This time-line illustrates some of the events and thought which
helped to shape Golden. Major historical events
and common day-to-day happenings which may have influenced
the lives of the people of Golden are included.
The population figures for Golden are from the United States census
taken at the beginning of each decade. Some of the numbers were
adjusted in later years (particularly for the first three decades
of the twentieth century), but the original numbers are presented
here.
In Golden:
60,000,000 Years Ago - Lava flowed out of fissures near
Ralston Reservoir to form the cap rock of North and South Table Mountains.
3,000 B.C. - A.D. 1,000 - Native peoples occupied the Magic Mountain Site along Apex Creek near Heritage Square.
In Colorado:
Approx. 10,000 B.C. - First evidence of humans in Colorado
A.D. I - A.D. 1300 - The Anasazi culture flourished in southwestern Colorado.
1541 - Coronado reached the borders of Colorado.
1763 - All of Colorado claimed by Spain.
1775 - 1776 - Dominguez and Escalante visited southwestern Colorado.
In General:
44 B.C. - Julius Caesar murdered.
1096-1221 - Crusades.
1352 B.C. - King Tutankhamen (a.k.a. "Tut") became Pharaoh.
79 - Pompeii buried by lava and ash from Mt. Vesuvius.
1492 - Christopher Columbus landed on a Caribbean island.
1680 - Pueblo revolt against Spanish control in New Mexico.
1776 - American Declaration of Independence signed.
1800 - United States population at 5,308,000.
Quotes:
"He saw the cities of many men and knew their manners."
Homer
"I always considered the settlement of America with
reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design
and providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation
of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." John
Adams, 1765
"Young men, there is America, which at this day serves
for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and
uncouth manners." Edmund Burke, 1775
" Sir, they are a race of convicts and ought to be grateful for anything we allow them short of hanging. " Samuel Johnson, 1776
In Golden:
In Colorado:
1800 - Spain ceded present eastern Colorado to France, retained western portion.
1820 - Explorer Major Stephen H. Long declared eastern Colorado to be part of the "Great American Desert".
Mid 1830's - Due to overtrapping, beaver population sharply declined in the Rocky Mountains.
1847 - End of the Mexican War - all of Colorado became United States Territory.
1806 - Zebulon M. Pike first attempted to reach the summit of the peak that now bears his name.
1833 - The four Bent brothers built Bent's Fort along the Arkansas River near present day La Junta.
In General:
1800-1850 - United States population increased 33% to 36% every ten years.
1803 - Louisiana Purchase (included eastern Colorado).
1806 - Lewis and Clark returned from the Pacific.
1830 - First wagons traveled on the Oregon Trail.
1838 - Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery.
1845 - Potato blight and famine in Ireland.
1847 - Mormons founded Salt Lake City.
1849 - California gold rush began.
Quotes:
"Each step which one takes from East to West, the size of all objects increases tenfold in volume. It seems that nature has made this corner of the terrestrial globe the most favorite of its immense sphere. The products which one discovers there in proportion as one goes into the interior are more majestic, more beautiful than elsewhere." Louis Vilemont, 1802
"It belongs of right to the United States to regulate the future destiny of North America. The country is ours; ours is the right to its rivers and to all the sources of future opulence, power and happiness." New York Evening Post, January 28, 1802
The vast sandy desert which, for the distance of five hundred miles from the feet of the Rocky Mountains, presents a frightful waste, scarcely less formidable to men and animals than the desert of Zahara." Benjamin Silliman, Expedition of Major Long and Party to the Rocky Mountains, 1823
In Golden:
1858 - Tom Golden first settled along Clear Creek (probably near the School of Mines football field) in what would later become Golden.
1859 - The Boston Company, with owner George West,
established Golden.
- The Boston Company Trading Post built on Clear Creek on what
would become Parfet Park.
- George West established the newspaper
The Western Mountaineer, which preceded The Colorado
Transcript and The Golden Transcript.
- The first bridge across Clear Creek built and operated as
a toll bridge.
In Colorado:
1851 - Village of San Luis founded.
1858 -Founding of Denver, Boulder, Pueblo and Arapaho City
(approximately 2 miles east of Golden).
1859 - Jefferson Territory established.
In General
1850 - California admitted to the Union.
- Only half the children born in the U.S. until this time reach the
age of 5 (this increased dramatically in following years).
- The U.S. has 254
daily papers, up from 138 in 1840.
1852 - Uncle Tom's Cabin published
1857 - First Currier and Ives prints issued.
1858 - First stagecoach line from St. Louis to the West Coast.
1859 - Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species
published.
Quotes:
"To be wholly devoted to some Intellectual exercise is to have succeeded at life." Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850
"The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison." Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850
In Golden:
1860 - First school established in Golden.
1862 - Golden became the Territorial Capital and extra provisions for the legislators (ice and whiskey) were procured.
1864 - Golden Flouring Mill opened.
1866 - W.A.H. Loveland Building (south portion of Silverheels), one of the first brick buildings in Golden, completed.
1866 - Burgess House built.
1867 - Astor House built.
- The Fire Brick Works established in Golden.
1861 - Colorado Territory created by Congress.
In Colorado:
1860 - Gold discovered in the vicinity of Leadville.
1864 - Silver vein discovered in Georgetown.
- Massacre of Arapahoe and Cheyenne peoples along Sand
Creek in southeastern Colorado.
1866 - Jefferson County had 1,782 people - Gilpin County had four times that population.
1867 - Denver became the territorial capital.
- Denver
declared "too dead to bury" as the Union Pacific by
passed Denver to go through Wyoming.
1869 - The Battle of Summit Springs fought in northeast Colorado; the last major confrontation with Plains Indians in Colorado.
In General:
1860 - U.S. population (34 states) approximately 31.4
million (36% increase over 1850) with another 32 million in the
territories and 300,000 Native Americans.
- South Carolina seceded from the Union.
1861 - Start of the Civil War.
- Treaty of Fort Wise confined Cheyennes and Arapahoes to a small
triangle of land on the plains.
1862 - Passage of the Homestead Act.
1863 - President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
1864 - Red Cross founded.
1865 - End of the Civil War.
1868 - Adolph Coors immigrated to New York to avoid service in the Prussian Army.
1869 - Transcontinental Railroad completed.
- First college football game.
Quotes:
"Too weak to sit erect, he was placed upon a featherbed in an ox-wagon, sleeping in the open air every night; and when, after fifty-one days, he reached the Rocky Mountains, he was enjoying comfortable health." A.D. Richardson, Our New States and Territories
"We found the workmen, with the regularity, of machinery, dropping each rail in place, spiking it down, and then seizing another. Behind them, the locomotive; before, the tie layers; beyond these the graders; and still further, in mountain recesses, the engineers. It was Civilization pressing westward -- the Conquest of nature moving toward the Pacific." Albert D. Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi
Golden's Population = 587
In Golden:
1870 - Population 587 (484 "native" and 103
"foreign", or 575 "white" and 12 "colored").
- Calvary Episcopal Church built.
1872 - The first smelter, The Golden Smelting Works, established.
- The First Presbyterian Church (now the Foothills Art Center)
built.
1873 - Adolph Coors opened a brewery in a former Golden
tannery.
- Everett Block (H.L. Foss & Co. Clothing Store)
built. It served as a bank until its owner and Golden's mayor,
Francis E. Everett, committed suicide in 1884.
- The Smith Block,
which was Rubey National Bank (now Chelsea of London, Clear Creek
Company, and The Country Mouse) built.
1874 - Colorado School of Mines established.
1879 - Elmus Smith grocery store (Woods Mortuary) built.
1870's - The Golden Opera House (Ace Hi Tavern) built.
In Colorado:
1870-1880 - Denver experienced a 388% increase in population in 10 years.
1870 - Railroad reached Denver and Golden.
1873 - Joslin Dry Goods Company opened in Denver. One of the clerks was a young man named J.C. Penney.
1876 - Colorado became a state.
1878 - Leadville incorporated and the silver rush began. The town business census listed 31 restaurants, 17 barber shops, 51 groceries, 4 banks, and 120 saloons.
1879 - Leadville's Tabor Opera House completed.
In General:
1870 - U.S. population had increased 27% since 1860.
- The Democratic Party symbol, the donkey, first appeared in a caricature
of Boss Tweed.
- Rockefeller founded Standard Oil.
1872 - Yellowstone became the first National Park.
1876 - Colonel George Armstrong Custer lost his life along
the Little Bighorn Creek in southeastern Montana.
- National Baseball
League formed.
- Mark Twain published Tom Sawyer.
1877 - Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
1879 - Thomas Edison created the first electric light.
Quotes:
"Can anyone remember when the times were not hard, and money
not scarce?"
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1870
"Patience and tenacity of purpose are worth more than twice
their weight of cleverness."
Thomas Henry Huxley, 1876
"The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most." Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1870
"Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lonely action." James Russell Lowell, 1870
Golden's Population = 2,730
In Golden:
1880 - The Golden vicinity had 5 smelters, 3 brick works, 6 coal mines, 3 flour mills, 2 breweries, 3 lime kilns, 2 quarries and 1 paper mill.
1881 - The State Industrial School (Lookout Mountain
School) founded.
- Golden had 22 industrial plants, 52 retail stores, and eight
hotels.
1882 - The Bella Vista Hotel built on the site where Mitchell School now stands. The hotel was razed in 1920.
1889 - Ten men killed when water floods the White Ash Coal Mine near what is now the CSM athletic field. Their bodies remain entombed 730 feet below the ground surface.
In Colorado:
1880 - Colorado population increased
387% since 1870.
1881 - The Ute people removed from their homeland.
1882 - Town of Grand Junction founded.
1883 - First electric lights in Denver.
1886 - Two million sheep in Colorado.
1888 - Wetherill Brothers discovered Mesa Verde ruins.
- Town of Limon founded.
In General:
1880's - Nearly 550,000 English and
440,000 Irish immigranted into U.S.
- 5.25 million total immigrants entered
the United States.
1880 - U.S. population up 26% since 1870.
1881 - The U.S. had more than 100 millionaires, up from 20 in 1840.
1884 - Mark Twain published Huckleberry Finn
1885 - First automobile built in Germany by Karl
Benz.
- George Eastman marketed first box camera.
1886 - Statue of Liberty dedicated by President
Grover Cleveland.
Quotes:
"The women were brave beyond belief, taken from all the things they had become accustomed to, leaving old home, friends, relatives, churches, schools, medical aid, they with Spartan courage burned their bridges behind them to follow and serve their loved..." Adda B. Doughty, Memories of Pioneer Days of 1886
"The press, the machine, the railway, the telegraph are premises whose thousand-year conclusion no one has yet dare to draw." Friedrich Nietzsche, 1880
"We would not let ourselves be bound to death for our opinions; we are not sure enough of them for that. But perhaps for the right to have our opinions and to change them." Friedrich Nietzsche, 1880
Golden's Population = 2,383
In Golden:
1892 -The Nankivel & Jones Building (on the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and 10th Street) built as a grocery store with the motto "quick sales and small profits."
1896 - Clear Creek flood killed several people in the Golden/Morrison vicinity.
1899 - Ordinance passed prohibiting donkeys, cows and sheep from running loose in the street.
In Colorado:
1890 - Denver's population reached 106,713 (up from 35,000
in 1880), representing one quarter of the state's population.
-
Colorado population increased 113% in ten years.
1891 - Gold discovered in Cripple Creek.
1892 - The Brown Palace Hotel opened.
- First asphalt street paving in Denver.
1893 - Colorado became the second state to extend suffrage to women (Wyoming was the first).
1894 - Colorado State Capital Building built.
1895 - The Ice Palace in Leadville, covering 5 acres, completed.
In General:
1890 - The U.S. had 125,000 miles of railroad in
operation.
- Yosemite was named a national park.
- U.S. population increased 26% in ten years.
- Battle
of Wounded Knee in South Dakota.
1893 - Silver crash
1893-1897 - Severe financial depression in the United States.
1895 - Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis.
1898 - Hawaii annexed.
- Spanish-American War.
Quotes:
"The Golden Prohibition club meets every Saturday night in
the hall over Nankivel & Jones' store. All who are interested
in the cause of Prohibition are invited to attend. The following
subject will be open for discussion on next Saturday evening:
Resolve, that the saloons of Golden are a benefit to the town."
Colorado Transcript, January 20,1892
"To Watson and Gibson, New York: Denver, June 28 -- Inside of sixty days 150,000 men will be out of employment. 500,000 people will be entering the verge of starvation. We will repudiate all our bonds and obligations due to the east, as we have no money to even pay the interest. It will bring about a new Declaration of independence and the establishment of a Western Empire." E.R. Holden, Rocky Mountain News, June 29, 1863
"The Mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation." William McKinley, 1898
Golden's Population = 2,152
In Golden:
1901 - Alferd Packer, recently paroled, worked as a ranch hand on the Rooney Ranch.
1902 - The Table Mountain Resort opened with bowling and evening dance.
1905 - In June, the School of Mines graduated 48
mining engineers.
-Golden High School graduated 21; the largest class in history.
1906 - Coors Building (north portion of Silverheels)
built as a saloon by Adolph Coors.
- George West died.
In Colorado:
1900-1930 - Denver's population more than doubled in 30 years.
- Colorado's population increased 31% in ten years.
1902 - 200 automobiles in Denver.
1902-1907 - President Roosevelt established 14 National Forests in Colorado.
1906 - First coins issued by U.S. Mint in Denver.
- Mesa Verde National Park established.
1907 - Design for state flag adopted.
In General:
1900-1940 - U.S. population increased by 73%.
1900 - U.S. population up 2l% in ten years.
- Average age of death in the U.S. was 47.
- Boxer Rebellion in China.
- U.S. population reached 76 million.
1901-1910 - 8,795,000 immigrants came to the U.S.
1903 - The Wright Brothers flew their first airplane.
1906 - San Francisco earthquake.
1908 - Ford introduced the Model "T'.
1910 -The permanent wave, introduced by Swiss born London
hairdresser Charles Nestler, took 8-10 hours and cost $1,000.
Quotes:
"In fact, a good part of the population consists of people who were sent out to this country to die. After remaining a short time they concluded this was a pretty decent sort of world after all, braced up, and developed into robust and substantial citizens." Illustrated Golden and Vicinity, 1902
"Golden has been subject to something over its quota of "knocking" in days gone by, and it cannot be denied that a considerable amount of this emanated from her own citizens. Some were possessed of the evil spirit of greed and avarice to such a degree that prospective industries were driven elsewhere. Others calmly fell into a lethargic stupor..." Illustrated Golden and Vicinity, 1902
Golden's Population = 2,477
In Golden:
1910 - The "M" on Lookout Mountain created.
1911 - The Gem Theater (with the Golden Athletic Club on the second floor), now Steve's Corner, built. During the Depression, sacks of groceries were given to winning ticket holders.
1913 - The National Guard Armory Building, made from local
cobblestones (possibly the largest cobble stone building in the
country) built for $30,000.
- A funicular to transport people to Castle Rock completed. The
ride, which cost 25 cents, was in an open car with the descending
car pulling up the ascending car. A dance pavilion was built at
the summit.
- The Adolph Coors Company was incorporated.
- Foss Drug established. The original Foss building was 22'x 60'.
It has now been expanded to over 50,000 square feet.
1916 - Colorado went dry and nearly 17,400 gallons of beer was liberated into Clear Creek. The Coors Brewery waited out prohibition making malted milk, near beer, pottery and porcelain.
1917 - William "Buffalo Bill" Cody buried on
Lookout Mountain.
In Colorado:
1910 - Colorado population increased
48% in ten years. Over the next 40 years, Colorado's population
increased by less than 18% per decade.
- First airplane flight into Denver.
1914 - As labor troubles escalated, federal troops opened fire on the Ludlow mining camp near Trinidad, killing many civilians, including 2 women and 11 children.
1915 - Rocky Mountain National Park created by Congress.
In General:
1910 - Mark Twain died at age 74.
1912 - U.S. population increased 20% in ten years.
1914 - Edgar Rice Burroughs published first Tarzan novel.
- World War 1 began.
- Panama Canal opened (50.7 miles long)
1916 - Mechanical home refrigerator marketed for first time at cost of $900.
1917 - United States entered World War I.
1918 - World War 1 ended. Colorado lost 1,009 soldiers.
- U.S. inventor, Charles Strite, invented first automatic pop-up
toaster.
1919-1921 - Russian civil war--"Red Scare" widespread
in the U.S.
Quotes:
"Denver just now wants to annex only 40 acres of Jefferson
County, but I've a notion that's simply an opening wedge. The
big grab will come sooner or later if people are willing to stand
for it."
The Colorado Transcript, November 13,1917
"When the Germans torpedoed the Lusitania and America went
to war, Adolph Coors' allegiance to Germany came to an abrupt
end. Overnight the official language of both family and brewery
changed to English, and Germany, the enemy of his adopted country,
became his enemy in every sense of the word."
William Coors, Rocky Mountain News, April 4,1982
"My only direct personal interest comes from the fact that
the mines in two of our counties alone have made several hundred
orphans in the last four years and these orphans come to me in
the Juvenile Court in many instances."
Judge Ben Lindsey, The New York Times, May
24,1914
Golden's Population = 2,484
In Golden:
1922 - Plans were underway to pave Ford Street.
- Sixty members
of the Ku Klux Klan held a ceremony just south of Golden.
- Wm.
Geick, whose still was discovered on the east side of North Table
Mountain, told police that he brewed 45 bottles a week but that
it was strictly for home use.
1923 - The Berrimore Hotel, which become the Le Ray Hotel, the Holland House and, currently, the Table Mountain Inn, built.
1924 - The Golden Junior High building (now the home of the American Alpine Club
and Colorado Mountain Club) built. It later became the first
accredited high school in the state.
- The Fair 5 and 10 Store opened.
- Washington Avenue paved for
the first time.
- Members of the Kiwanis Club purchased the city dump, cleaned it up,
and created a park named after their former president, Parfet.
1925 - Coors Porcelain began operation.
1927 - The Golden Woodmen Lodge (Buffalo Rose) built.
-
Dance pavilion on Castle Rock burned.
In Colorado:
1921 - Disastrous flood in Pueblo. More than 100 people were killed and damage exceeded $20,000,000.
1922 - First commercial radio license in Colorado issued.
1927 - Moffat Tunnel completed at a cost of $18,000,000.
1929 - Mattie Silks, Denver's most notorious scarlet
lady, died at age 88.
- Construction began on Trail Ridge Road.
In General:
1920 - U.S. population increased by 17% in
ten years.
- Women's right to vote recognized.
1920-1933 - National Prohibition.
1925 - 40,000 Ku Klux Klansmen marched on Washington
D.C.
- Al Capone took over as boss of Chicago bootlegging.
1926 - Rudolph Valentino died.
1927 - Charles Lindbergh made first solo non-stop flight
from New York to Paris.
- Mae West found guilty of lewd improvisations.
1929 - Stock market crashed on Black Thursday (October 24).
- First color T.V. demonstrated.
- Wyatt Earp died at age 80.
Quotes:
"To the itinerant worker, or the bored "vacationists"
- those people who visit hundreds of towns each year - Golden
is one of the most beautiful and interesting spots that one may
see. Surrounded by the wonders of nature and filled with people
that are home loving and hospital, Golden is truly a city worthy
of the mighty state of Colorado in which it lies."
Arthur
S. Rudd, University of Oregon student, Colorado Transcript,
July 27, 1922
"Civilization and profits go hand in hand." Calvin Coolidge, Speech, November 27,1920
"Your next door neighbor is not a man: He is an environment. He is the barking of a dog; he is the noise of a pianola, he is a dispute about a party wall; he is drains that are worse than yours, or roses that are better than yours." G.K. Chesterson, 1920
"History repeats itself, historians repeat each other." Phillip Guedalla, 1920
Golden's Population = 2,128
In Golden:
1931 - Train service between Golden and Central City/Blackhawk discontinued.
1932 - Woods Mortuary held an Open House in April.
1935 - Golden West Real Estate building constructed.
1937 - Central School which later became Mitchell Elementary School built.
1939 - Train service between Golden and Georgetown/Silver Plume discontinued.
Late 1930s - Frederick Allen "Heinie" Foss took
over the management of Foss Drug Store.
In Colorado:
1930 - There were eight cities in Colorado with populations of 10,000 or more.
1932-1938 - Drought and dust storms ravaged eastern Colorado.
1932 - Great Sand Dunes National Monument created.
1933 - Cherry Creek floods caused substantial
damage in downtown Denver.
- Colorado National Monument and Black Canyon of the Gunnison
National Monument created.
1934 - Red Rocks Amphitheater opened.
1935 - Baby Doe Tabor found frozen to death at the Matchless Mine in Leadville.
In General:
1930s - Worldwide economic depression
1930 - U.S. population had increased by 16% in ten years.
- The planet Pluto was discovered.
- The Empire State Building, with 102 stories, opened.
1933 - Prohibition ended.
1934 - Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker killed in a police ambush.
1935 - Oklahoma City installed the country's first parking meter.
1936 - Spanish Civil War began.
1939 World War II began.
Quotes:
"And from this, the plains were burned as if fire had swept
them clean... here and there, ranch homes stood out above the
flatness... and they were in many cases deserted, the windows
broken. the door barred, the windmills still, not turning in the
prairie wind, and the few trees planted near the ranches were
dead or dying; the whole countryside looked as if a terrible plague
had struck it." Dorothy C. Hogner, Westward:
High and Dry
"There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong." G. K. Chesterton, 1931
Golden's Population = 3,175
In Golden:
1940 - Downtown Golden's Welcome Arch (conceived by
Lu Holland of the Holland House Hotel) built.
- Golden Post Office
built.
1945 - Meyer's Hardware and Sporting Goods Store opened.
1946 - Piggly Wiggly store opened in Golden.
- 21 moveable apartment buildings that had been used by officers during
the war were moved to Golden to accommodate 80 veteran G.I. School
of Mines students.
1947 - Golden's rapid growth necessitated the addition of
more phone lines and the addition of 3 new switchboard operators.
- Ham was 49 cents a pound and a box of Ritz crackers was 13 cents
at Safeway.
1949 - Golden established the first zoning ordinances.
In Colorado.:
1940 - Fifteen radio stations served Colorado.
1942-1945 - The Granada Relocation Camp (Amache) in southeast Colorado detained up to 7,000 Japanese-Americans.
1945 - Skiing in Aspen gained popularity.
1946 - The Colorado Emergency Polio Committee recommended closing all public playgrounds, swimming pools, amusement parks, Sunday schools and other places children congregated.
In General:
1940 - U.S. population had increased by 7% in ten years.
- The U.S. imported 70% of the world's coffee crop, up from 50% in
1934.
1941 - The United States entered World War II following the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
- First nylon stockings went on sale in the United States.
1943 - Rodgers and Hammerstein premiered "Oklahoma".
1945 - Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War ended.
1948-1949 - Berlin airlift.
1949 - Germany's Volkswagen began commercial production and their cars were introduced in the U.S. - 2 cars sold.
Quotes:
"NO RESTRAINTS WOULD MEAN POVERTY FOR ALL: A lot of selfish people want all restrictions of government removed - they are usually very well to do - and are the ones who have profited most from the safeguards of our democratic form of government. 'Get while the getting is good, no matter who it hurts,' is their motto. These people want all the benefits of government but none of the restrictions." The Golden Transcript, August 1, 1946
"Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be." George Orwell, 1940
"The future is made of the same stuff as the present." Simone Weil, 1940
"The individual whose vision encompasses the whole world often feel nowhere so hedge in and out of touch with his surroundings as in his native land." Emma Goldman, 1940
Golden's Population = 5,238
In Golden:
1950 - First building codes in Golden established.
1951 - Safeway moved from downtown
to Ford Street.
- Last year of classes at the Guy Hill School in Golden Gate Canyon.
1953 - Jefferson County Courthouse, built in 1895, razed.
1954 - Golden Planning Commission established.
1955 - City Council grappled with parking problems in downtown Golden and traffic congestion on some of the city streets.
1957 - Hested's Department Store built.
1958 - The Colorado Railroad Museum founded.
- First Interstate Bank/Goldenbank/Norwest bank building completed.
In Colorado:
1950 - Colorado population increased 26-31 % each decade for the next thirty years.
1951 - Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant began operation.
1952 - Cherry Creek Dam and Reservoir completed.
1955 - U.S. Air Force Academy established in
Colorado Springs.
- NORAD completed.
In General:
1950 - Korean War began.
- Diners Club founded.
1953 - Senator McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunt.
1955 - The U.S. had 30,000 motels, up from 10,000 in 1935.
- Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.
- Jonas E. Salk discovered polio vaccine.
1958 - Boeing 707 went into service.
1959 - Alaska and Hawaii became states.
Quotes:
"There is a hate layer of opinion and emotion in America. There will be other McCarthys to come who will be hailed as heroes." Max Lerner, 1950
"Sure the people are stupid: the human race is stupid. Sure Congress is an inefficient instrument of government. But the people are not stupid enough to abandon representative government for any other kind, including government by the guy who knows." Bernard Devoto, Sometimes They Vote Right Too, 1955
"It is the awareness of the unfulfilled desire which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny." Eric Huffer, The Passionate State of Mind, 1955
"We mean by politics the people's business - the most important business there is." Adlai Stevenson, 1955
"The concept of public welfare is broad and inclusive. The
values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic
as well as monetary. It is within the power of the legislature
to determine that the community should be beautiful as well as
healthy, spacious as well as clean, well balanced as well as carefully
patrolled." U.S. Supreme Court, 1954
Golden's Population = 7,118
In Golden:
1961 - Buildings housing City Hall, Police and Fire Departments, and Recreation Center were built.
1962 - Hested's Luncheonette advertised a Pork Chop Dinner (with golden french fries, crisp salad, roll and butter) for 99 cents.
1963 - The new Jefferson County Courthouse near north Washington Avenue dedicated.
1967 - The Transcript, which has been published since 1870, moved from
the Colorado Transcript Building at 1115 Washington Avenue.
- Golden became a home rule city.
1968 - The original First Presbyterian Church building converted into the
Foothills Art Center.
- The Beverly Heights Estates subdivision began with 112 lots
and custom homes selling for $20,000-$40,000.
- City Council passed an ordinance approving PUD (Planned Unit Development)
zoning.
In Colorado:
1962 - Vail ski area opened.
1968 - Interstate 70 through Mt. Vernon Canyon completed.
In General:
1961 - Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union was the first person to orbit the Earth, on April 12.
1962 - John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth,
on February 7.
- Cuban Missile Crisis.
1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1964 - The Beatles made their first trip to America.
- Start of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
- G.I. Joe introduced by Hasbro.
1965 - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formed.
1966 - Twiggy and miniskirts filled the fashion pages.
1968 - Volkswagen captured 57% of the U.S. import market.
1969 - Woodstock.
- Men landed on the moon.
Quotes:
"We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us." Winston Churchhill, Time Magazine, 1960
"The mark of a true politician is that he is never at a loss for words because he is always half-expecting to be asked to make a speech." Richard Nixon, 1960
"If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary
for everything to change."
Guiseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, The Leopard, 1960
Golden's Population = 9,817
In Golden:
1970 - The original Golden Public Library building built.
- Heritage Square opened.
1972 - Golden Landmarks Association saved the Astor House from becoming a parking lot.
1973 - The City of Golden encompassed 4,438 acres,
900 of which were undeveloped.
- The Golden City Council adopted the first subdivision regulations.
1976 - The Guy Hill School moved from Golden Gate Canyon to a location near the former Mitchell Elementary School.
1977 - A public hearing held to discuss annexation of Pleasant View to Golden.
1979 - The Loveland Building (now the southern portion of Silverheels) became the Mercantile Co. restaurant.
In Colorado:
1972 - Governor Lamm headed a successful fight against Colorado hosting the 1976 Winter Olympics.
1973 - The Eisenhower Tunnel opened.
1976 - The Big Thompson River Canyon flooded resulting in 145 deaths.
1978 - The Broncos lost the Super Bowl to the Dallas Cowboys.
In General:
1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency was established.
1972 - Watergate break-in led to President Nixon's resignation.
1974 - Patty Hearst kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1975 - Saigon fell and the Vietnam War ended.
1976 - Israeli raid at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda frees
105 hostages.
- Viking I landed on Mars and sent back photographs.
1977 - West Point allowed females to enroll.
1979-1981 - Iran Hostage crisis.
Quotes:
"While metropolitan Denver engulfs the area with its accompanying
problems of growth, Golden, with its unique boundaries and a cohesive
population, refuses to be completely absorbed. It is one of the
few communities in the area to retain a small town atmosphere
and a cross section of people."
The League of Women Voters, Golden: Challenging Past
and Future, 1973
"The Jefferson County Board of Adjustment gave the final nod to allow gravel mining to begin mining gravel and aggregate atop North Table Mountain, but the special attorney for the City of Golden vowed he would seek a court injunction to stop it." The Golden Daily Transcript, January 11, 1973
Golden's Population = 12,237
In Golden
1982 - Public hearings held on proposed development of the Foss land in north Golden (a.k.a. Mesa Meadows).
1983 - Historic Preservation ordinance passed.
- The Twelfth Street Historic District established.
1988 - Tripp Ranch development approved by City Council.
- 0.R. Goltra submited plans to open 320 acre Sheep Mountain quarry.
1989 - Public hearings held on Canyon Point development.
- Burger King opened in Golden.
- Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA) established.
In Colorado:
1982 - "Black Sunday", May 2, Exxon pulled out of the oil shale Colony Project and started a ripple effect which resulted in the oil bust.
1983 - First automated teller machine in Colorado.
In General:
1980 - Mount St. Helens erupted.
- CNN goes on the air.
1981 - Walter Cronkite went off the air.
- First space shuttle flight.
- IBM introduced the first personal computer.
1982 - Break up of AT& T.
- American public first became aware of AIDS.
1986 - The space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch.
1987 - Gary Hart dropped his bid to become president.
1989 - The Berlin Wall dismantled.
- The oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground in Prince William Sound
in Alaska.
Quotes:
"In the minds of most, if not all major retailers, a store in Golden is considered a store in downtown Denver. When they look at our demographics and count our rooftops, they decide we don't have the population base they need to start a new business here since we're this close to Denver. And that's what has killed us from a retail standpoint. We need more bodies." Ed Enger, Golden Transcript, publisher and member of the Golden Economic Council, Denver Business, February, 1986
"It's damn near as hard to get anything built here as it
is in Boulder."
Paul D. Barron, Golden developer, Sunday Camera Magazine,
February 16, 1986
"A local entrepreneur will ask officials of this historic city to consider a multimillion dollar redevelopment plan, featuring a hotel-convention center and a monorail system "just like the one at Disneyland", the Rocky Mountain News has learned. Ronald Weiszmann said he hopes his plan will prevent Golden - Colorado's first capital - from becoming "a ghost town." The Rocky Mountain News, December 23, 1986
Golden's Population = 13,116
In Golden:
1992 - Plans for the Clear Creek Living History Ranch Park
underway. Table Mountain Inn opened.
- Downtown streetscape renovation project completed.
1993 - Golden City Brewery founded.
- Vision 2010 Comprehensive Plan adopted.
- Jefferson County Courthouse is completed.
1994 - Golden Community Center completed.
1995 - New public restrooms opened
downtown.
- Community held a series of meetings concerning growth.
- Steve's Corner's white horse burned and was replaced with a black
horse.
In Colorado:
1990 - Colorado population increased 14% since 1980.
- Voters approved limited stakes gambling in three mountain towns.
1995 - Denver International Airport opened.
In General:
1990 - East and West Germany reunited after 43 years of separation.
- Soviet Union began to fall apart.
- U.S. prisons had 1.3 million
inmates, twice as many as in 1980.
1991 - U.S. population topped 250 million.
- Operation Desert Storm began February 24 and lasted 100 hours.
- Clarence Thomas faced Anita Hill during his Supreme Court confirmation
hearings.
1992 - U.S. national debt topped $3 trillion.
1994 - Baseball players went on strike, canceling the World
Series for the first time in 90 years.
- Los Angeles rocked by earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter
Scale.
- O.J. Simpson arrested and put on trial for the murders of
his ex-wife and her friend.
1995 - The Federal Building in Oklahoma City bombed, killing 164 people.
Quotes:
"Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate,
is better understood as its by-product."
Christopher Latsch, The Lost Art of Political Argument,
1990
"One of the extraordinary things about human events is that
the unthinkable becomes thinkable."
Salman Rushdie, 1990
"We live in a world where amnesia is the most wished for state. When did history become a bad word?' John Guare. 1990
The information concerning events in Golden was gathered from
a variety of sources. Among
those used were:
The League of Women Voters annual reports
Golden, The 19th Century, A Colorado Chronicle.
Lorraine Wagenbach and Jo Ann Thistlewood. Harbinger House, Littleton,
1987
The Shining Mountains.
Georgina Brown. B & B Printers, Gunnison. 1976
The 1989 Survey of Historic Buildings in Downtown Golden.
R. Laurie Simmons and Christine Whitacre, Front Range Research
Associates, Inc.
Report on file at the City of Golden Planning and Development
Department.
Survey of Golden Historic Buildings.
by R. Laurie Simmons and Christine Whitacre, Front Range Research
Associates, Inc.
Report on file at the City of Golden Planning and Development
Department.
Golden Survey of Historic Buildings, 1991.
R. Laurie Simmons and Thomas H. Simmons. Front Range Research
Associates, Inc.
Report on file at the City of Golden Planning and Development
Department.
Denver: Mining Camp to Metropolis
Stephen J. Leonard and Thomas J. Noel, University Press of Colorado,
Niwot. 1990
Golden Branch of the Jefferson County Public Library.
Clipping Files