63 Years Ago
The March 1, 1962 Colorado Transcript described the history of the National Guard Camp on South Golden Road. The article quoted Transcript founder George West’s grandson, Neil West Kimball. He recalled that area as
...wide open space just right for an exciting Sunday holiday. On such an occasion there were horse-drawn caravans, wagons piled high with yelping dogs and their owners, shrieking children of all ages and kegs of Coors beer heading out of town on the South Golden Road.
He added that greyhound racing was popular at the time, and people would gather there to watch the races.
The area was later used by a rifle club, which constructed a rifle range and used South Table Mountain as their backdrop. In 1903, the rifle club sold their land to the State, which established the State Rifle Range.
After Pancho Villa‘s incursion into New Mexico in 1916, the Colorado Guard, which was based at the Rifle Range, was sent to help guard the U.S. border. Shortly after they returned from that duty, World War I began.
The camp was expanded during that war and became home to a tank unit. The tanks were sent to Pueblo in 1921, to help them recover from a flood by rescuing stranded vehicles and razing flood-damaged buildings. The tanks were also used to intimidate miners during the coal strikes of the 1920s. During World War II, the camp was used to train military police and canine units.
George West was one of Golden’s earliest settlers, arriving here in June of 1859. He established our first newspaper, the Western Mountaineer, but closed it after a year and left to serve as a Captain during the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Golden and started the Colorado Transcript in 1866. During the Plains Indian Wars, he served as Adjutant General of the Colorado National Guard.
George West died in 1906, but his grandson Neil later served in the same role–as Adjutant General of the Colorado National Guard. During his tenure in that role (in the 1930s), the camp was renamed in honor of his grandfather. Since that time, it has been known as “Camp George West.”
For most of the last 50 years, the barracks were used as a correctional facility. They are now being remodeled to house energy-related research in association with the nearby National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
