Tourists, students walk by history and don’t even know it
Hiking in the shadow of Boulder’s Flatirons on the McClintock Trail a careful eye will notice something hidden, something many current CU students have never even noticed: the letters CU.
Located at the top of the third Flatiron the now rock-colored letters are difficult to see, but like a magic eye one glimpse and you will notice the letters forever.
On a clear day the enigmatic graffiti can be seen from as far away as the corner of 28th and Pearl. Boulder Open Space and Mountain Park Ranger Rick Hatfield gives talks in Chautauqua Park and says most visitors are surprised when he points out the faded lettering.
“Almost unanimously people don’t realize it,” Hatfield said
Five year Boulder resident Peter Halligan was shocked to learn of the graffiti and had never heard of it.
Lilly Gaultier, another Boulder resident, giggled while recalling the first time she noticed the mysterious lettering.
“We were hiking up on Chautauqua and all of a sudden there it was a giant CU. I thought I was hallucinating,” she said. “After debating with my friends on the reality of the CU we determined it was in fact real.”
Dating back to the 1920s, student groups at CU discussed putting a large C somewhere on Flagstaff Mountain similar to the M on Mt. Zion in nearby Golden. These discussions soon turned to the Boulder community itself which decided against putting anything on the mountainside.
A persistent student voice continued into the 1940s advocating the creation of large CU lettering. Finally unknown vandals took it into their own hands painting a C on the first flatiron. City officials caught the vandals and forced them to clean it up. Hatfield has never found any trace of the first C.
In the 1950s a second unknown student scaled the third flatiron painting the C visible today in bright white lettering. Five years later the U was painted.
Twice rival schools have altered the lettering. Denver university students changed the C to D creating DU and Oklahoma students changed the C to an O creating OU. On both occasions brave CU students climbed the third flatiron to fix the lettering.
Over the next twenty years city officials constantly attempted to paint over the lettering, but every time CU students fought back with a fresh coat of white paint. Hatfield is baffled at the accuracy of the graffiti. He said it was possibly plotted out with much planning and preparation.
During the 1970s the city of Boulder successfully covered the illegal letters by painting them rock-tone. At this time Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks became organized and began staffing full time rangers in Chautauqua Park.
Hatfield said this could be why students stopped repainting the lettering white. Another reason Hatfield gave why the letters where never repainted was the changing environmental ethic.
OSMP has no plans to remove the vast layers of paint off the rock, but would be forced to do so if someone repainted it white. Hatfield said that there would be a public outcry if the letters were painted white today. He said the rock tone paint is fading revealing old layers of white, thus making the CU more visible.
“We need to have a community discussion about what to do and come up with a plan,” Hatfield said concerning the future of the graffiti, “because now it is part of Boulder’s history.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jimy Valenti at James.Valenti@Colorado.edu.
