Students unearth stories from Central City’s former red-light district
MSU Denver Anthropology professor leads excavation of brothel site in hands-on summer dig.
For most college students, summer doesn’t involve hauling buckets of dirt under the blazing sun. But for a class in Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Sociology and Anthropology Department, it’s the highlight of their break.
Led by Assistant Professor Jade Luiz, students in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology are spending several weeks excavating a historic brothel site in Central City. The dig is part of a field school that began in June 2023 and has yielded more than 12,000 artifacts.
“Essentially, when I was hired, both faculty and students were like, ‘Would you be interested in running a field school based on your research?’” Luiz said. “That’s what my background is: archaeology and sex work.
“One of our students spotted buildings labeled ‘FB’ for ‘female boarding’ on an old map of Central City. That’s when we knew we had something worth digging into.”
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Recovered items since 2023 have included a commemorative spoon from the 1898 Battle of Manila, aluminum and ceramic fragments, shards of glass, a St. Camillus medal and a corset.
“There’s a strong civic pride in Central City around the history of sex work,” Luiz said. “They even have an annual Madam Lou Bunch Day festival celebrating one of the last madams in the city.”
Luiz explained that the historic red-light district once comprised five houses perched on a hillside across from the former train station. One side of the dig includes a plot where the first house in the district once stood.
“It’s definitely tiring hauling equipment up and down the hill, but once we dig, it’s exciting,” said junior Natalie Aragon, an Anthropology major. “Screening is my favorite — we’ve found nails, buttons and even an 1898 coin.”
Aragon, who initially enrolled as a Psychology major, joined the class at the recommendation of a friend and found a passion for archaeology. “Anthropology just clicked,” she said. “If anyone else wants to do this, bring a chair. Trust me.”
On the other side of the site, near the remnants of the fifth house, students are equally engaged, carefully excavating a mysterious large object whose identity has yet to be determined.
“It’s been neat to see how confusing the process can get — and how important teamwork is in this environment,” said Jeremy Davis, a senior majoring in Anthropology. A Marine Corps veteran with experience securing archaeological sites in Iraq, Davis said the structure and detail of the Central City dig has been eye-opening.
“I wish I would have had a lot of these classes before being deployed,” he said. “I would have taken things very differently.”
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The class has also sparked community engagement. Students work alongside volunteers from the Colorado Archaeological Society, retired professionals and vocational archaeologists, which gives them the chance to network and learn, Luiz said. Students have also hosted members of the Gilpin Historical Society and the Colorado Archaeological Society, who have shown support and interest in the site’s progress.
“We’ve had students get internships at places like the Denver Museum of Nature and Science,” Luiz said. “And one student even spoke to a therapy group about navigating life after becoming disabled — a connection made directly through this dig.”
A public day is scheduled for Sunday, when community members are invited to visit the site and see the students’ work firsthand.
“I hope more people get involved in this,” Davis said. “Even at the entry level, it opens your eyes to what’s really going on in the field.”
