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Irrigation Water, Rezoning, and a Lynching

Golden Eye Candy – Frank Hanou – Water in the Church Ditch – enlarge

Virtual Events

6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval
8-8:55AM Tai Chi
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga Virtual
11-11:55AM Find Your Balance
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop


Real World Events

Spring Yard Waste Collection
9:15-9:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
4-5PM Theater and Improv @ Golden Library
5-6PM Bell Middle School PTA Meeting
5:30PM Golden High School PTA Meeting @ Golden High School
6-7:30PM Golden Safety Academy @ City Hall
6PM Pong Night @ Coda Brewing
6:30PM West Denver Chapter Trout Unlimited Monthly Program @ American Mountaineering Center

6:30PM Planning Commission – Study Session
The Planning Commission will do a final review of the residential zoning code rewrite. To see what they have in mind for your neighborhood, first, check the map to see how your neighborhood was categorized.

Next, scroll down to the table on pp. 4 and 5 of this document, which shows which building forms are allowed in your category. Then, scroll down to the section about your category. Next, scroll down to the section starting on p. 12 that describes the form types. That shows what you or your neighbors will be allowed to build in your neighborhood.

Tonight is a study session, so you won’t be allowed to make public comment. If you see a problem you’ll need to send it to publiccomment@cityofgolden.net.

7PM Trivia Night @ Trailhead Taphouse


Live Music

6:30PM Open Jam/Mic at Over Yonder Brewing


Golden History Moment

Continuing the saga of Vanover Park, after the buildings and mobile homes were removed, the City began the work of turning the property into a park. There was a well-known story about that land–half factual and half folklore.

Originally published September 5, 2019

Early Washington Avenue – enlarge

Golden was founded in June of 1859. By September of that year, the town was taking shape as a loose collection of tents and frame buildings. The downtown business district consisted of dry goods stores, a couple of small hotels, and several saloons.

Edgar Vanover was part owner of one of those saloons, and was known to have a vicious temper when drunk—which he often was. On September 5, 1859, Vanover sold his half of the saloon to his partner and went on to become extraordinarily drunk. He visited several bars that day, waving his gun, shooting at glassware, threatening the lives of several people and announcing that he would kill someone before the day was over. Eventually, he became too drunk to load his pistol, so he procured a knife and threatened people with that.

His fellow citizens chased him into a house on 12th Street (the approximate site of today’s Tributary Food Hall) and stood outside, debating whether to banish him from town or kill him. They concluded that if they banished Vanover, he would come back for vengeance, so the safest course was to kill him before he had the chance to kill someone.

The group called to Vanover, telling him to come out and take his punishment. Surprisingly, he emerged without argument and put out his hands to be bound. The crowd marched him across the Ford Street bridge to a meat gallows, which was normally used to butcher cattle. A noose was placed around Vanover’s neck. The rope was thrown over the gallows and pulled by many hands until Vanover was dead.

Vanover Park

This tale was told briefly in the September 10, 1859 edition of The Rocky Mountain News Weekly, in an article entitled “Full Particulars of the late Lynching Case at Golden City.” The article ended with the remark, “We refrain from extending our remarks, believing that all good citizens, when the circumstances are known, will uphold the people of Golden City in performing an act which they believed to be a duty they owed to themselves and the community at large.”

The story was retold, with more detail, in the October 5, 1922 edition of the Colorado Transcript. That article was based on interviews with people who had been present for the hanging.

A 1933 story in the Colorado School of Mines Oredigger retold the story, with several embellishments. That article concluded by saying that the culprit was “attached to a cottonwood.”

Over the years, the idea that Vanover had been hanged from a cottonwood became part of local folklore. The presence of an exceptionally large cottonwood near the site of the execution added credence to that story, and the tree became known as “the hanging tree.”

In 2006, the City cut down the aged tree. They counted the tree rings and learned that the tree was not old enough to be been present in 1859. They created a park where the hanging had occurred, and named the park for Vanover. Golden may be unique in having a City park named after a man who was lynched by the community.


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!

Highlights