At the turn of the 20th century, networks of tiny, two-room homes started popping up on the fringes of Fort Collins, Colo.
First came the dozen or so box houses of Buckingham, 240-square-foot structures with oval roofs, four little windows and sheds out back for horses and cows. Then came the assemblage of shacks on a northeastern farm that would eventually be named Andersonville.
By the 1920s, the early homes of Alta Vista followed, cobbled together with hand-hewn adobe bricks and topped with simple wooden roofs.
The trio of neighborhoods — built to flank the Great Western Sugar Co. factory in northeast Fort Collins — became home to many of the Hispanic and Mexican families who flocked to Northern Colorado for work in the area's surrounding beet fields.
They moved into the modest homes and carved out a community within the Buckingham, Andersonville and Alta Vista neighborhoods, ultimately naming them the Tres Colonias neighborhoods — Spanish for "three colonies."
"(Fort Collins) probably would have looked very different without them," Fort Collins activist Betty Aragon-Mitotes said of the Hispanic and Mexican families who moved to Northern Colorado for work in its sugar beet fields.
"I don't think (northern Colorado's sugarbeet industry) would have flourished," she added. "It was built on the backs of those Hispanic and Mexican beet workers. They definitely pushed the economy forward in helping Fort Collins thrive."
And now, they're getting some recognition.
A monument honoring northern Colorado's Mexican and Hispanic sugarbeet workers will be unveiled Saturday in Fort Collins' Sugar Beet Park. The 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture is in the shape of a hand holding a short hoe, with the hoe representing the back-breaking work required in sugar beet fields and the hand representing the Mexican and Hispanic families who carried out that work and became part of the fabric of Fort Collins.
The monument, named The Hand That Feeds, was created by Loveland artist Frank Garza.
Its unveiling will mark the culmination of a nearly two-year effort, which was sparked by Aragon-Mitotes' visit to a city dedication of Sugar Beet Park in the fall of 2019. The park, known for its large sugarbeet play structure, was built near the former site of Fort Collins' Great Western Sugar Co. factory and is in close proximity to the Tres Colonias neighborhoods.
"I loved the dedication, but it just talked about the sugar beets and not the people who picked them," Aragon-Mitotes said.
"I wanted to add to the story, so I took (the idea of a beet workers monument) back to my group at Mujeres de Colores," Aragon-Mitotes added, referring to the Northern Colorado nonprofit she founded and leads.
The monument's creation was quickly set in motion and Aragon-Mitotes — alongside Donna Visocky — led fundraising efforts for the project through Mujeres de Colores.
In all, more than $300,000 was raised for the monument and its surrounding plaza through a mix of personal donations and grants from organizations like Fort Collins Downtown Development Authority and Bohemian Foundation.
"This was about honoring Hispanic and Mexican beet workers and people were just really on board with it," Aragon-Mitotes said. "This has been completely community-driven — we've had people giving donations of $5 and up."
Ahead of the unveiling of The Hand That Feeds, Mujeres de Colores hosted a screening of Los Betabeloros, a documentary film about the contributions of northern Colorado's Hispanic and Mexican sugarbeet workers, on Oct. 1 at The Lincoln Center.
More showings of the film, which was produced by Aragon-Mitotes and directed by Fort Collins filmmaker Shari Due, will be announced on the Mujeres de Colores website. DVDs will also be sold at Saturday's monument unveiling.
The monument's introduction to Sugar Beet Park—billed as an "unbeetable unveiling and celebration," will run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The event will feature food trucks, traditional music and dance, and remarks from guest speakers Congressman Joe Neguse, Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt, Historian Nicki Gonzales, the city's Nina Bodenhamer, journalist Victoria Deleon and community member Chuck Solano.
A large turnout is expected at the unveiling so people are encouraged to bike to Sugar Beet Park or park in Odell Brewing Co.'s overflow parking lot off Buckingham Street and walk to the event if they are able. Parking at Sugar Beet Park and the city's nearby Streets facility should be reserved for older attendees, Aragon-Mitotes said.
While the event is outside, masks are encouraged.