88 Years Ago
The April 29, 1937 Colorado Transcript describes several Works Progress Administration projects happening in Golden.
The new WPA field house was under construction on the School of Mines campus. As described by the Transcript:
Not only the athletic department will profit by this building, but other departments of the school as well. The Reserve Officers Training Corps, and splendid band, will be able, under the spacious roof of this building, to pass in review and stand at attention in full formation for inspection by officers of the regular U. S. army, when, as happened Friday due to inclement weather, if it impossible to parade at Brooks field. At no time during the winter need the young officers in training have to miss scheduled drills, when the field house with its 120 by 290 feet of open floor space has been completed.
The Central School (another WPA project) had recently opened on 12th Street, so the North School was ready to be either sold or demolished. The Junior Chamber of Commerce and Parent Teachers Association were circulating a petition asking the City to purchase the building, to be used “for community purposes.”
In the end, the County bought it for use as a Courthouse Annex. Part of the building was dedicated for use as a Jefferson County Museum. The museum was another WPA project. It survives to this day as the Golden History Museum.
The third WPA project featured in the paper was a new Washington Avenue bridge. The crew was hurrying to finish the bridge before spring run-off made the water level rise. Many Transcript articles of that era spent a paragraph or two reassuring readers that WPA workers were not “worthless loafers.” This article praises the hard-working crew and quotes the project foreman as saying “I’ll put this crew up against any ‘hire and fire’ outfit in the country.”
