80 Years Ago
The August 16, 1945 Colorado Transcript described Golden’s joy and excitement when World War II ended. Radios up and down Washington Avenue were turned on, waiting for the message that the war was over. Word came through at 5:08PM on Tuesday, August 14h. After the announcement, the station played the Star Spangled Banner.
From the Transcript:
First indication of celebration in Golden was a car that whizzed down Washington Avenue, horn blaring. That started it. As if on signal, people poured into the street, and the bell at the city hall began to clang; the fire siren and the Coors whistle added their noisy voices to the growing din. Car horns beeped, honked, and tooted their way up and down the Avenue in a spontaneous parade.
Fred Robinson, who owned a bookstore in the Rubey block, brought out his miniature cannon and fired volley after volley into the air. Mr. Robinson had done the same thing on November 11, 1918 at the end of World War I and on VE (Victory in Europe) Day in May of 1945.
Paper floated down from the roof of the Alpine Drug Store (now Goozell Yogurt). Firecrackers popped. Cars sped up and down Washington Avenue. The 84 streetcar blew its horn continuously, and the conductor grinned “like a Cheshire cat.” Mines students built a bonfire at the corner of Washington and 13th, fueling it with an old wooden fence and Colorado Transcripts. A car full of fraternity boys with two kegs of beer drove by, on their way back to the campus. Someone set off dynamite in Clear Creek.
Other articles in that edition reported on the status of Golden’s boys in service, rejoiced that gasoline would no longer be rationed, spoke of the need to keep raising food, and reminded people of the importance of earthworms in gardens. George M. Kimball wrote a column expressing his doubts about the atomic bomb. He suggested that any remaining bombs, and all the scientists who knew how to build them, should be taken to the middle of the ocean and detonated together.
The back page of the paper held a full-page ad for Golden Days (a precursor to Buffalo Bill Days). The event had been planned for quite some time, but the words “Celebrate VICTORY and PEACE” had been added at the top.
