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Current Events and Historic Buildings

Golden Eye Candy: A Summer’s Day on Clear Creek – Click to enlarge

Coronavirus Update

Public Health References
CDC * Colorado * Jefferson County * City of Golden

The Jeffco case count wasn’t updated last night, so it still says 71 cases of Coronavirus. The State’s website says there are 73 cases in Jefferson County, so there may be 2 more.


Our New Virtual World

I’m sorry to say that there was a technical glitch on recording the Golden history talk that I gave yesterday, so it’s not available for listening.

We’re continuing to add things to the ANYTIME VIRTUAL GOLDEN EVENTS item on our calendar, so you should check it again.

10AM TODAY Golden History Museum Director Nathan Richie will host What’s Baking in the Kitchen. Tune in to FB Live at 10 am on Wednesday to chat with Director Nathan Richie and see what’s baking in his kitchen. Prepare your questions in advance and we’ll see how many we can get to in our debut interactive session.

6PM TODAY – Mayor Weinberg and City Manager Jason Slowinski will provide their second community briefing.

Join the City of Golden for a second virtual community briefing with Mayor Laura Weinberg and City Manager Jason Slowinski. Join us for this virtual update and Q&A session on https://gco.tv, Comcast Channel 880 and Facebook Live. Messaging, closures, and rules continue to evolve as the threat from the COVID-19 virus increases. The City of Golden is working hard to ensure the safety of our residents, businesses, employees, and visitors. If you participate on Facebook live, you will have an opportunity to send in your questions during the broadcast. Or email your questions in advance by 5 p.m. on March 25 to COVID19@CityofGolden.net

Thursday Preview:
12PM Virtually Golden: Paul Haseman – The Stolen Capital
Zoom Link to join in: zoom.us/j/187269193.
3PM Foothills Art Center presents Watercolor Painting with Janet Nunn


New & Improved Local News

I misstated yesterday: I said that BGoldN would provide three meals/day–in fact, it’s two–breakfast and lunch. Here’s an excerpt from the City’s Guiding Golden site:

If you are in need of food assistance, meal pick-up is available at Bell Middle School, 1001 Ulysses St. Prepackaged take and go breakfasts & lunches from local restaurants are distributed at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday – Friday (no weekends). Just show up. First come, first-served in drive-up fashion in front of the school.

For those unable to leave the home and in financial stress, email BGoldNcity@gmail.com(External link) or call 720-432-5048 with your name, phone number and address.The delivery service is ONLY for those who are UNABLE to leave their homes. Anyone who is underserved and IS ABLE to leave the house will receive their meals at Bell Middle School.

Read more about this innovative program in the press release.


A Golden History Moment

Several views of the Linder Hardware and Hested Buildings Click to enlarge

I’ve always liked old photos showing the Linder Hardware Building. The building appears in photos of downtown Golden from the late 1880s until the early 1960s.

In 1887, John Linder joined a Golden hardware firm, located at 13th & Washington. In 1895, Linder bought out his partner and became the sole owner of the business. In 1903, He combined the Linder Hardware building with the building next door, gave them a common facade, and thereafter the merged building was called “the Linder Block.”

Mr. Linder died in 1923, but the named stayed with the store until 1948, when owner Joe Kellogg renamed it to “Kellogg Hardware.”

In 1957, Cliff Evans built a new store–Hested’s 5 and 10–on the lot south of the Linder Block. That piece of property had been used as the terminus for the Denver-to-Golden trolleys, but that service ended in the the early ’50s, leaving the land available for development. In 1962, Mr. Evans dramatically expanded the Hested’s store by razing the Linder Block and expanding onto that property. At this point Hested’s went from being a 5 and 10 cent store to becoming a Hested’s Department Store. The Hested’s store operated until the mid-1970s, then it stood vacant for about 30 years–which was highly frustrating to those who were trying to revitalize downtown.

Hested’s Demolition Party — August 19, 2006 Click to enlarge

In 2006, the Golden Civic Foundation and Golden Urban Renewal Authority purchased the building and found a company to redevelop it. On August 19, 2006, there was a community gathering to watch as the first steps were taken to demolish the Hested’s building. That spot was redeveloped into Gateway Station–a mixed-use building with a restaurant and stores at street level and condominiums above. The “Station” part of the name was inspired by the trolleys that used to operate on the southern end of the property.

The Golden Sweets storefront was modeled after the Linder Block Click to enlarge

One last interesting note: when Gateway Station was built, the developers designed part of the facade to look like the Linder Block!

Many thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and many thanks to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!

Highlights