In studying old photos of the Rubey Bank Building, I wondered when the awning on the first floor had been added. Some research led me to the answer of 1969. This got me started on quite a binge of Transcript reading, tracing the history of the covered sidewalks in downtown Golden.
In the 1950s, shopping centers began to proliferate in the United States. They severely eroded business in historic downtown shopping districts like Golden’s. By the late 1950s, Golden’s merchants were becoming desperate. Much brainstorming resulted in a plan by the Golden Chamber: they would market the entire downtown as a single shopping center, with coordinated marketing campaigns and a new, unified look. Western movies were very popular at the time, and they decided to give downtown some western flare by adding covered walkways. This was quite appropriate for Golden, and entirely in keeping with Golden’s actual historic look:
City Council approved a zoning change to allow the “canopies,” (as they were called) in June of 1960. The first canopy on Washington Avenue went up in August of that year, on the Linder building.
Foss Drug completed a big expansion and facelift the next year, which included about 75 feet of canopy on the west side of Washington, directly across from the Linder building.
Meyer Hardware, which was located in the 1100 block of Washington Avenue at that time, built their canopy in the spring of 1962, and other building owners in that block followed suit.
The Linder Building was largely demolished in 1962, and the replacement structure included a redesigned canopy with some jaunty peaks. By the end of 1962, downtown Golden had about 1000 linear feet of covered walkways.
Leo Stillman (Opera House/Ace Hi Tavern) built his canopy in 1968. The former bank building at 12th and Washington (shown at the top of the article–now Golden Goods) gained its canopy in 1969, and Eaker’s Department Store (now the Buffalo Rose Events Center) built theirs in 1970.
Many of the canopies have come down in recent years, but the entire 1200 block (west side) is still sheltered. Judging by the popularity of our downtown business district, being a western-style pseudo-shopping center is no longer the key to our success.
