For more than 80 years, there was a lumber yard at 13th and Ford Street. H. T. Quick started it in 1891. He hired George Duvall to manage the business, and in 1908, Duvall and a partner, Isaac Davison, purchased the business and renamed it Duvall-Davison. Davison died in 1926, but Duvall retained the full name. Duvall-Davison Lumber operated until George Duvall’s death in 1964.
That block had an unusual layout, in that it was split diagonally, with a Catholic church on the other half of the block. That happened because a natural stream–Kinney Run–ran diagonally through the block, as did a railroad.
After Mr. Duvall’s death (in 1964), Coors began negotiations with both the Duvall estate and the parish to acquire the land. St. Joseph’s needed a new, larger church with better parking, so the offer was welcome. Coors purchased both parcels in 1965, but continued to lease the property to St. Joseph’s and to a new lumber company (Gateway Lumber) until they were ready to build a new parking lot to accommodate brewery visitors.
Both the lumberyard buildings and the red brick church were demolished in the summer of 1973. Coors “undergrounded” Kinney Run (the stream). The railroad had been gone since the early 1950s, so Coors was able to put parking over the entire block.
It’s interesting to look at the Coors parking lot and think about what used to be there.
To end on a pretty note, here’s a postcard from about 1900 showing Golden, with St. Joseph’s red brick church front and center.
