Skip to content

Search the site

Visitors Center, CoorsTek, Common Consumption, Garage Safety, Buffalo Bill, Oscar Wilde, Harry Potter, and the History Museum

Golden Eye Candy – Nancy Torpey – View from the bridge on the Grant-Terry Trail – enlarge

What’s Happening in Golden Today?

6-6:55AM Dynamic Circuit (Virtual)
8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
10:15-10:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
12-12:30PM Mondays with Mayor Weinberg (Virtual)
2-3PM Active Minds Monday: Russia Invades Ukraine (Virtual)
4-4:30PM Kids Martial Arts Class (Virtual)
4-5PM Wild West Short Tour
4-5PM LEGO Build and Play @ Golden Library

Proposed change to the Visitors Center patio – enlarge

6:30PM Downtown Development Authority Meeting @ City Hall
The DDA has an interesting agenda tonight. They will consider a sign grant request for Connect Physical Therapy, 802 Washington Avenue. They will resume discussion of a funding request from the Golden Visitors Center, which hopes to enclose the lower level of their patio to provide a year-round event space. They would like to host social gatherings for seniors and other groups and make the space available for rent.

CoorsTek area seen from the northeast. The image above shows the completed project as envisioned in tonight’s meeting packet. The lower image is a recent view from Google satellite images. enlarge

Representatives from CoorsTek will visit the board tonight to provide a status report on their big redevelopment project. They may begin discussions of future tax incentive agreements with the DDA. Staff will provide updates on several City projects, include the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, a Downtown Parking Management student, changes to the sidewalk and parking around the Astor House, and the Seasonal Outdoor Business program, which allows the restaurants to spread out into the sidewalk, parking lane, and Miners Alley. Council does not plan to allow stores to the use the parking lanes this year.

Proposed “common consumption area” – enlarge

Council is considering using half of the Meyer Hardware/Astor House parking lot, as well as Miners Alley, for a “common consumption” area with tables and chairs. These would be available for anyone to use–not just patrons of the adjacent bars & restaurants. Responsibility for purchasing furniture and cleaning the new outdoor dining area is yet to be determined.

Tonight’s meeting packet includes a very interesting letter (public comment) from Preston Driggers, a former GURA commissioner. In it, he discusses the City’s ongoing parking problems, which include the reluctance of some of the public (particularly women) to park in the parking garages (particularly at night). He suggests that the parking garages be made to feel more safe by cleaning them regularly and improving the lighting. Mr. Driggers was part of the board that built those garages 20 years ago, but he points out that downtown Golden was primarily a daytime destination at that time. It is becoming increasingly attractive for its nightlife, so it is incumbent on the City to provide parking that feels safe at night.

As a related aside, the new restaurants going into 1100 Washington were approved for liquor licenses last week. Their hours will be 8AM-2AM, seven days a week.

6:30PM The Culture of Celebrity: On the Town with Buffalo Bill and Oscar Wilde @ American Mountaineering Center
Join the Buffalo Bill Museum as we commemorate the showman’s birthday with a free program by nationally renowned playwright, historian, and keynote lecturer Gregory Hinton. Doors open at 6 pm and the program starts at 6:30 pm. Please register to ensure a seat.

Among significant holdings in the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave (BBMG) include rare ephemera from the first transatlantic tour of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West extravaganza to London in 1887. For William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, it was a dream come true. For Los Angeles-based playwright and lecturer Gregory Hinton, best known for Out West, his nationally acclaimed museum program series—the BBMG was a gold mine.

The hand-inscribed invitation to Buffalo Bill on display at BBMG from Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Wilde to their London home for tea, anchored Hinton’s dedication to shining a light on LGBTQ stories of the American West. It remains a highlight of his scholarship. An expense voucher indicated that Cody did visit the Tite Street home of Oscar and Constance Wilde. Cody boasted about it in his epic tome, Story of the Wild West. They had much in common to talk about. More….


Trivia

6-8PM Harry Potter Trivia @ The Golden Mill

7-9PM Trivia @ Morris & Mae


Monthly Appeal

February 2023 – enlarge

Many thanks to the people who sponsored this email for the month of February! If you enjoy the Eye Candy, the events, the descriptions of upcoming city meetings, and the Golden History, please consider sponsoring us for March–or contributing a small amount on a monthly basis. Click here to find out how.

Thanks,
Barb Warden
goldentoday.com
303-278-2701


Celebrating Heart and Soul of Golden Month:
Golden History Museum

North School at 6th and Washington – First Home of the Jefferson County Museum – Golden History Museum Collection – enlarge

Golden’s History Museum began as a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project in 1938. Its original home was in the old North School, at 6th and Washington. That school had been closed when the Central School (later called Mitchell Elementary) opened in 1936. The County purchased it for use as a “Courthouse Annex,” and assigned one of the former classrooms for use as a Jefferson County Museum.

The primary goal of the WPA was to provide employment for people, so the initial allocation of $6,880 was expressed as “work for 17 people for six months.”

County residents were generous in giving or loaning both archives and artifacts to the new museum. As the May 4, 1939 Transcript reported, “There is scarcely a family in the county which has not some article of this kind stored in the basement, attic, or out in the garage in danger of being lost or destroyed.” Staff was kept busy cataloging and arranging the incoming stream of relics. They soon found that they had more artifacts than could be exhibited at any given time.

Because the museum was attracting so much interest (and so many artifacts), they were granted an additional $8,400 in May of 1939. This grant also encompassed “preparation of display materials.”

WPA Diorama – Golden History Museum Collection – enlarge

In addition to the collection of artifacts, the project had a staff artist, who painted portraits (based on old photos) of some of the county’s early residents. She also created a series of dioramas, some of which are still in the museum’s collection. WPA staff also built tables and display cases.

According to a 1953 Transcript article, the total allocated to the museum by the various Roosevelt-era agencies was $75,000. The same article said that at one time “some ten or twelve persons” were working at the museum.

Most of the WPA projects saw cutbacks as time went by, and the museum was no exception. It was closed through parts of 1940 and 1941. The County tried to keep it open a few hours a week by connecting it with a rural circulating library and having a single staff person in charge of both programs.

The Old County Courthouse – Second Home of the Jefferson County Museum – enlarge

Once World War II began, the museum was closed for the duration. It remained closed until 1953, when the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution offered to assume responsibility for managing it. The county had built a new courthouse by then, so the museum was moved from the North School into a larger space–the former district courtroom in the old (1878) courthouse.

The Museum’s Second Home Put on the Market – Golden History Museum Collection – enlarge

The City of Golden acquired the old courthouse from the county in 1957, with the stipulation that the City would maintain the museum. The City decided to sell the old courthouse and build a new city hall and municipal building. Space for the museum was included in the plans for the new buildings.

The Museum’s Third Home, in the City’s New Municipal Center – enlarge

The Daughters of the American Revolution continued to manage the museum for more than 50 years–first inside the municipal building and later in the building next door, the former library. During that time, it was called the Golden Pioneer Museum.

Golden Pioneer Museum’s 4th Home at 923 10th Street, circa 2006 – enlarge

The City took over management of the museum in 2007. It is now called the Golden History Museum. A full-time staff operates the Museum and the Clear Creek History Park, manages the City’s collections, runs a lecture series, and offers summer camps for schoolchildren.

All images courtesy of the Golden History Museum

The Golden History Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10AM-4:30PM. Admission is free. The Golden History Park is open every day from 5AM-11PM with no admission charge.


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!


Highlights