113 Years Ago
The July 11, 1912 Colorado Transcript announced that J. H. Linder & Co. was assuming a new name: J. H. Linder Hardware. The new name wasn’t much of a stretch, since Linder had always been a hardware store. Under its new name, the company would be adding heating, plumbing, and construction work to their offerings.
John Linder had begun working at the hardware store, located at 13th & Washington, in 1887. In 1895, he purchased the hardware business as well as the stately building that it occupied. In 1903, he bought the building next door, and gave them a new, common facade.
Mr. Linder died in 1923, but the named stayed with the business until 1948, when owner Joe Kellogg renamed it to “Kellogg Hardware.”
In 1957, Cliff Evans built a new store–Hested’s 5 and 10–on the lot south of the Linder Block. That piece of property had been used as the terminus for the Denver-to-Golden trolleys, but that service ended in the early ’50s, leaving the land available for development. In 1962, Mr. Evans dramatically expanded the Hested’s store by razing the Linder Block and expanding onto that property. At this point Hested’s went from being a 5 and 10 cent store to becoming a Hested’s Department Store. The Hested’s store operated until 1977, then it stood vacant for nearly 30 years–which was highly frustrating to those who were trying to revitalize downtown.
In 2006, the Golden Civic Foundation and Golden Urban Renewal Authority purchased the building and found a company to redevelop it. On August 19, 2006, there was a community gathering to watch as the first steps were taken to demolish the Hested’s building. That spot was redeveloped into Gateway Station–a mixed-use building with a restaurant and stores at street level and condominiums above. The “Station” part of the name was inspired by the trolleys that used to operate on the southern end of the property.
One last interesting note: when Gateway Station was built, the developers designed part of the facade to look like the Linder Block.
