WHAT’S HAPPENING IN GOLDEN TODAY?
10AM-3PM Brunch at the Rose @ Buffalo Rose
10AM-noon Breakfast Burritos @ The Golden Mill
12-2PM Full Walking Tour @ Dinosaur Ridge
12PM CSM Baseball – Orediggers vs. New Mexico Highlands @ Jim Darden Field
2PM I Hate Hamlet @ Miners Alley Playhouse (through April 23)
3-5PM Jefferson Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Concert @ Colorado School of Mines
LIVE MUSIC
12PM School of Rock @ Buffalo Rose
11AM-2PM Scot Slay @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
2PM Strange Brew 5280 @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
2PM Jewel and the Rough @ Wrigley’s
3PM Justin Bradford @ Over Yonder
3-5PM Jefferson Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Concert @ Colorado School of Mines
4-7PM Howard Dlugasch @ Buffalo Rose (Sky Bar Stage)
8PM Karaoke @ Ace Hi Tavern
GOLDEN HISTORY MOMENT
120 Years Ago
The April 2, 1903 Colorado Transcript included an advertisement for W.L. Douglas Shoes.
Early Transcripts often included histories of Golden, as recalled by early settlers. Such accounts usually included a reference to W.L. Douglas, who got his start as a cobbler here in Golden. His shop was located on 12th Street, about where the post office stands today. When those articles were published, the readers probably knew who Douglas was, and so were suitably impressed.
I didn’t know, so I decided to research the man. Douglas did indeed make and sell shoes in Golden Colorado. According to a November 17, 1904 Transcript article, Douglas sold his business and possessions in 1868 or 1869 and left Golden with $470. From here, he went to Massachusetts and started a shoe factory. The business did well and Douglas became a wealthy man. In addition to large-scale production, he owned a chain of shoe stores across the nation.
The Transcript liked to point out that much of Douglas’s success came from advertising in newspapers. Douglas advertised in papers all over the county, including the Colorado Transcript, but the Transcript had the honor of printing Douglas’s very first advertisement, in the June 5, 1867 edition. The Plains Indian War was heating up at that time, and he suggested that a pair of his shoes would help you run away from Indians.
Douglas was a staunch Democrat. According to Wikipedia, he served two terms as a Massachusetts state representative, one term in the state senate, and one term as Governor of the State of Massachusetts. He was also known for his philanthropic works. He died in 1924.
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!
