CENTRAL CITY, Colo. — In the hills above this former mining town, students from Metropolitan State University of Denver are uncovering pieces of Colorado’s overlooked history.
The excavation, led by Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dr. Jade Luiz, focuses on the remnants of a once-thriving red-light district that operated from the 1870s until about 1912.
Denver7 first spoke with Luiz last year when she and MSU Denver’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology updated us with some of their findings. Since then, Luiz and her students have excavated more than 12,000 artifacts from the site, which was home to brothels perched along the Central City hillside.
“The whole purpose of this site for almost 45 years was this business of sex work,” Luiz said. “Because nothing was built on top of it afterward, it’s a really unique place to study and train students.”
Luiz, who specializes in 19th-century archaeology and sex work, said the structures were used exclusively as brothels until the district was shut down in the early 20th century. Several of the buildings were destroyed by fire, but one house, known as Lou Bunch’s, stood until the 1920s. The community still honors that history each summer with a celebration called Madam Lou Bunch Day.
Artifacts pulled from the dirt include glass bottles, wallpaper fragments, and household items like a gutta-percha hair comb — an early form of plastic used for personal grooming. Anthropology student Alonza Saldo told Denver7 they recently discovered an 1898 Indian Head penny and a worn leather women’s shoe.
“I started digging down and hit something that wasn’t a rock,” said Saldo. “I realized it was probably a leather shoe. All of the artifacts that we're finding, we can pretty accurately say that they are going to be from this time period."
This is Saldo’s first time participating in an excavation class, but he said it’s already confirmed his love of archaeology. “I’ve always loved digging in the dirt, always loved dinosaurs, always loved finding things."
For Luiz, the field school is as much about community as it is about research. The site is owned by the Central City Opera House Association, which has welcomed MSU Denver’s work and supported the excavation effort.
On Sunday, students and faculty will host a Public Archaeology Day, inviting the community to tour the site and view artifacts.
“I really want this to be a community project,” Luiz said. “Bringing people up here helps them understand what we’re doing and allows us to hear their questions too.”
