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Slash, Plants, Murder, the 32 Hour Week, and Colfax

The park behind the Visitors Center, with the Washington Avenue bridge and Castle Rock in the background.
Golden Eye Candy – Richard Luckin – DAR Triangle Park – enlarge

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?


9AM-4PM Slash Collection @ Tincup Ridge Park (map)
Jefferson County cycles their slash collection operation to various places around the county. This weekend it’s in Golden. Any size truck or trailer is welcome at Jefferson County Slash Collection sites. Dump fees are based on six cubic yards (162 cubic feet) of material: six yards is one load. The cost to drop off a single load is $20. Credit cards only. This is equivalent to:

Truck bed full to truck cab height
Trailer up to eight feet long by five feet wide by four feet high
Loads outside these parameters will be charged accordingly


10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-noon Breakfast Burritos @ The Golden Mill

10AM-3PM Plant Sale @ Golden Community Garden (map)
The plant sale will be weather permitting May 20-21. There will be a variety of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, herbs, flowers, and more for sale.


11AM and 1PM Jazz and Murder – Immersive Speakeasy Mystery @ Buffalo Rose
A classic whodunnit murder mystery of bootlegging, mobsters, cocktails, and you! You’ve been invited to Club Candy on the celebration of their one year anniversary as the “Best Gin Joint” west of Denver! Party with fancy cocktails and jazz music, and kick up your heels in 1920’s fashion! Expect some shady characters, double-crossers, dirty rats and MURDER! Do you have what it takes to be a gum-shoe detective in this 1920’s whodunnit mystery? 1920’s attire is highly encouraged (but not required). Tickets and more information


12-2PM Full Walking Tour @ Dinosaur Ridge


2PM The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies @ Miners Alley Playhouse
2:30-4:30PM Textile Society @ Golden Library
5-8PM Alibi Trio @ Golden Mill
6-8PM The Golden Comedy Show @ The Golden Hotel

See the complete calendar of events.

LIVE MUSIC


2-5PM Alibi Trio @ Golden Mill
2-5PM Anthony Michael @ Over Yonder
2-5PM Little Moses Jones@ Rock Rest Lodge
3-7PM Jewel & the Rough @ Wrigley’s


4-7PM Derek Hall @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
8PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern


TOMORROW NIGHT


The City Manager will hold a Community Listening Session tomorrow night at 5:30 to hear comments and field questions about the planned new 32 hour work week for City employees. Learn more….

GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT:
GOLDEN’S COLFAX AVENUE
by Guest Historian Paul Haseman

Colfax Avenue in 1965 - photo by Bill Robie
Colfax Avenue in 1965 – photo by Bill Robie – enlarge


At 53 miles, Colfax is the longest commercial street in the US, stretching through Golden, Lakewood, Denver, Aurora and beyond. Its history is nearly as long as its mileage. From 6000 B.C. to the 1850’s the Arapho, Cheyenne and Ute tribes inhabited the area in today’s West Colfax area to include Golden. The Ute tribe likely used portions of the present-day South Golden Road and West Colfax as a trail from the mountains to the plains. With the discovery of gold, the Ute trail became a wagon road in 1859, when Golden was first settled. This road, now South Golden Road and Colfax, became the primary link between Denver and Golden, a long 13-mile dirt road. “The Golden Road” served as a major thoroughfare to the mountains, taking on the nickname “The Gateway to the Rockies.”

In 1861 with the advent of the Civil War, the Provisional Jefferson Territory was separated from Kansas Territory and became Colorado Territory. At that time President Lincoln appointed William Gilpin as Governor. As such, former Provisional Territorial Governor, Robert Steele, moved a mile north from the Town of Mt. Vernon at the base of Mt. Vernon Canyon (I-70) to the town of Baden, which he renamed Apex, an area known now as the former Heritage Square.

Stone house on the Bachman property (map)


The last remaining structure of Apex is the stone house on the Bachman Ranch at Heritage and Colfax. Steele then planned to build a toll road in competition with the Mt. Vernon Toll Road (approx I-70) a mile plus to the south. To gain an edge, Steele in October 1861 sought and received Territorial Legislature approval for the “Apex & Gregory Wagon Road” up Apex Gulch to the gold fields.

Private act, Oct. 11, 1861. “From the junction of the Golden City & Denver Road [S. Golden Rd] at Cold Spring Ranch [now approx Rock Rest Grill] owned by Mr. Fields about 10 miles from Denver, then up Amos [now Apex] Gulch to summit of Lookout Mountain . . .“

This shortcut, known then as the Jackson Trail, led to Steele’s Apex Toll Road and per force bypassed Golden. It would later figure into an early route for US 40.

Sloan's Lake, shown on Google Satellite Images
Sloan’s Lake, shown on Google Satellite Images – enlarge


Those same 10 miles to the east, the City of Denver in 1860 established Grand Avenue (15th Ave) for several blocks to the Platte River. The route beyond that point remained Golden Road. In its most eastern portion, Golden Road underwent realignment. Prior to 1861, the road went through a “swale,” which in 1861 became Sloan’s Lake after Thomas Sloan dug a well and flooded 200 acres. (Transcript 4/29/09) The route, thereafter, passed the lake to the south (approx. 17th Ave) and then southeast to cross the Platte River at Larimer Street.

Denver renamed Grand Avenue as Colfax Ave in 1868 to honor a friend of Colorado, Schuyler Colfax. Colfax, an Indiana congressman, unsuccessfully sponsored Colorado statehood in 1865, only to have it vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. He also sponsored the legislation in 1861 to carve out the Colorado Territory when Kansas Territory became a state. Not a “mere” congressman, Colfax was also US Speaker of the House of Representatives (1863 – 1869) and Vice President under Ulysses Grant (1869-1873).

W.A.H. Loveland's house in Lakewood
W.A.H. Loveland’s house in Lakewood – read more


By 1885 Colfax Ave extended due west from Denver to now Wide Acres Road supplanting the eastern arc of Golden Road south of Sloan’s Lake. Maps then labeled the road as Colfax Ave and South Golden Road. Meanwhile, by 1885, the Welch Ditch in Golden brought water from Clear Creek around South Table Mtn to Charles Welch’s estate, providing needed water to area farmers. With this water, the land became more valuable and in 1889, Charles Welch and W.A.H. Loveland formed the Lakewood Company and plated a 13 Block area (83 acres) along Colfax Avenue between Carr and Harlan Streets. Loveland named his country home, “Lakewood,” which home stills exists at 14t35 Harlan St. (map). This “estate” gave rise to the name of the City of Lakewood. Nearby to the west and south of Colfax, Welch’s “country” Welchester Estate later became today’s Welchester Elementary and nearby Welchester Tree Grant Park.

With water and roads, what was missing along Colfax was a railroad. Again, Loveland and Welch saw another opportunity and on 11 July 1890 these men and other investors formed the Denver Lakewood & Golden Railway. Opening on 20 September 1891, it began on the east side of the South Platte River in Denver and ran parallel to Colfax west on what today is W. 13th Avenue, near Loveland’s home. The railway’s passenger trolley service on Tramway Rte 84 to and from Golden ended in 1950, although freight service continued until 1953.


Nonetheless, the main link to Denver remained The Golden Road, which followed a route from Golden straight east through the now Colorado Mills Shopping Center and up now Wide Acres Road to intersect with Colfax. In 1926, Colfax/ Golden Road was designated at US 40, a part of America’s “Victory Highway.” In 1935 – 1936, West Colfax was widened and in 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) rerouted Colfax west to bypass Wide Acres Road and intersect with Golden Road near Camp George West. This improvement was constructed of concrete and gave birth to the nickname “The Concrete Road.” It then followed Golden Road to Mt. Vernon Road (remember the Jackson Trail above), where US 40 turned southwest along Mt. Vernon Road to Heritage Road (Rte 93). And in 1947, Colfax was rerouted yet again and departed Golden Road near Camp George West to run straight along its current alignment. Today, Golden Road now appears to take a sharp turn onto Indiana Ave. But interestingly Golden Road still runs straight east as “Golden Road” as it passes Einstein’s Bagels in Colorado Mills.


With its final alignment in 1947 Colfax became ever more the principal route for business and tourists headed west to Idaho Springs and beyond.

The Colfax route inevitably declined in 1962-1968 with the completion of I-70 to the north, which crossed Colfax and South Golden Road east of Camp George West. Opening in November 2002, the Colorado Mills Shopping Center was built on both sides of Colfax.


Colfax now ends at Morrison Road / 1-70, while 50 yards to the north, US 40 continues to take a sharp turn up Mt. Vernon Canyon (1926), paralleling I-70 up the mountains and on to Utah on the same route surveyed by Edward Berthoud for the Overland Stage Company in 1861.

Even though less traveled, Colfax remains today as a principal road in Golden. Schuyler Colfax would be proud of his continuing namesake.

Thank you, Paul Haseman, for researching this interesting piece!

Highlights