West High School
951 Elati Street
Denver, CO 80204
Denver GOP is the lead sponsor. Co-sponsors
will be the State GOP, RBlock Party and the student republicans of Metro
State College. The students from
West High School will be providing the color guard, the National Anthem by the
choir “Lariat”, and a drum corp
prelude medley.
This is a beautiful building. It is not commonly
used for this type of event but it seems entirely appropriate considering
its history.
West High School was organized in 1883. On June 13,
1884, at 2:00PM, Charles McDonough, Effie Hallam, Lelia Williams,
Frances Brandt, Laura Duccy, and Morrison Stillwell became the first
graduates of West High School. In 1902, after merging with School District
No. 1 (East) to become Denver Public Schools, West became the
district's "second" high school.
In 1926, West moved into its current building at
9th and Elati, a building designed in English gothic style and
executed in light brick with buff terra cotta trimmings. It contains
spacious halls and numerous academic, scientific, and vocational classrooms. It
has an auditorium that seats 1500 and a gymnasium that seats 2000.
Enrolled in 2009–2010 were 796 students.
West High School has some history that maybe some
of you might recall. On March 20, 1969, student protest at West High
School resulted in solidarity walkouts in every secondary school in
Denver's barrios. The following day, walkouts became city wide, leading
to the bloodiest school protests in Denver's history. Within a week, the
Crusade for Justice held the first National Chicano Youth Liberation
Conference. The conference became one of the landmark gatherings of the
Chicano movement, and the walkouts radicalized a generation of Denver's
Chicano youth.
