Parks Lands and Summer Jam

A view of the plains from the front range, with grass in the foreground, evergreen branches overhead, and the top of North Table Mountain in the middle ground. — *Golden Eye Candy – Steve Stevens – View of North Table Mountain from Upper White Ranch Park – enlarge*

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?

9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic (Virtual)
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10AM Weedbusters @ DeLong Park (map)
10-10:30AM Call In: Mid-Morning Meditation (Virtual)

10AM and 4PM Wild West Walking Tour
1PM and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
5-7PM Demolition Derby @ Golden Library

5:30-9:30PM ARTSWEEK EVENT – SOLD OUT: Golden Summer Jam @ Colorado Railroad Museum
6PM Mobility & Transportation Advisory Board Meeting @ City Hall
6PM Run Club @ Runners Roost
6:30PM Meditation & Sound Sound Healing Journey @ Intrinsic Collective

SEE THE COMPLETE CALENDAR OF EVENTS.

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LIVE MUSIC

5-8PM Marty Nightengale @ Golden Mill
5PM Dan Costello @ Over Yonder
5-9PM Josh Blackburn @ Wrigley’s
5:30-8:30PM Link & Chain – Harry Mo – RasMoses – Rootz N Kulcha Tour @ Goosetown Station

6-9PM David Henning @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
6PM Uptown Toodeloo String Band @ New Terrain Brewing
7-10PM Lost Penny @ Columbine Cafe
7PM Rick Lewis Project @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
8PM Karaoke @ Rock Rest Lodge

GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT

*Volunteers brought trucks to carry away the contents of the dump – enlarge*

51 Years Ago
The June 22, 1972 Golden Transcript featured some interesting photos from the mid-1920s. The pictures showed Golden Kiwanis Club members cleaning up the city dump. The group had recently purchased the property bounded by Washington and Jackson, 10th Street, and Clear Creek. They planned to build a park there, and name it after their late club president, George W. Parfet.

*Excerpt from the 1919 Sanborn insurance map of Golden showing the area that later became Parfet Park – enlarge*

The 1919 Sanborn insurance map shows that the property was quite different before its conversion into parkland. Most notably, there were several buildings in the northwest corner. They were razed to make way for the park. What doesn’t show on the map is the fact that the rest of the property served as the town dump.

Water Street (which now ends at Jackson Street) used to go through to Washington Avenue. The property was also bisected by a mill race that powered the Golden Mill.

*Volunteers clearing the town dump, to turn it into Parfet Park – enlarge*

The idea was to turn the north half of the property into a park (Parfet Park) and make the south half available for use by the school across the street. The plan was not without flaws.

The mill race posed a constant danger. According to one of my readers, the water was 2-3 feet deep. Young children were naturally attracted to the water, and several drowned there over the years. The city finally bought the water rights from the Golden Mill owners and in January of 1954, they filled in the ditch.

The division of ownership also caused problems. The City wanted the school district to take care of the property, and keep it in park-like condition. The school was not interested in watering and mowing parkland–particularly not during the summer, when none of the school employees were working. The school found the land allocated for their use to be too small for gym classes and games, so they extended their activities into the “park” part and left the grass trampled. One gym teacher cut down a tree in the park because it was in the way of his lessons. In 1972, the school district deeded their half of the property to the City, thus ending the long-running disagreement.

*George W. Parfet memorial in Parfet Park – enlarge*

Despite these problems, the park has been a wonderful asset to the community. While I’m sure it was convenient to have a dump in the middle of the City, it’s also nice to have a green spot downtown to host movies in the park, Buffalo Bill Days, National Night Out, UllrGrass, and general lounging.

*Satellite view of Parfet Park, showing the previous path of the mill race and right of way for Water Street – enlarge*

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!

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