small, rural community turned bigger city. Longmont’s population 40 years ago was not quite 43,000. Today, it is approaching 100,000, at around 97,000 people. That is about a 125 percent increase in population. With the significant population growth and the technology boom, Longmont has changed greatly in the last forty years.

In the 1980s, Longmont was a city that was trying to find its identity. Historically, it had been an agricultural, rural community. This began to change in the 1960s and 1970s, during the technology boom, when IBM constructed a large plant in the area and brought in hundreds of jobs in the technology industry. As different demographics of people flooded the area to occupy these jobs, Longmont’s identity began to shift from an agricultural community to a big city, technological community.

Although Longmont already had a fairly large population, this shift in identity caused Longmont’s population to drastically increase. As a result, more and more neighborhoods have been built. As new neighborhoods were built, new schools and parks were built along with them. In addition, during the last 40 years, Longmont has built a mall, a new library, a new museum and cultural center, a new recreation center, etc. These new buildings bring along with them increased access to education and recreation, more ways to exercise, and more jobs. As these new buildings and industries go up, more wealth comes into the city, allowing Longmont to continuously expand these various opportunities and the quality of life its residents experience.

As Longmont has started to run out of space to build out, the city has really begun to build up in an effort to keep up with the population growth. In the last few years especially, three and four story office, business, and residential buildings in large complexes have been sprouting up, increasing not only the size of the population, but also the population density.

Due to Longmont’s increase in population, housing has become significantly more competitive. Housing prices have greatly increased, even accounting for inflation. In only the last ten years, average house prices have gone from $208,000 to $390,000, according to Zillow, which is an 87.5 percent increase.

Louisville, Colorado

According to Money Magazine, the quality of life makes Louisville one of the #1 places to live in the United States.

Louisville, Colorado has always had a unique flare that other suburbs lacked. When settlers from Europe first arrived in the area, Louisville was one of the few coal towns where minors actually lived in the very town they worked in. Since the beginning, Louisville has built community and ingenuity on the very ground they lived and worked on.

Because mining was a seasonal trade and strikes often occurred among workers, early Louisville citizens were forced to create eccentric jobs to make life more fulfilling and generate revenue in different ways. Often this included family gardens, which is very apparent in the present-day Louisville. The early people of Louisville were a tough crowd, cultivating inspiration and community from hard mining work during the season, and resourceful trades such as gardening during the off-season.

In 2019, the town of Louisville, Colorado is a buzzing suburb for new residents in the BoCo area. The area is booming with restaurants, open spaces, and cultural arts. As of 2017, the small city was reportedly home to 21,128 residents within an 8.6-mile radius. According to Money Magazine, the quality of life makes Louisville one of the #1 places to live in the United States.

Within the last 15 years or so, the majority of Louisville has divided into two developed areas; Old Historic Downtown and New Town.

Old Historic Downtown

The neighborhoods in this area are a beautiful arrangement of historic Victorian mining houses and newer homes built more recently, combining vintage looks with modern homes creating a funky old-time new-time ambiance, maintaining the miner’s historic touch while incorporating a small-city electric atmosphere. Being a part of Boulder County, you can rightfully assume the property values in Old Historic Downtown Louisville are quite high. In this area, it’s difficult to run out of things to do. On Friday evenings, the popular local Downtown Louisville Street Fair is a favorite among both residents and visitors.

“For three or four hours, eight summertime Friday evenings, life is just like it should be. Babies don’t cry, dogs don’t bark, and wise elders feel nineteen again. The Muse visits the musicians almost every night and dances when the spirit moves her. We don’t know why this all happens here, we’re just glad it does,” Louisville Downtown Business Association stated.

New Town

This area of Louisville may not have the same buzzing appeal of the Historic Downtown, but nonetheless, the desire to move into this area is anything but scarce. New Town Louisville feels like less of a historic mining town and more similar to a suburb of Denver. Homes are placed strategically alongside parks, biking, and walking trails.

As the population rises to its current capacity of over 21,000 residents, the once coal and mining town is now a popular place to call home for young families.