Some news days are better than others. In looking through a century and a half worth of January 31 editions of the Transcript, I came up with several items that would make good articles. Here they are in brief:
1918 – The U.S. had entered World War I, and the federal government had instituted “Victory Rationing.” Each household was to observe one meatless, two wheatless, and two porkless days each week.
1929 – A car plunged over a sixty-foot embankment near the old cemetery north of Golden. The driver suffered internal injuries and six broken ribs. Her seven year old son was thrown clear of the car and escaped uninjured.
1935 – Golden businessmen honored 84 year old William Sarell on his birthday. Sarell arrived in Golden in 1864. His wife of 58 years had arrived in 1874, so he wasn’t sure that she qualified as “a pioneer.” Sarell owned the hardware store that later became Meyer Hardware.
1946 – Despite Golden’s housing shortage, returning GI’s were pouring into the School of Mines. “They didn’t win the war by getting discouraged, and they are not discouraged now–even when they have to endure hardships comparable with the fox holes.”
1952 – Television was coming to Colorado “so we will be engulfed in the arguments of what’s right and what’s wrong for children to see on television.” Interesting that the subject was the first thing people thought of when anticipating television.
1963 – Foss Drug was celebrating 50 years. The previous year, Mr. Foss had purchased land for a 75-car parking lot at 13th and Arapahoe. “It did not take long before a ‘no vacancy’ sign could have been displayed during most peak shopping hours….” More recently, Foss had purchased land across the street, at 12th and Arapahoe, for use as a 20-car employee parking lot.
1978 – A town meeting was called to discuss how to spend $100,000 raised by the Civic Foundation to improve downtown. Participants favored brick sidewalks, benches, and flower boxes. Other suggestions included adding parking lots, eliminating parking on Washington Avenue, adding a park with entertainment features, bulldozing Hested’s, turning Hested’s into a shopping mall, making downtown look more western, adding a trolley, and eliminating the arch.
1991 - Coors Ceramics Company was asking City Council to vacate half a block of 9th Street next to their plant. (That half block will be re-opened as part of the Clayworks project.) Jack and Joy Brandt received the Civic Award from the Golden Chamber for their many community efforts, ranging from heading the Civic Foundation auction to working on the Golden High School After-Prom Party. Governor Roy Romer had given the keynote address at the Chamber's annual banquet.