What’s Brewing, Trivia, and the Foss Mural, Part 2

Golden Eye Candy – Alan Pinkus – Waning Moon Over the M – enlarge

Virtual Events

6-6:55AM Cycling
9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic
10:15-10:45AM Virtual: Baby and Toddler Time
11-11:55AM HIIT & Sculpt
12-12:55PM All Levels Yoga Virtual

Real World Events

6:59AM Good News Breakfast @ Jefferson County Fairgrounds

8-9AM What’s Brewing Golden @ Golden Hotel
For 2022, we have decided to streamline our Golden Merchants Meeting and our Coffee Connections and re-launch as “What’s Brewing Golden: Coffee, Commerce, Community.” Each month you will hear an update from City Council, DDA, City of Golden Police, and the Chamber, along with a business spotlight. We hope to see you there!

This meeting is open to all businesses within the Golden area but with a focus on small businesses and restaurants within the City limits of Golden. This meeting is provided as a service by the Golden Chamber of Commerce. Chamber membership is highly encouraged but is not required to attend. Guests are welcome. More information

9-10:00AM Women’s Exercise and Bible Study @ First United Methodist Church
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10:15-10:45AM Preschool Time @ Golden Library
11AM-12:30PM Golden Community Table @ First United Methodist Church
1-3PM Crazy Quilt Sisters @ Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Trivia

6:30-8:30PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Buffalo Rose

6:30-8:30PM Trivia Tuesdays @ Golden Mill

6-8PM Toad Trivia Tuesdays @ Mountain Toad Brewing
7PM Trivia Night @ the Ace
7-9PM Team Trivia Night @ Tributary Food Hall

Golden History Moment:
The Foss Mural – Part 2

*Mural on the Foss building (map) – Google Street Images – enlarge*

This is part 2 of a walk-through of the Foss mural. Yesterday’s article covered the Buffalo Bill, Coors, and School of Mines panels. Today, I’ll focus on the historic buildings panel. Many of them will be familiar to my regular readers. This review is inspired by the fact that the family is currently having the mural refreshed.

*This panel shows four buildings, now gone, that were important in Golden history – enlarge*

The top-left building is Cheney’s Chicago saloon. This appears in the very earliest photographs of Washington Avenue. It stood at the southeast corner of 11th and Washington. The man with a trumpet refers to the custom at Cheney’s of blowing a trumpet and offering free drinks for 3 minutes (a good way to bring in a crowd of customers).

*Cheney’s Saloon and Billiard Room appears on the left side of this image from the 1870s – Golden Landmarks Association collection – enlarge*

They plan one change during this refresh. Cheney used to fly a Civil War battle flag on patriotic occasions. Local historian Richard Gardner has identified it as a Cumberland flag and has found photos showing how it appeared, so with this refresh, they plan to add it to the flagpole in front of Cheney’s.

*Bella Vista Hotel – 12th and Jackson Streets – Golden History Museum collection – enlarge*

The Bella Vista Hotel, shown in the top-right corner, was built in the early 1880s, with the hope that Golden would become a major railroad hub. It was never a great success, and was torn down in 1920.

*Very early photo of the Boston Company building – notice Castle Rock behind the building on he right – Golden History Museum photo – click to enlarge*

The Boston Company building (lower-left) was constructed at 10th & Washington in the summer of 1859. The Boston Company, led by George West, arrived with a wagon train of goods. As many gold-seekers were stopping at this point before making the final climb into the mountains, the Boston group decided this would be a good site for a town. They began constructing their building and hired a surveyor to lay out a town site. The building was demolished in 1926, to make room for Parfet Park.

*Tramway Depot on 13th Street – Click to enlarge*

This depot (lower-right) was built in 1904 when the second of our two interurban railways came to Golden. The Denver and Intermountain Railroad (originally called “Denver, Lakewood, and Golden”) had been running from Denver to Golden via Lakewood since 1891. This new Railroad, called the Denver and Northwestern, ran from Denver to Golden via Arvada.

The two railroads were competitors, and this fancy new depot was probably intended to provide a competitive edge. The older railroad had its depot inside the Linder Hardware building, on the other side of Washington Avenue. This new depot wasn’t in use for long. They stopped using it in 1919. By that time, both of the railroads were owned by a single company, so they shared facilities. They chose to consolidate on the east side of Washington Avenue. The unneeded depot remained, in increasing decrepitude, until at least the mid-’30s.

Tune in tomorrow for discussion of the Washington Avenue scene.

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!