Automobiles were coming into widespread use in the 1920s, and trailers became popular shortly after. By the 1930s, “automobile camping” was a national craze. When World War II came along, many industries were shut down so the country could devote all labor and all materials to the war effort. Trailer manufacturing was exempted, because trailers helped fill a need to provide housing for people working in the war industries.
After World War II, the need for housing became even more urgent. Golden’s population grew 31% from 1930-1940 (people working for government projects, such as the Remington Arms Plant at the Federal Center) and 65% between 1940 and 1950 (returning soldiers enrolling at the School of Mines). There was no place for the new residents to live–few apartments, even fewer available houses. The School of Mines didn’t offer dorms or married student housing until well after the war.
Trailers were an ideal solution to the problem. They were comfortable and affordable, they could be moved to available locations, and they could be packed in efficiently. For several years after the war, Steinhauer Field House and Brooks Field were both used as parking spaces for student trailers. Some homeowners allowed campers to park in their yards--the ADUs of the day.
Until the mid-50s, trailers weren’t self-contained. Families shared the bathroom and laundry facilities provided by the parks (or the homeowners).
Before the War, Golden had one trailer park, located at 22nd and Jackson Street. It had started in the 1920s, offering both tourist cabins and camping spots. After the War, spots in that park were in great demand.
Soon, other parks were developed. Golden had just passed zoning regulations in 1949, and people weren’t sure how trailer parks fit into the new zoning...were they commercial or residential? Trailers parks were highly profitable ventures, so developers were eager to build them wherever they could buy land. They were generally asking for zoning changes and sometimes asking to be annexed into the city.
Both the County Commissioners (for unincorporated areas) and Golden City Council were eager to facilitate the developments: we were critically in need of housing, and the projects were generally going on vacant land, so they would generate some property tax where before there had been almost none. The development proposals poured in.
Golden Area Mobile Home Parks:
1924 – Golden City Tourist Park at 22nd and Jackson (pre-war)
1948 – Landon Hill Trailer Park (14835 W. Colfax) (now the Mountain View Hotel)
1948 – Perry Trailer Camp at 215 Cheyenne
1953 – Golden Trailer Park, Ford Street at Clear Creek
1955 – Skyline Motel and Motor Court – 17190 S. Golden Rd
1956 – Mountain Edge Court at 16100 S. Golden Road
1960 – Unnamed park at 17190 Mt. Vernon Road
1961 – Unnamed park at 1492 Isabell Street
1961 – Pleasant View Park at 15150 S. Old Golden Road
1961 Mountain Sides Mobile Home Estates, Hwy 6 and 40 at Ulysses
By 1961, both the County and City governments were becoming uneasy at the way trailer parks were taxed. They felt that they weren’t paying enough to cover fire and police protection, water and sewer. They thought the schools were over-crowded, as were the roads, and began to feel (and say) that denser housing with lower tax rates weren’t a good deal for the city. Nevertheless, the proposals still poured in. The parks that were already in place wanted to expand.
1962 East Tincup Park
1962 Unnamed Park at W. 9th St. and DeFrame
1962 Mountain View Mobile Home Park at 10403 W. Colfax
1965 – Table Mountain Court, 16390 West 44th Avenue
1965 – Hide Away Hills – 431 Zeta St.
1966 – Wide Acres Village – 1300 Isabell
In 1968, residents asked City Council to stop approving trailer parks, citing low tax base, over-crowded schools, etc.
1968 – Unnamed Park at 16780 Mt. Vernon Road
1969 – Golden Terrace Mobile Home Village 17601 W. Colfax
The Golden Terrace project was particularly contentious. The project itself was not offensive; it just came along at a time when both citizens and city officials had reached the saturation point. They decided they had enough of a good thing.
More proposals for new parks continued to come in, but both the County and the City were becoming slower to approve them. At one point they considered requiring that all new trailer parks be Planned Unit Developments (PUDs), but “Councilman Ruben Hartmeister charged that the PUD ordinance was a “magic wand” by which a developer could circumvent other zoning restrictions.”
The nature of the developers was changing. The 1950s-era parks in Pleasant View were smaller and had private owners who generally lived on site. The projects coming to Golden in the 1960s were big projects financed by remote corporations that owned similar projects in other parts of the country.
Golden turned down a mobile home project at Hwy 6 and Hwy 93. They resisted several companies that wanted to build mobile home parks at 6 and 40 (where Kohl’s and Home Depot are now).
Some of the Golden-area mobile home parks have been replaced by private and public redevelopment. A park in the unincorporated area between Golden and Lakewood made way for the Denver West Office Park. The Big Tree Mobile Home Park at 22nd and Jackson Street was replaced by Lewis Court Apartments. The Golden Trailer Park at Ford Street and Clear Creek became Vanover Park.
The value of mobile home parks is being rediscovered in light of the affordable housing crisis. In 2023, the City helped the residents buy Golden Hills Mobile Home Park, to shield them from skyrocketing lot rentals.
Recommended Viewing:
Suburbs On Wheels: A History of American Trailer Parks
