"Aurora's World War II legacy reflects the dedication of service members trained here and the commitment of residents who supported the war effort at home," Mayor Mike Coffman said in the city's announcement on Oct. 21. The National Park Service had just named Aurora an American World War II Heritage City. Only one city in each state gets the title, and Aurora is the only one in Colorado.
The designation recognizes three wartime sites: Lowry Field, Buckley Field and Fitzsimons General Hospital. If you live here and want to see what earned the honor, you'll find that the three are very different to visit. Most of the training-field history sits behind a security gate. The hospital grounds are open, mapped and walkable, and their stops start at a corner many Aurora drivers pass every week.
Three wartime sites, three different levels of access
The National Park Service release lays out Aurora's case. Lowry and Buckley trained military personnel, Fitzsimons cared for wounded service members, and civilians took on civil defense and war bond drives. The city's announcement supplies the numbers.
| Wartime site | What it did during the war | What a resident can see today |
|---|---|---|
| Lowry Field | Trained more than 55,000 personnel in aerial photography, bombing, armaments and technical specialties | The city lists its surviving buildings among Aurora's notable historic resources |
| Buckley Field | Trained about 50,000 more service members, including women and African Americans, for combat aviation roles | Now Buckley Space Force Base, where all visitors must get a base pass |
| Fitzsimons General Hospital | Among the first hospitals in the nation to receive Pearl Harbor casualties; treated up to 5,000 patients at a time | A self-guided walking tour of the remaining buildings on today's Anschutz Medical Campus |
Buckley's limits are spelled out on the base's visitor page. Every visitor needs a base pass, and an unofficial visitor can't get in just by being escorted as a guest. So the airfield that trained 50,000 people is mostly something you learn about from outside the fence.
Fitzsimons is the exception. It also covers more of the history the designation recognizes. The city credits Aurora residents with beating war bond goals, running scrap drives, planting victory gardens and training in civil defense. Local young people helped through farm work, clothing drives and volunteer work for wounded service members at Fitzsimons. The hospital was where the trainees' war and the home front met, so it's the natural place to see what the designation is about.
A walk that starts at the Guard Houses
Aurora History Museum & Historic Sites built a self-guided Fitzsimons walking tour on Clio. It follows the buildings left from the Army medical center that served patients from 1918 until it closed in the late 1990s. Most of the Mission Revival buildings were torn down to make room for the Anschutz Medical Campus. The ones that remain tell the wartime story better than any plaque.
The tour visits eight landmarks, in this order:
- The Guard Houses, at Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street. The Denver Building Trades Union donated them in 1919. They became landmarks in 1999 and still mark what was once the hospital's entrance.
- Generals Park and its waterfowl preserve. The pond dates to 1900. It became a wildfowl preserve in 1927 after Col. Paul C. Hutton was given a few mallard ducks, and today the one-acre sanctuary is stocked with trout.
- Colonels Row. These officers' quarters, built in 1921, have stucco walls and red clay tile roofs. In January 2020, the Anschutz Medical Campus finished restoring one of the duplexes for use by veterans, which keeps the row tied to military medicine.
- The old Denver Fisher House. Built in 1992, it housed veterans' families. The building still stands but is no longer in use. The current Rocky Mountain Fisher House Denver is at 1700 N. Wheeling St.
- The Building 400s. Five two-story stucco buildings face the old parade grounds. Over the years they have housed nurses, a receiving headquarters for tuberculosis patients and a Service Club. Today they house the campus police.
- The Post Chapel. Built in 1942, in the middle of the war, it served Protestant, Catholic and Jewish services. Its stained glass shows apostles, angels and prophets alongside the branches of the Army and the divisions of the medical service.
- The Beehive Memorial. It went up in July 1923 to honor medical department personnel lost in World War I, paid for with one-dollar donations from enlisted medical staff who survived that war. The Red Cross Building that stood behind it was demolished in 2015. The memorial is still there.
- Building 500, the Fitzsimons Building. It was formally dedicated on Dec. 3, 1941, four days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Building 500 had 608 beds. Combined with the rest of the post, that gave Fitzsimons 2,252 beds, which the tour says made it the largest structure in Colorado and the largest Army general hospital in the country. Its exterior mixes seven colors of brick with Colorado Yule marble, Texas sandstone and green sand-rubbed stone panels. After Pearl Harbor, Fitzsimons was among the first hospitals in the nation to receive casualties from the attack.
Two stops farther out, one with a broader scope
The city's announcement also names the American War Mothers Memorial Home as one of Aurora's notable historic resources. Aurora's historic sites directory lists the American War Mothers National Memorial Home as Landmark #7, at 1601 Peoria St. That puts it on the same street as the Guard Houses. CBS Colorado's coverage of the designation describes the home as a place that housed families visiting wounded soldiers.
The Colorado Freedom Memorial in Springhill Park, at 756 Telluride St., covers far more than World War II. Its glass panels carry the names of about 6,000 Coloradans killed or missing in action, across every war and every branch of service. The names are grouped by war rather than listed alphabetically, so the World War II panels can be read together. The city lists general park hours of 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The memorial's big annual event, Colorado Remembers, takes place over Memorial Day weekend. This year's was on May 23.
The official celebration happens just over the city line
The city says it will formally mark the designation with a proclamation at its Veterans Salute. The Veterans Salute event page gives the details:
- When: Thursday, Nov. 12, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Where: Wings Over the Rockies Museum, 7711 E. Academy Blvd., in Denver
- Cost: $20 per person, which includes full museum access, appetizers and refreshments, and music by Bianca and the Fly Boys with swing dance demonstrations
- Deadline: Ticket sales end Wednesday, Nov. 4
As of this Thursday, that leaves six days to buy tickets. The event page also lists security rules: bags may be searched, no glass bottles and no outside alcohol. Requests for accessibility accommodations have to arrive at least five days before the event.
What the designation adds next
The city has said more is coming: signs at milestone locations, plus more programs, lectures and partnerships. Details will be posted on the Aurora History Museum's social media at @AuroraHistoryCO and on AuroraMuseum.org. The museum's application earned the title. Its Historic Preservation Office, part of the Library and Cultural Services Department, did the work.
"This recognition provides new opportunities to engage residents and visitors with Aurora's World War II history," Library and Cultural Services Director Ginger White Brunetti said in the same city announcement.
For now, the museum's World War II material is online. Its exhibits page lists online features including "Unsung Heroes of WWII," "History of Lowry AFB," "Fitzsimons to Anschutz" and "Wings to Satellites." "Fitzsimons to Anschutz" is a good companion before or after the walking tour. The Park Service's Aurora page now carries the city's story to a national audience, alongside the other heritage cities.
The program itself is fairly new. Congress created it in 2019, and the Park Service runs it. Since 2020, designations have gone to communities in 46 states and two territories. 9News also reported on the designation, quoting Coffman on the lasting influence of Lowry, Fitzsimons and Buckley.
If you have a free afternoon before the new signs go up, start at the Guard Houses at Colfax and Peoria and end at Building 500.
If you spend time on the Fitzsimons walk this fall or go to the Veterans Salute on Nov. 12, I'd love to hear which stop stayed with you. Jennifer Stuckey is always glad to talk about the places that make Aurora feel like home. Let's Connect.
