Stanley Marketplace: Aurora's living room in an old ejection-seat factory

Order a taco at Stanley Marketplace and you are standing inside a factory that once helped pilots cheat death. Robert Stanley, the first American to fly a jet, opened this plant near old Stapleton Airport in 1954. According to History Colorado, the building started at nearly five acres and grew from there. Inside, workers designed and tested ejection seats for military aircraft, including downward-firing seats meant to fling a crew member clear of a fast jet, and the rocket-powered Yankee system that yanked a pilot straight up and out of the cockpit.

The plant kept making aerospace parts until it closed in 2007. Instead of a teardown, the brick shell was renovated into Stanley Marketplace, helped by state historic preservation tax credits. Today it holds more than 50 locally owned businesses, from restaurants and a brewery to shops, fitness studios, and family events, all under the original sawtooth roofline.

It is an easy, low-key stop just off Interstate 70 in northwest Aurora. Come hungry, wander the open hall, and look up at the bones of the building while you eat. For hours, the current tenant list, and the full Stanley Aviation backstory, check the marketplace’s own history page and History Colorado, linked below.