Auraria, Denver’s oldest neighborhood, predates the city’s establishment, and its history neatly encompasses the city’s founding, its development, and its redevelopment as a modern urban center. As a contemporary Denver neighborhood, Auraria is synonymous with the Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC), opened in 1976, and home to the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. The neighborhood forms a rough triangle, bounded on the south by Colfax Avenue, with the South Platte River to the west and Speer Boulevard to the east, roughly the line of Cherry Creek, converging at today’s Confluence Park. Lincoln Park, immediately south of Colfax Avenue, follows the same west and east boundaries as Auraria, with Sixth Avenue as its southern boundary.