Demon Dash, Rumpelstiltskin, Celebration of Resilience, and Downtown Parking

*Golden Eye Candy – Chris Davell – Peaks to Plains Trail – click to enlarge*

Real World Events

8AM-1PM Golden Farmers Market@ Golden Library west parking lot
9AM Demon Dash 5K Run/Walk @ Golden High School
10AM Saturday Train Rides@ Colorado Railroad Museum
10AM Homestead Open House @ Golden History Park
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
12-2PM Celebration of Golden: Commemoration of our Resilience @ Colorado School of Mines
1PM Opening Day for Rumpelstiltskin @ Miners Alley Children’s Theater
1-3PM Color & Composition with Lea McComas
7:30PM Greg Fitzsimmons Standup Comedy @ Buffalo Rose
7:30PM Before You Go @ Miners Alley Playhouse

Live Music

12PM Molly Hatchet @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
2PM West Hues @ Golden Mill
4PM Parkside @ Wrigley’s
5PM 10 Cents and a Broken Pick @ Goosetown Station
6PM Live Music on the Patio @ Ace Hi Tavern
6PM SideCarX @ Over Yonder
7PM Jonathan Browning Acoustix @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage – outdoor patio)
9PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern

Golden History Moment

Summer Reruns: A Century of Parking – Part 2

Originally Published February 3, 2020

Yesterday, I wrote about the first 30 years of Golden’s learning to accommodate automobiles in downtown. It was a never-ending battle. Golden has always attracted its share of non-residents: it’s the County seat, so all Jefferson County residents come to Golden to transact County business; the School of Mines and Coors both bring people to central Golden, downtown Golden was the commercial center for the ranches and farms that surrounded it, and Golden has always attracted tourists.

The City responded to the ever-increasing number of cars by widening the streets and trying to use available space more efficiently. Yesterday, I left you with this cliffhanger:

In 1954, the Planning Commission said we must either widen more streets to allow more diagonal parking or buy a half block, raze the buildings, and provide a parking lot.

More Street Widening
As it turned out, we did both–and more! Throughout the late 1950s, the City widened the downtown streets and added stripes for diagonal parking. With those changes, the City estimated that downtown could go from 60 parking spaces to 110. Arapahoe Street “went diagonal” in 1957.

Predecessors of the Foss Parking Lot – Click to enlarge Excerpted from the `Denver Public Library Western History Collection` # Z-12056

In 1957, the City doubled the price of business licenses and raised the mill levy to finance purchase of downtown property to be used as parking lots. Not content to wait for public parking, Heinie Foss purchased a large home and yard behind his store to be turned into a parking lot. In 1959, Mr. Foss bought the other home behind his store–the home that had belonged to Gertrude Bell (of Bell Middle School fame). Both houses were demolished and the land made available for Foss customers.

In 1961, the Chamber of Commerce purchased the old Baptist Church at 12th and Jackson, to be demolished and used as a public parking lot. The Baptist parsonage followed in 1962, and eventually they were able to acquire that entire half-block, behind the stores in the 1300 block. It served as a 48-slot public parking lot until GURA built the parking garage and sold the 12th and 13th Street ends of the lot for development in the 2010s.

Site of the Jackson Street Surface lot – click to enlarge. Excerpted from the Denver Public Library Western History Collection

Golden’s new municipal center on 10th Street opened in 1961, and the old city hall on 12th Street (between the Old Capitol Grill building and the Astor House) was demolished to make way for more public parking.

Old City Hall on 12th Street, demolished in 1961 Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection

More buildings were razed: the Catholic Church became the Coors visitor parking lot; the Methodist Church became the Holland House (now the Table Mountain Inn) parking lot. Homes near downtown made way for new businesses with their own parking lots.