Brothels to Books: Heterotopia and Protestant Morality in a Boulder, Colorado Floodplain (1884-1921)

This paper considers the idea of heterotopia through a small plot of land in Boulder, Colorado. Located in a floodplain, it transformed from a red light district in the 1880s to a site of ramshackle dwellings in the 1910s, then to a city park and public library. This transformation was aided by several catastrophic floods that destroyed brothels and saloons, and it was propelled by moralizing forces. Relying on newspapers, oral histories, city and national archives, and city government reports, this paper will engage in a critical conversation with heterotopia through a space on the outskirts of morality and traditional notions of religion. By examining the interplay between human-driven meaning-making and climate-related events, this microhistory narrates the efforts of social forces to define and control the floodplain but also unveils the environmental challenges, adaptations, and the interplay of sacred spaces in the face of climate-related shifts.