Vol. 2 No. 5
JUNE 2, 2023
EILER HEIGHTS 6 | SCULPTORS 11 | TRACK 20 | NATURAL BUILDING 22
• DIG DEEPER •
Photos by Jeffry Moore
| COMMUNITY | ACCOUNTABILITY | CURIOSITY | CONNECTION |
Inside Pueblo’s historic Eilers Neighborhood: rooted in Slovenian culture, steel mill ties
I Such great heights
By Luke Lyons
n the shadow of the EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel Mill, formerly the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, lies a Spanish colonial church — its steeple piercing high into the sky, casting a shadow onto Mesa Avenue. Just down the street is Eilers’ Place. First opened in the 1930s, it is one of Pueblo’s oldest establishments and still serves as a popular watering hole. Midcentury-style homes line the avenues of Mesa, Berwind, Eilers, Taylor and Egan in a section of town known as the Eilers Neighborhood,sometimes referred to as Eiler Heights or Old Bojon Town. It was here that Slovenian (along with Croatian and Serbian) steel workers settled in from the late 1800s through the midcentury. Though some generations of families have remained in the neighborhood, many have moved to other parts of the Steel City. Still, Eiler Heights remains the center of Pueblo’s Slovenian community and the one of the city’s most historic and iconic neighborhoods.
Eiler Heights geography: Where is the Eilers Neighborhood?
While there are no specific boundaries, many consider the surrounding neighborhoods part of the Eilers Neighborhood. There are several different thoughts on the area’s boundaries. Many experts and ex-residents define the boundaries differently. Pueblo attorney Anthony Perko, who is of Slovenian decent whose family has attended St. Mary’s Church for four generations, defines the area east of Northern Avenue and the surrounding areas of Santa Fe Hill as the Eilers Neighborhood. “[The boundaries are] the east end of Northern Avenue and surrounding areas on Santa Fe Hill,” Perko said. . “The area’s boundaries can be considered from the intersection of Northern and Interstate 25, proceeding north to where the area starts to go down the hill, proceeding east along the hill where it curves around towards the southeast at approximately Midwest Steel. Then, it proceeds along Northern and the north end of the EVRAZ plant, back to the southeast corner.” Roselawn Foundation President Jason Falsetto said the area is certainly the area comprised of midcentury-style homes off of Mesa Avenue, and includes much of the recent Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. Due to former smelter sites in the area, the EPA recognized the soil as being contaminated after multiple soil samples. The EPA then led a multi-million-dollar effort in treating and decontaminating the soil. The project is expected to be Eiler Heights is one of Pueblo’s most historic neighborhoods. Photos by Jeffry Moore.
EILER HEIGHTS continued on page 6