In the early days of travel by automobile, roadways were a haphazard affair. Local, state, and federal governments had not yet coordinated their road-building plans, nor was there a tax base to pay for extensive road-building. Motorists had a great desire for long-distance highways, so some began to organize in an effort to encourage road-building. One such effort was the “Victory Highway.” This was a coast-to-coast route, planned to go from New York to California. It eventually became Highway 40 (Colfax, in the Denver area).
At the same time, newly-minted automobile tourists discovered that their cars enabled them to drive right into nature and sleep in it–so camping became a national craze.
103 Years Ago
The May 4, 1922 Colorado Transcript reported on a visit by representatives from the Victory Highway association. The visitors urged Golden to build a campground. “Money spent developing a campground is well invested: the visitors are self respecting and will in almost all cases respect the property which is placed at their disposal. They will linger in a comfortable camping ground and by lingering will leave their money with the local tradespeople.”
The Chamber of Commerce needed no persuasion: they had been pushing the City to build a campground for the past year. A suitable area was available at 23rd and Jackson. “Sapp’s Grove” was a collection of large cottonwood trees located near Kinney Run. The area had been used on and off as a picnic ground for many years. The City bought the property in 1924 and built both camp sites and stone cabins for use by the traveling public.
It remained a public campground until 1939, when the City sold it to a private party. The new owners continued to rent the cabins and began leasing spots long-term to mobile home owners. It operated as a mobile home park until the early 2000s.
That area now holds the Lewis Court apartments, but one of the old stone cabins remains on the property, visible at 22nd and Jackson Street.
