History Colorado

Many primary sources from Dog Patch show or tell about the activities people did for fun. In their pictures, kids play with kites and pinatas or make snowmen. Music and art helped connect the neighborhood through shared culture. Sports like basketball and cheer, and holidays like Halloween, Memorial BBQs, Christmas, and the 4th of July are often pictured. 
The St. Anne’s Festival was a community wide event that everyone played a part in. Some residents believe events like this will be how they are able to make their community stronger today. 

Fun in Dog Patch

What does the name Dog Patch have to do with life in the neighborhood? Longtime resident Thelma Moore explains that Dog Patch was the name of a movie and that the neighborhood got the nickname because people used to drop their dogs off there when they didn’t want them anymore. She told a story of how her mother insisted she call the neighborhood its official name, Eiler’s Heights. A 2006 Pueblo Chieftain article says it was named Dog Patch because of the lack of sewer and electricity services in the early days of the neighborhood.
No matter what the reason it’s named Dog Patch, many dogs are featured in pictures of the early neighborhood. If photographs were much more difficult to take, like they used to be, what would you take a picture of when you had the chance?

What's In a Name

Take a tour around the Dog Patch neighborhood to see some of its most important locations. If you made a map of your neighborhood, what would you include?

Around the Neighborhood

Six kids, including Bertha and Vera Valenzuela and Darlene Gallegos, pose in front of a car in Dog Patch

Changing Times

Sam Guerrero, Juanita Guerrero’s father, receiving a plaque from the Pueblo County District Attorney Jeff Chostner in honor of his life long service to the community (2009)

Activism in Dog Patch

Many residents remember the importance of religion in Dog Patch. Religious events like baptisms, weddings, communions, and funerals were reasons for the whole community to get together. Listen to the clip linked below from an oral history interview with sisters Elaine Madrid, Marsha Montoya, and Priscilla Hernandez. Then add in speech or thought bubbles to this picture of Elaine and Priscilla to imagine what they might have been thinking about as little girls preparing for Easter.

Religion in Dog Patch

Use this timeline to explore how Dog Patch has changed over time.

Dog Patch Over the Years

Sylvia Fransua’s family in their home in Dog Patch, with many other family photos hung on the wall behind them (2006)

Family in Dog Patch

Dog Patch is a neighborhood in the East Side of Pueblo, CO, founded in the 1950s. Its majority Hispanic and economically disadvantaged residents live there still, advocating for fair treatment and working to combat stereotypes about their community. In many ways, the themes discussed by Dog Patch residents reflect other majority-Hispanic communities across Colorado.

Nuestras Historias: Mexican American/Chicano/Latino Histories in Denver

Dog Patch- Exploring Change in a Colorado Hispanic Community

U.S. History

Social Studies

Image: Two people standing with a number of animals including a dog and a colt on property in Dog Patch (1940s); 

What is now a municipal airport east of Pueblo was an air base and training camp for wartime bomber crews. After the war, many of its buildings were demolished.

World War II Air Base

Image: St. Anne’s Church being moved to Dog Patch (1956); 

Catholic Bishop Joseph Willging organized the move of a chapel from the former air base to its current location in Dog Patch. From then it was called St. Anne’s Catholic Church.

Moving of St. Anne's

Image: Albert and Alberta Snow next to a car in Dog Patch (Eastwood Heights) in Pueblo, CO; 

Highway 96 divides Dog Patch despite neighborhood protests, cutting off some Dog Patch residents from others. Many residents spoke about the dangers of the highway.

Highway 96 Completed

Image: Eastwood Heights basketball team, cheer squad, and coaches; 

Juan and Elaine Madrid found La Gente Youth Sports, an organization that helps to hold the community together through the consistency of its programming.

Juan & Elaine Madrid found La Gente Youth Sports

Image: Newspaper clipping detailing a fire at Eastwood Heights Elementary (1988); 

A fire damages Eastwood Heights Elementary School

Eastwood Heights Elementary Damaged in Fire

Image: Newspaper clipping talks about students returning to school after the fire at Eastwood Elementary School (1989); 

Students return to school at Eastwood Heights after renovations.

Back to School at Eastwood Heights

Image: Workers putting up the mural at St. Anne's Catholic Church (1990); 

Maria Romero Cash paints the reredos (murals) inside St. Anne’s Catholic Church

Reredos at St. Anne's

Image: Newspaper article about the renaming of Eastwood Heights Elementary (1993); 

Eastwood Heights Elementary renamed for former principal Eva Baca.

Eastwood Heights Becomes Eva Baca Elementary

Image: First annual Sam and Connie Guerrero Stocking Give Away (1998); 

Dog Patch partners with Colorado Trust to promote community uplift through mural painting and community gathering

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Dog Patch- Exploring Change in a Colorado Hispanic Community

Dog Patch Over the Years

Background Knowledge

1945 CE

1956 CE

1964 CE

1976 CE

1988 CE

1989 CE

1990 CE

1993 CE

2019 CE