MUSEUM STORE SUNDAY
Museum stores have some of the coolest gifts around, and Golden has an amazing number of museums! Please contact the museum store you plan to visit to confirm hours and check on visitation guidelines or restrictions due to COVID-19.
Buffalo Bill’s Pahaska Teepee Gift Shop and Café
987 Lookout Mountain Rd.
303-526-9367
Map
Colorado Railroad Museum Gift Shop
17155 W. 44th Avenue
303-279-4591
Map
Dinosaur Ridge Gift Shop
16831 W. Alameda Pkwy, Morrison
303-697-3466
Map
Foothills Art Center Holiday Art Market
809 15th Street
303-279-3922
Map
Golden History Museum Gift Shop
923 10th St.
303-278-3557
Map
Mines Museum Gift Shop
Colorado School of Mines
1310 Maple Street
303-273-3815
Map
Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Gift Shop
200 Violet Street, Unit 140
303-277-0377
Map
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
1PM Freezin’ for a Reason Chili Cook Off and Toy Drive @ Dirty Dogs Road House
1-5PM Second Time Around @ Wrigley’s
4-7PM David Henning in the Sky Bar @ The Buffalo Rose
8PM Karaoke Contest at Ace Hi Tavern
I always enjoy hearing from readers and discussing the stories I’ve uncovered
I received an interesting note from a reader last week. He pointed out that I have written about a lot of violent events in Golden’s past, including cases where men had been shot to death for stealing things. He thought that repeating such tales dispassionately excused the behavior–that I should specifically state that death is an inequitable price to pay for loss of capital.
He’s right about the inequity–death for theft was an inequitable penalty then, and it would be now. I’ve been assuming that my readers would think so too, and that I didn’t need to say it.
But why do I choose such topics in the first place? First, because I think that avoiding unpleasant historical tales is a form of whitewashing the past. I want to illuminate the past, not eliminate it.
The second reason is that sordid tales were more likely to make it into the paper. There’s an old saying in the newspaper business: “if it bleeds, it leads!” People want to live in a town without crime, but a newspaper without crime is less likely to be read. That may be why the old Transcripts, which seldom mentioned other places, sometimes described crimes in other cities: not having enough crime of our own, we had to import it.
Since I’ve had 150+ years’ worth of Transcripts to choose from, I’ve had my pick of more crimes to write about. Crime still makes a more interesting story than the average PTA meeting.
I’m in full agreement with my reader that criminal acts are bad, as are disproportionate punishments for those acts. This includes the following “Golden History Moment” topics:
1859 – Edgar Vanover is lynched for threatening to kill someone
1860 – Man steals supplies from unattended wagons and is flogged as punishment
1861 – Horse thief is lynched in Apex (approximate site of Heritage Square)
1868 – Police shoot “desperado” Ed Franklin on the site of the Buffalo Rose events center
1879 – Lynch mob removes two accused murderers from county jail and hangs them from a nearby bridge
1882 – A burglar was hiding under the bed of a couple on the north side, so the lady of the house leapt out of bed, grabbed a gun and a hatchet and attacked him. He was overpowered and sent to jail.
1882 – Jailbreak from the county jail
1885 – A series of chicken thefts
1904 – Wife kills abusive husband and is exonerated
1906 – Would-be robber demands a boy’s money, but runs away when the boy yells
1909 – Chicken thefts
1910 – Burglar enters a house in the Goosetown, threatening the young man of the house with a gun. The youth grabs his own gun and fires on the intruder, who runs away.
1910 – Prisoner escapes from the county jail
1911 – Denver woman slits the throat of another Denver woman on South Table Mountain
1916 – Fist fights in the streets when Golden goes dry
1917 – Three Golden youths attempt to rob cars on 44th
1920 – Still found on 11th Street
1920 – Young men robbed at gun point on 12th Street
1922 and 1923 – KKK meetings held on Castle Rock
1922 – Chicken thief is shot
1923 – Chicken thefts
1924 – Chicken thefts
1925 – Bootleggers blow up a barn and start a forest fire during Prohibition
1925 – Armed man approaches a car on 10th Street and tells the driver to stop. The driver accelerates away.
1930 – Gang of chicken thieves hitting many area homes
1943 – Youth murders two young boys by pushing them off Castle Rock
1950 – Two boys are robbed at knife point at 19th and Ford. They lost 5 cents.
1950 – Hardware store robbed, power company employee shot
1950 – Burglars attempt to steal Safeway’s safe
1960 – Kidnapping and murder of Adolph Coors III
1969 – Saboteur uses dynamite to destroy high tension electrical tower on Johnson Road
1975 – Someone bombs the City’s animal control truck
1976 – Robbery, burglary, child endangerment, vandalism, shoplifting (all in the same week)
1980 – House-sitter chases off burglars by hitting them with nun-chucks.
Tune in tomorrow to read about a lynching that the Transcript clearly did believe to be justified.
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!
11AM and 2PM The Story of the Nutcracker opens today at Miners Alley Children’s Theater!
By Rory Pierce, Directed by Rory Pierce Nearly everyone know the tale of the Nutcracker: A gift to Marie from her Godfather Drosselmeier on Christmas Eve. Sadly, the beautiful Nutcracker gets broken and later that night Marie goes to check up on it. To her surprise, it has come alive, and a story-within-the-story begins! The audience is invited to become a part of the Nutcracker story and everyone gets to live happily ever after. Learn more and buy tickets….
Small Business Saturday
Today is small business Saturday, which was created in response to Black Friday, when people famously flock to the malls and big box stores. Why not check out some of our genuinely fun and charming stores today?
Santa’s Mailbox is set up at the Visitors Center (map). If your child deposits a letter to Santa (and includes a return address), Santa will write back!
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-5PM Holiday Shakedown Street Art Market @ Over Yonder Brewing (map)
10:15AM Family Time @ Golden Library
10AM, 11:30AM, 1PM, 2:30PM and 4PM Wild West Short Tour (one hour) @ Golden Visitors Center
7:30PM Golden Ghosts and Spirits Tour @ Goosetown Station
7:30PM A Christmas Carol @ Miners Alley Playhouse
11AM-2PM Bunny Blake on the Sky Stage @ The Buffalo Rose
7-10PM Erik Hill on the Sky Stage @ The Buffalo Rose
8PM Mr. Majestyk’s 8-Track Revival @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
The Globe says George Parfet’s elegant new house looms up “like a castle on Ford street.” We do not know as a castle on Ford street would loom up differently than one elsewhere in our beautiful city, but George is going to have a daisy of a house all the same, by far the best and most costly home so far erected in Golden. It is two stories high above a high basement, of buff pressed brick so extensively manufactured by the Golden Pressed Brick Company, and will be modern in every detail.
Colorado Transcript – November 27, 1902
119 Years Ago
The Parfet house, built at 19th and Ford in 1902, was a showplace of the community for many years. The family’s yard stretched all the way down to Kinney Run at the bottom of the hill.
62 Years Ago
The area began to change in 1959. The City decided to “underground” Kinney Run and use that valley to extend Jackson Street. The new roadway was zoned for commercial development, so the Parfets turned the grassy backyard into a commercial lot and leased it to King Soopers.
44 Years Ago
When King Soopers withdrew from Golden, the building became a bank. Downtown parking had been so tight that the bank wanted a REALLY BIG parking lot, so in 1977 the Parfet house was demolished.
THE PARFET HOUSE was fast disappearing at 19th and Ford Streets this week–another Golden landmark which has left the Golden scene….
Golden Transcript – May 5, 1977
That corner remained a parking lot for more than 40 years, but in 2018, twelve town homes were built there.
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!
6-6:55AM HIIT
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
8:30-9:25AM Strength and Cardio
11AM-12PM All Levels Yoga Virtual
1-2PM The Friday Tour @ Colorado Railroad Museum
11AM-12PM All Levels Yoga Virtual
7:30PM A Christmas Carol – Opening Night
Written By Charles Dickens
Adapted By Josh Hartwell
Directed by Len Matheo This hilarious, fast-paced adaptation uses only six actors to bring Dickens’ most beloved characters to life. From Scrooge and Tiny Tim to Bob Cratchit and Mrs. Fezziwig, A Christmas Carol uses nothing more than simple props, fun physicality, and the power of imagination to convey this timeless story of redemption. Witness Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from a stingy miser to a man who generously celebrates the spirit of the season all year long, in this brand-new adaptation that is destined to become your favorite holiday celebration! Our yearly tradition is back and it’s better than ever! With new casting and new characters, Miners Alley’s A Christmas Carol is the perfect antidote to holiday stress!
5-8PM Shawn Eckels @ Golden Mill
7-10PM Bunny Blake @ the Sky Bar – Buffalo Rose
7PM Message in a Bottle @ Buffalo Rose (main venue)
8PM Karaoke @ Wrigley’s
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
Since today is Black Friday, here’s my annual reprint of various Transcript reminders to avoid Denver and SHOP LOCAL.
Dr. Perry Kelly has two or three cases of small pox in the country east of us, all of which come into the county from Denver, where the loathsome disease is quite prevalent…. Our county commissioners should institute a quarantine against them at once.
Colorado Transcript, March 13, 1889
As that passage demonstrates, the Transcript tended to regard Denver with suspicion when it came to infectious diseases.
The small pox epidemic in Denver has caused considerable worry in Golden, and hundreds of people in this community have taken the precaution of being vaccinated. City Health Officer Kemble reports that there are no cases of the disease here.
Colorado Transcript, December 8, 1921
An outbreak in 1921 impinged on our holiday social season:
Firemen’s Dance
Once of the most enjoyable events of the season will be the annual Firemen’s masquerade dance which will be held at the Golden opera house on Friday evening, December 30th…. On account of the prevalence of small pox in Denver the committee has decided not to have a costumer come from Denver, but urges that dancers furnish their own outfits.
Colorado Transcript, December 22, 1921
The fear of small pox fit right in with the Transcript’s long-running campaign to encourage people to Shop Local:
Golden merchants have an excellent line of Christmas goods and there is no use in journeying to Denver to buy your Christmas goods. Besides, look at the danger of getting murdered, held up, run over or contracting small pox. Buy at home, help your home town and be safe.
Colorado Transcript, December 22, 1921
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!
