Parking Part 2 - The Unslakable Thirst for Parking in Downtown Golden

Yesterday, I wrote about the first 30 years of Golden’s learning to accommodate automobiles in downtown. It was a never-ending quest. Golden has always attracted its share of non-residents: the School of Mines and Coors both bring people to central Golden; ranchers and farmers traditionally shopped in Golden, and the town has always attracted tourists.

The City responded to the ever-increasing number of cars by widening the streets and trying to use available space more efficiently. Yesterday, I left you with this cliffhanger:

In 1954, the Planning Commission said we must either widen more streets to allow more diagonal parking or buy a half block, raze the buildings, and provide a parking lot.

More Street Widening
As it turned out, we did both–and more! Throughout the late 1950s, the City widened the downtown streets and added stripes for diagonal parking. With those changes, the City estimated that downtown could go from 60 parking spaces to 110. Arapahoe Street “went diagonal” in 1957.

*Predecessors of the Foss Parking Lot –* *Click to enlarge* *Excerpted from the* *`Denver Public Library Western History Collection`* *# Z-12056*

In 1957, the City doubled the price of business licenses and raised the mill levy to finance purchase of downtown property to be used as parking lots. Not content to wait for public parking, Heinie Foss purchased a large home and yard behind his store to be turned into a parking lot. In 1959, Mr. Foss bought the other home behind his store–the home that had belonged to Gertrude Bell (of Bell Middle School fame). Both houses were demolished and the land made available for Foss customers.

In 1961, the Chamber of Commerce purchased the old Baptist Church at 12th and Jackson, to be demolished and used as a public parking lot. The Baptist parsonage followed in 1962, and eventually they were able to acquire that entire half-block, behind the stores in the 1300 block. It served as a 48-slot public parking lot until GURA built the parking garage and sold the 12th and 13th Street ends of the lot for development in the 2010s.

*Site of the Jackson Street Surface lot –* *click to enlarge**. Excerpted from the* *Denver Public Library Western History Collection*

Golden’s new municipal center on 10th Street opened in 1961, and the old city hall on 12th Street (between the Old Capitol Grill building and the Astor House) was demolished to make way for more public parking.

*Old City Hall on 12th Street, demolished in 1961* *Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection*

More buildings were razed: the Catholic Church became the Coors visitor parking lot; the Methodist Church became the Holland House (now the Table Mountain Inn) parking lot. Homes near downtown made way for new businesses with their own parking lots.