Changes in Historic Districts, Camp George West, and March Preview

*Golden Eye Candy – Chris Davell – Snow on the Settling Pond – click to enlarge*

COVID Updates

Appointments to Get the COVID Vaccine (Eligibility)
State of Colorado’s Find Out Where You Can Get Vaccinated page | Safeway | King Soopers | Lutheran Medical Center

The state has a new hotline to answer questions, including location of vaccine providers: 1-877-268-2926. It is staffed 24 hours a day.

Virtual Events

6-6:55AM Virtual Dynamic Circuit
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
10:15AM Spanish Story Time with the Library
11:45AM All Levels Yoga Virtual
2-3PM Active Minds Mondays
4-4:30PM Kids Martial Arts Class
4-5PM Recursos Digitales
5-6PM Young Readers Book Club

6:30PM Historic Preservation Board Meeting
The HPB will consider two requests for “Certificates of Appropriateness.” Both cases concern non-contributing structures located in historic districts.

Before and After pictures of 912 12th St. — *912 12th Street with access to roof deck.*

912 12th Street (map) includes commercial space on the ground floor and office and residential space on the second floor. The owners plan to add a structure on the roof which will provide roof access from the residential section of the building.

*1120 9th St. with rebuilt front section*

1120 9th Street (map) is a single story 1890 house with a large modern addition behind it. The owners plan to demolish the original part of the house, which they say has no foundation and significant wood damage, and replace it with a modern structure of similar design. Part of the new structure will have a second story.

Golden History Moment

For those of you who don’t check email over the weekend, on Saturday I wrote about an allegedly pandemic-inspired fire at the high school and on Sunday I wrote about the old swimming pool under the Buffalo Rose.

*Camp George West – Golden History Museum Collection – click to enlarge*

59 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 said 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 quell miners during the coal strikes of the 1920s. During World War II the camp was used to train military police and canine units.

Colorado Transcript *Founder George West, Son Harley West, and Grandson Neil West Kimball – from the Golden History Museum collection – Click to enlarge*

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 the 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.”

Many thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!