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Golden Eye Candy – Robert Saieg – click to enlarge

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Golden History Moment

Roofless DeFrance home – Colorado Transcript – January 2, 1908

114 Years Ago
The January 2, 1908 Colorado Transcript featured this photo of the DeFrance home, which was located at 16th and Illinois. The home was less than a year old when the roof was roof was blown off in a wind storm. “The walls crumbled off for a considerable distance, windows were broken and the rooms filled with dirt and plaster…. This residence was built by a Denver contractor, and was one of the finest and most costly in the city. It is estimated that it will require from $1500 to $2000 to put the place in shape it was.”

The Loveland building (with its many chimneys) shown during an Armistice Day parade – click to enlarge

The same storm blew down one of the chimneys on the Loveland building. It fell to the sidewalk below. The front wall gave way on the bakery next door to the Transcript building. This left the awning flapping around, which broke the windows in both the bakery and the Transcript.

The farms and ranches around Golden also took a beating. “Otis Rooney, South of Golden, lost nearly his entire stock of hay, something like 100 tons being blown away. Windmills were torn down, or so badly twisted as to make them useless at scores of ranches.”

109 Years Ago
The January 2, 1913 Colorado Transcript reported on another windstorm. “A gale which apparently had a velocity of at least a million miles an hour, held sway in this section Sunday night, causing a considerable amount of damage. Windows were blown in all parts of town, and scores of chimneys were blown off. Sheds were blown over, and trees were uprooted. The monster fir tree which has stood in front of Dr. Kelly’s residence for thirty years, was blown over and completely uprooted.”

This Methodist Church stood at the corner of 14th and Washington until 1962 – click to enlarge

The same storm blew down a telephone poll at the Industrial School, leaving only one line available from Golden Denver. Electrical service was also down for several hours. A chimney blowing off the Methodist church narrowly missed a pedestrian.


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!

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