6:30PM The Historic Preservation Board meets tonight in City Council Chambers. They will be asked to approve changes to 2007 East Street. This home is within the East Street Historic district but is considered a non-contributing structure. The owners plan to replace their single car garage with a 2 car garage including an apartment on the second floor and a finished basement below. They also want to add a mud room to the back of their house. The Board will also discuss a first draft of the application to get Historic Designation for the Astor House. After the business meeting they will hold a study session. They will discuss a draft Historic Structure Report for the Astor House; direct funds to surveying remaining areas needed to create a Territorial District, and discuss the Heart of Golden (the City’s plan to redesign the property that fronts Clear Creek, including the newly-acquired Goosetown property). For more information on any of these topics, see the agenda.
More Monday Events:
10:15AM Toddler Time at the Library
11:15AM Let’s Dance at the Library
12:15PM Preschool Time at the Library
2PM Microsoft Excel: Basics at the Library
6PM Make It Count MAGIC Monday at the Buffalo Rose
6PM Bee-Engaged: An Average Joe’s Guide to Honeybees at the Library
6:30PM Historic Preservation Board Meeting
7:30PM Nar-Anon Family Group at Calvary Episcopal (map)
Monday Music:
6PM Fireside Pickers at New Terrain Brewing
6:30PM Open Mic Night at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
The Downtown Parking Saga – Part 2
Yesterday, I wrote about the first 30 years of Golden’s learning to accommodate automobiles in downtown. It was a never-ending battle. Golden has always attracted its share of non-residents: it’s the County seat, so all Jefferson County residents come to Golden to transact County business; the School of Mines and Coors both bring people to central Golden, downtown Golden was the commercial center for the ranches and farms that surrounded it, and Golden has always attracted tourists.
The City responded to the ever-increasing number of cars by widening the streets and trying to use available space more efficiently. Yesterday, I left you with this cliffhanger:
In 1954, the Planning Commission said we must either widen more streets to allow more diagonal parking or buy a half block, raze the buildings, and provide a parking lot.
More Street Widening
As it turned out, we did both–and more! Throughout the late 1950s, the City widened the downtown streets and added stripes for diagonal parking. With those changes, the City estimated that downtown could go from 60 parking spaces to 110. Arapahoe Street “went diagonal” in 1957.
Denver Public Library Western History Collection # Z-12056In 1957, the City doubled the price of business licenses and raised the mill levy to finance purchase of downtown property to be used as parking lots. Not content to wait for public parking, Heinie Foss purchased a large home and yard behind his store to be turned into a parking lot. In 1959, Mr. Foss bought the other home behind his store–the home that had belonged to Gertrude Bell (of Bell Middle School fame). Both houses were demolished and the land made available for Foss customers.
In 1961, the Chamber of Commerce purchased the old Baptist Church at 12th and Jackson, to be demolished and used as a public parking lot. The Baptist parsonage followed in 1962, and eventually they were able to acquire that entire half-block, behind the stores in the 1300 block. It served as a 48-slot public parking lot until GURA built the parking garage and sold the 12th and 13th Street ends of the lot for development in the 2010s.
Golden’s new municipal center on 10th Street opened in 1961, and the old city hall on 12th Street (between the Old Capitol Grill building and the Astor House) was demolished to make way for more public parking.
More buildings were razed: the Catholic Church became the Coors visitor parking lot; the Methodist Church became the Holland House (now the Table Mountain Inn) parking lot. Homes near downtown made way for new businesses with their own parking lots.
In 1971, the Downtown Development Authority voted to acquire the 1867 Astor House and turn it into a parking lot.
Come back tomorrow to see how that turned out…
Preview of Tuesday Events:
9:15AM Baby Time at the Library
10AM Everything Dinosaur Talk: Thyreophora Part 1 (Stegosaurs)
10:15AM Toddler Time at the Library
11:15AM Toddler Time at the Library
New Exhibit Opening at the Railroad Museum: Railroads and the American Industrial Landscape
1PM Hexie Ladies English Paper Piecing Group at the Quilt Museum
2PM Introduction to Computers at the Library
2PM Golden Chamber’s South Golden Merchants’ Meeting
5PM Golden Landmarks Association Board Meeting
5:30PM Golden Library Textile Society
6:30PM Intro to Improv at Miners Alley
