What’s Happening in Golden Today?
6-6:55AM Dynamic Circuit (Virtual)
8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
10AM and 1PM Wild West Walking History Tour
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
10:15-10:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
11:15-11:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
12-12:30PM Mondays with Mayor Weinberg (Virtual)
2-3PM Active Minds Mondays – Women of Denver History (Virtual)
4PM Wild West Short Tour
4-4:30PM Kids Martial Arts Class (Virtual)
5-8PM Monday Market @ Cannonball Creek Brewing
6-8PM AAC Library Speaker Series: Colorado Maps @ The American Mountaineering Center
The American Alpine Club Library presents the first installment of their 2023 speaker series at the American Mountaineering Center. The first event features map collector, enthusiast, and expert Wes Brown who will present two mini-talks on the mapping of Colorado. First, on the expeditions of Lieut. Zebulon Pike and Capt. Stephen Long (after whom Pike’s and Long’s Peak are named) and second on the revolutionary mapping of Colorado artist Hal Shelton. More information
Trivia
7-8PM Colorado Trivia League @ Morris & Mae
Golden History Moment
99 Years Ago
The March 6, 1924 Colorado Transcript proudly announced: Golden’s Magnificent New High School Building is Opened.
When the South School was built in 1873, primary school children occupied the first floor and high school classes were held on the second floor. That building soon became over-crowded, so a second elementary school was built, freeing up some of the first floor classrooms for use by older students.
By the 19-teens, the school population had again outgrown its accommodations, so the townsfolk began to discuss ways to relieve the over-crowding. Some favored adding on to the current building. Others wanted a new, shiny, modern high school. The debate simmered for several years. The business community and other town boosters saw the proposed building as more than a school: it was to be a point of civic pride.
This was the era when many towns were working to eliminate their 19th-century squalor, embracing the “City Beautiful” movement. Golden had recently begun installing sewers and securing a new, pure water source. They were ready for more visible signs that we had entered the 20th century.
Proponents waged a concentrated promotion campaign and in 1921 the voters approved a $100,000 bond issue to fund a new high school. They later approved an additional $30,000 in bonds to make the planned school even better. Prominent architect Eugene Groves was hired to design the building. He chose the Beaux-Arts style that the popular in that era.
There was some controversy about the location for the new school, with “southsiders” (people living on the south side of Clear Creek) favoring either the site of the current school (14th and Cheyenne) or City Park (16th and Arapahoe). “Northsiders” pushed for a location north of Clear Creek.
In the end, they chose the site at 10th and Washington. The property had previously held a hardware store and livestock dealer called the Eagle Corral, which was razed to make way for the new High School.
To further enhance the town’s new focal point, the Golden Kiwanis Club decided to clean up the City dump, which across 10th Street from the new school. The same year the school opened, club President George W. Parfet died, so the club voted to name the new park for him. They commissioned Colorado Springs artist Gerald Cassidy to design a permanent memorial to enhance the park and celebrate Mr. Parfet.
A few years later, another prominent citizen–Harry Rubey–died unexpectedly. His older brother (Jesse Rubey) hired that same artist to paint a mural in the new high school as a memorial to Harry. From our vantage point of nearly a century later it may seem strange that Jesse wanted the painting to decorate the new school rather than, say, the lobby of the Rubey bank. This reflects the High School’s position as the newest and most important civic building in town at that time.
In 1956, the community needed a bigger high school, so they built one at 24th and Jackson. The “Magnificent” building at 10th and Washington became the Golden Junior High. When the Junior High closed in 1988, the Golden Civic Foundation purchased the building and began looking for a suitable new owner.
The American Alpine Club and Colorado Mountain teamed up to acquire and restore the building. They reopened it in 1994 as the American Mountaineering Center. The American Alpine Club library and American Mountaineering Museum are also based in the building.
The building is now prettier and grander than it ever was when it served as a school. You have a chance to see it this evening if you choose to attend tonight’s program about Colorado Maps!
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!
