Skip to content

Search the site

Wild West Tours and Moving Past a Dark Time

Golden Eye Candy – Frank Hanou – Dawn Over the Campus – enlarge

What’s Happening in Golden Today?

6-6:55AM Dynamic Circuit (Virtual)
8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
10AM-5PM Holiday Art Market @ Foothills Art Center
10:15-10:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
1PM and 3:30PM Wild West Short Tour
3:30PM Wild West Pub Crawl


Golden History Moment

Advertisements from the December 26, 1918 Colorado Transcript – click to enlarge

104 Years Ago
1918 had been a gloomy and frightening year. World War I had us on a wartime footing, with 500 Jefferson County men in service and food rationing on the home front. People were relentlessly urged to buy war bonds–whether they could afford them or not. And then the Spanish Influenza arrived.

The December 26, 1918 Colorado Transcript shows that we were finally turning the corner. The Armistice had been signed on November 18th, and the troops were beginning to trickle home.

Although public gatherings, such as school or church, were still banned, the paper was able to announce that “GOLDEN IS FREE OF INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC – Not More than Four or Five Cases of Flu in Town at the Present Time.” The article went on to say, “The disease in epidemic form left this city as suddenly as it came, for two weeks ago there were more than two hundred influenza patients in town, and scores in the surrounding country.”

The Transcript was also able to report that the city water system was in fine condition. For several years, Golden had been plagued with water shortages caused by empty reservoirs and frozen pipes. Several improvements had been undertaken the previous year. The reservoirs had been enlarged and some of the pipe had been buried below the frost line. On this date in 1918, Golden’s reservoirs were full to overflowing and the pipes were running freely.

With peace, returning health, and a reliable water source, Golden had good reason to feel optimistic about the year ahead.


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