63 Years Ago
The March 7, 1963 Colorado Transcript reported that the Colorado House rules committee was blocking the sale of state land in Golden.
Before World War II, the Lookout Mountain School (now the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center) included many acres of farmland. The boys at the school were learning farming and ranching vocational skills.
After the War, Denver’s population exploded, and the surrounding towns were also growing hugely.
Population Growth in Cities Surrounding Denver, 1950-1960
Westminster – 717.6%
Arvada – 713.7%
Aurora – 323.2%
Littleton – 302.5%
Englewood – 97%
Golden – 35.6%
Source: Colorado Transcript – February 2, 1961
Golden’s leaders were frantic to join the growth trend, but the city was surrounded by mountains on the east and west sides and the Lookout Mountain School on the south.
They began referring to the School as a “plug” and pressuring the state to end the farming program and make the land available for housing developments. By the fall of 1963, the State finally agreed to sell several hundred acres of the School’s farmland.
To the disappointment of Golden's leaders, the land was not snapped up by housing developers.
Parcels were sold for commercial development along South Golden Road. The power company bought a substantial tract, as did a clay mining company. The School of Mines survey fields west of Highway 6 are former Lookout Mountain farmland. The school district acquired land for Johnson Elementary (now Connections Learning Center) and Bell Middle School. The Jefferson County campus is former Lookout Mountain farmland, as is most of the City's golf course.
Sixty-three years later, the City is still anxious to have more housing. The Housing Needs and Strategies Assessment, which was adopted in 2022 and renewed this year, concluded that Golden needed 3,100 additional homes (p. 21) by 2032.
The State is finally on board with Golden's vision. They have issued a Request for Qualifications for companies to develop 41 acres of the remaining Lookout Mountain School land as affordable housing.
This is in keeping with Golden's pattern of concentrating affordable housing in the central part of town and in the Shelton Elementary School matriculation area.
