Originally published April 14, 2019
In light of the City’s plans to create a new Municipal Center in the Coors North Office Building, I thought you might be interested in learning about the last time we did this, 60 years ago.
In the spring of 1958, Heinie Foss, owner of the Foss Drug, led a committee to plan a new complex of buildings that would include all city offices (including the police and fire departments), a swimming pool, library, museum,and recreation center. The first choice for the location was Parfet Park. The Golden Gardeners Club objected to losing the trees and green space, so the City instead chose property west of Washington Avenue, which belonged to the Parfet family.
The committee waged an “intense campaign” to persuade voters of the desirability of the project, and in November of 1959, a $350,000 bond issue was approved by a large margin.
The project went out for bid of February of 1960. The bids came in higher than expected, so council had the plans reworked and down-scaled. The swimming pool opened in June of 1960 and the rest of the municipal center was dedicated in May of 1961.
Golden celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1959, and the new Municipal was regarded as the perfect way to enter Golden’s second century and the modern era.
The Golden Transcript (originally called the Colorado Transcript) has been publishing since 1866. The Golden History Museum has been working on digitizing the old issues, and they’re currently up to October of 1972. You’ll find old Transcripts online at coloradohistoricnewspapers.org.
Return to Random Finds from the Golden Transcript.