Dinosaurs, a Concert in the Library, a Striking Moon, and Meyer Hardware

*Golden Eye Candy – Bud Rockhill – North Table Mountain, Reflected – click to enlarge*

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

JCPHD updates these numbers Monday through Friday at about 3 PM. Here’s the most recent Coronavirus report from Jeffco Public Health’s Case Summary Page:

School of Mines COVID-19 case page. | Masks are required. | City and County fire restrictions are in place. | Clear Creek is now open.

Monthly Appeal

Many thanks to the people who sponsored this email for the month of September. I’m sorry to say that we’ve lost a couple of sponsors to COVID-19 (the businesses, not the owners themselves). If you find this daily newsletter valuable, interesting, or fun, please consider sponsoring us for the month of October. Click here to find out how.

Virtual Golden

9-10AM Virtual Power Training
10:45-11:45AM Let’s Dance with the Library
10-11:30AM Everything Dinosaur Talk #2 – What IS a Dinosaur? – Register
12PM Virtual Library Concert Series
6PM Wednesday Watch Party with the Library: Scarlet Street
6PM Heart of Golden Meeting – Golden Cultural Alliance

Real World Golden

9AM Golden Walks
3-4:30PM Vaccine, License & Microchip Clinic
6PM Vinyasa Yoga in Lions Park with Gabriela Ferrat

*Nearly-full moon by Chris Davell – 9/29/2020*

Did you see the moon last night? For the past several weeks, the moon has been red when it’s low on the horizon. That’s caused by the smoke from the forest fires around the state. Last night the smoke was so thick that the moon was red when it was directly overhead.

Golden History Moment

*Meyer Hardware was located on Washington Avenue for many years. – click to enlarge*

75 Years Ago
1945 was a good year for Golden. That’s when Joe and Ruby Meyer came to Golden, and bought the old Sarell Hardware business.

I wrote about the Sarells last week: they were a father, son, and grandson team who sold hardware in Golden from the mid-1860s until the mid-1940s. William Sarell and his son Raymond both died in May of 1944. After that, a series of rapid transitions occurred.

October 1944 – Leo Ihme purchased the building (1112 Washington Ave.) and stock of the hardware store.
November 1944 – Imhe began selling off the valuable “pre-war hardware.” He sold the building to Ernie Son.
January 1945 – Ernie Son took possession of the building and had it wired for electricity. Imhe had sold the remaining hardware inventory to a Dr. Leslie. Leslie, in turn, sold the hardware to Ernie Son.

Mr. Son had been a long-time employee of The Golden Mercantile–the grocery store at 12th and Washington–before buying his own business. In July 1945, the owners of the Golden Mercantile offered to lease their entire business to Son, so he decided to return to the grocery business and sell the former Sarell Hardware store.

*Colorado Transcript, Number 46, September 13, 1945*

July 12, 1945 Colorado Transcript headline – “E. G. Son Hardware Store Sold to Joe Meyer of Nebraska”
Joe and Ruby Meyer came to Golden from Nebraska, where they had operated a grain and feed business. They had one daughter—Marilyn—who was nine years old at the time of their move. They held their Grand Opening celebration on September 14th and 15th, 1945. Their plan was to sell “hardware, sporting goods, house wares, electrical appliances, auto supplies, paints and toys.”

*Meyer Hardware in 1958, filling two storefronts – click to enlarge*

In an interview in 1974, Joe Meyer commented that most of the inventory had been sold off prior to his purchase, so they sold whatever they could get. “About all we had to sell at first were a few used hunting knives and a little other stuff.”

*Meyer Hardware in 1968, filling three storefronts – click to enlarge*

The Meyers were an enterprising pair. They continually remodeled, modernized, and expanded their store. They added new product lines, including appliances and televisions. They increased their sales space by expanding into first 1110 Washington Avenue and later 1114 Washington Avenue.

In 1954, the Meyer’s daughter Marilyn married Harold Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer was serving in the Air Force at the time of their marriage, but later joined the family firm. To be continued….

Many 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!