105 Years Ago
The February 26. 1920 Colorado Transcript reported that three Jefferson County soldiers who died in the World War were being honored by the French government. Skiing was gaining popularity, and an estimated eight thousand people had visited Genesee Mountain to watch an exhibition of skiers on their new run. Traffic jams resulted on the “Williams Highway” (the Lariat Loop).
The town’s movers and shakers–led by the Chamber of Commerce–were working to convince the public that the town needed a new, modern high school. Many locals believed that the 1873 South School was still perfectly adequate, but the “new school” crowd eventually won their point. The new Golden High School opened in 1924.
Richard Broad, who had been operating Golden Savings Bank out of his dry goods store for the past twelve years, sold his accounts to Rubey National, which operated just across the street. Depositors were assured that their accounts were safe and would lose no value in the transfer.
In the wake of the 1918 epidemic, people still kept close track of influenza. There were cases in Evergreen and Ralston (north of North Table Mountain), but none reported in Golden that week.
Prohibition was in effect, so Coors had switched over to making malted milk. Their Transcript ad said “We can use your milk the year round.” Farmers were encouraged to phone the company at “GOLDEN 18.”
Grant Churches was selling Overland automobiles at his garage on 12th Street, while Golden Motor Company was selling Fords at 11th & Washington.
In entertainment news, the Golden Gem theater was advertising a 7-reel film, coming to town the following Tuesday. Early movies were packaged as several reels, each reel weighing about 5 pounds and running for about 11 minutes–so “Dare Devil Jack” ran about 77 minutes. According to IMDB, the film starred Jack Dempsey, the World’s Heavyweight Boxing Champion at that time.
We were also informed that smoking Chesterfields while playing banjo was fun and satisfying.
