Tour of Historic Downtown Golden
Smith’s Corner
1100 Washington Avenue (north)
Built in 1872
Historic Entity - Olinger Woods Chapel (Established by William Woods & Charles Sanders in 1913)
Jefferson County Sheriff Charles A. Clark built this corner building here in 1872, a grand new home for his popular grocery store. Later in the decade it was bought by Denver grocer and Golden City Councilor Elmus Smith, and came to be called Smith's Corner. The upper floor, an early home of the Golden Globe newspaper, was joined together with its southern neighbors in 1878 to form the Avenue Hotel. Run by famed hotel owner George W. Bacon, founder of the future Daniels & Fisher firm, its rooms remain upstairs in this building today. Brothers Caleb Ellsworth and George Washington Parfet took over Smith's Corner as their own grocery store in the mid-1880s, and by the 1890s it became the furniture and undertaking business of John Calon Davidson. After passing through the hands of son John Lofton Davidson, Golden's leader in both businesses, this corner was acquired by Jefferson County Coroner William Woods and Charles Sanders, who moved their own mortuary here from the Loveland Block in 1915. The building was linked together with the neighboring Taft Building in 1937, and under successor Oyer A. Saunders and others the mortuary has continued faithfully, now in the hands of the equally venerable Olinger corporation. (Images from left - John Lofton Davidson, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Oyer A. Saunders, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Smith's Corner in 1893, courtesy Golden Globe; Elmus Smith, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys", 1880; Jefferson County Coroner William Woods, courtesy Colorado Transcript)
Taft Building
1100 Washington Avenue (south)
Built in 1877
Constructed by Robert Millikin
Historic Entity - Olinger Woods Mortuary & Chapel (Established
by William Woods & Charles Sanders in 1913)
Site of Titus Building (1859-1877)
In 1877 dry goods properietors Joel W. Smith and Fred H. Taft hired contractor Robert Millikin to replace the 1859 Titus Building with their own brick storefront. Millikin notched floor supports between the walls of their neighbor buildings to create Golden's most ornate two-walled building, which quickly expanded with large rear additions for the popular dry goods house. In 1878 its upper floor was joined with the neighboring buildings to form the Avenue Hotel, a prominent hostelry which ran until its lease was not renewed in 1882. After serving various uses including Golden's Adventist Church in 1921, the Taft Building was annexed to Woods Mortuary in 1937, and their storefronts have been linked together ever since. (Image - Taft Building in 1870s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Odd Fellows Hall
1106 Washington Avenue
Built in 1871
Constructed by J.R. Powell (probable)
Historic Entity - Golden Lodge #8, Daughters of Rebekah (Established as Naomi Lodge #8, Daughters of Rebekah in 1883)
Jefferson Hall was Golden's largest commercial block building when Judge Allison H. DeFrance, George W. Dollison, Dr. James Kelly and Albert Townsend teamed up to build it in 1871. It originally featured a central arched doorway with a wide staircase leading to the second floor's public hall, and flattened arch windows across the upper floor. The lower floor has always served as retail establishments including Ebenzer T. Osborne's meat market and Dr. Kelly's drugstore (1910-14), around which time it was named the Kelly Block. Several organizations including the Masons have met in the historic upper hall, but it was Golden's Odd Fellows Lodge #13 which would call it their permanent home, finally paying off their mortgage in 1961. At that time they gave it the facade it has today. Today it is home to Rocky Mountain Lodge #2, established in Central City in 1865 and moved here in 2001, one of the state's oldest Odd Fellows organizations. Their sister lodge, Golden's Rebekah Lodge #8, continues as it has here for many years. (Images from left - Odd Fellows Hall under construction in 1871, courtesy Richard A. Ronzio Collection, Golden Landmarks Association; Odd Fellows Hall in 1870s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Odd Fellows Hall in 1961, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Judge Allison H. DeFrance, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys", 1880; Dr. James Kelly, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys", 1880)
Fox Building
1108 Washington Avenue
Built in 1907
Constructed by James H. Gow
Site of McKay Building (1859-1907)
Late in 1907 William Higgins caught his children as they leaped to his arms from the upper floor of his burning bakery, which had stood here since 1859. Down but not out, building owner and fellow baker Louis J. Fox hired contractor James H. Gow to craft a new place, complete with paired flattened arch windows on the upper floor topped by an ornate bracketed metal cornice. It stayed a bakery into the 1950s, when Jimmie's Shoe Shop arrived, replacing its storefront with a basic modernistic one in 1961. In 2007 architect Robert Chisholm, working out of the second story, began assimilating the building back into the streetscape using a design somewhat reminiscent of the original. (Images from left - Fox Building in 1920s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Fox Building in 1949, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Fox Building in 1990s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Fox Building in 2007, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Merkle Building
1110 Washington Avenue
Built in 1892
Reconstructed by William H. Curry (1894)
Pioneer jeweler Theodore Merkle built this place to house his jewelry shop, which had been popular downtown for many years. Originally one story tall, its front wall collapsed in 1894 and Merkle decided to rebuild his store in a much grander fashion. In 1910, Golden's first movie house, the Gem Theatre, moved in here and stayed until its new edifice opened down the street. Afterward Fred Meyer opened Meyers Market inside, a downtown mainstay for many years. After an interregnum as a plumbing shop, the building was eventually annexed into Meyer Hardware (no relation), which operated in this building until 2007. Meyer Hardware continues as Colorado's oldest hardware dealership to this day to the west, having spanned three generations of the Sarell family and two generations of the Meyers. The Merkle Building meanwhile has been restored to its early 20th Century appearance. (Images from left - Merkle Building in the 1900s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Merkle Building in 1958, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Merkle Building in 2007, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Dougherty Building
1112 Washington Avenue
Built in 1871
Constructed by J.R. Powell (probable)
William A. Wortham built this, Golden's third arched commercial building, as the first of his two grocery buildings downtown. In 1873 it was purchased by William A. Dougherty, who ran his dry goods business successfully here for many years. On September 1, 1879, Golden's first telephone call was placed from the upper floor, which had become Golden's first telephone exchange, the Golden Telephone & Dispatch Company. It is today Colorado's oldest telephone exchange quarters, having served into the 1880s. William Mark Sarell moved his hardware store into this place, the latest of many the venerable firm had been at. In 1944 son Edward Sarell, the third generation in the family, sold it to Leslie, who then sold it to Ernest Son, and in 1945 Joe Meyer bought the firm and transformed it into the Meyer Hardware store, eventually annexing it to the Merkle Building to the north. Today it has been restored to its individualized state. (Images from left - Dougherty Building in the 1880s, courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department; Dougherty Building in the 1900s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Dougherty Building in 1958, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Dougherty Building in 2007, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Welcome Arch
1200 Block Washington Avenue
Built in 1949
Designed by Paul Reeves
Constructed by Consolidated Electric
This signature landmark of Downtown Golden was dreamed up by Holland House hotel proprietor Lu Holland, also the leader of the Chamber of Commerce. In a time when the Old West was gaining in popularity, Holland thought Golden would do well to make its own statement as a true town of the Old West in its own right. Through the effort of the Chamber, Golden's Welcome Arch arose, an assemblage of steel plating upon steel trusses of a 70-foot span with welcoming words of antiqued white and gold, and all the words brilliantly outlined in nighttime neon. An instant hit with citizens and visitors alike, the Welcome Arch like Golden's western heritage has remained, through 3 renovations (1975, 1979, 1997). The first removed the neon due to persistent damage making it look like it had missing "teeth", which converted the arch into a mural design; the second restored it to its original image but changed its wording to "Where The West Lives" out of a fear the Chamber then had of people thinking Golden was a dead place; the third two-toned its main words in reflective sunset colors. Every Christmastime a 1946 set of Santa and his reindeer (also designed by arch designer Paul Reeves) land atop the Welcome Arch to greet everyone. (Images in rows from left - Welcome Arch at night in 1949, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Welcome Arch in 1965, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Welcome Arch in 1979 before renovation, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Welcome Arch today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Dollison Building
1114 Washington Avenue
Built in 1879-1880
Constructed by Robert Millikin
During the early 19th Century, according to legend, Indian Chief Snake Face fell on this spot in battle, and was buried here by the mournful warriors of his victorious tribe. The digging of a well here disturbed his remains, and his angry ghost has haunted the Dollison Building ever since, it having been built atop his grave in 1880. Cornish coal miner and future Jefferson County Commissioner John Nicholls, who thrived in management after his hand was crushed as a youth, teamed up with George W. Dollison to hire contractor Robert Millikin to build this elaborate dry goods store, which two generations of Dollisons (George W. and George Edward Dollison, who were also 2 generations of City Councilors) ran for many years. It originally was two stories tall with a public hall on the second floor housing the Covenant Temple of Honor, then quickly given a pop-top third floor. Snake Face finally got his revenge around 1920 when the son finally tore off that third floor addition, after years of wind howling torment from the ghost of the old chief. After being used as a dime store, with other changes and restorations, one may still walk upon 1920s oak floors and look up at the 1881 wooden ceiling. (Images from left - Dollison Building in 1880s, courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department; Dollison Building in 1893, courtesy Golden Globe; George W. Dollison, courtesy Colorado Transcript)
Fair Building
1116 Washington Avenue
Built in 1949
Constructed by Lawrence W. Billis
Site of Snodgrass Building (1859-1910)
For 109 years the Fair Variety dime store was a fixture of downtown, from the original 1884 dry goods store of John Hardin Brown in the Opera House Block, to ownership by G.G. Fetterman in the Dollison Building, and two generations of the Middlemiss family. Here was its last and longest home, built by contractor Lawrence W. Billis for Ralph W. Middlemiss. Vintage aluminum framing and original windows and door still greet visitors. After the dime store closed in 1993 it became Molehill, the first maker of mountain wear for kids. Inside today's clothing store is the Wrigley's gum mural originally painted in the 1920s on the outside of the Dollison Building, while the dime store fixtures remain preserved at Lakewood's Heritage Center. (Images from left - Fair Building today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; unfinished Wrigley's P.K. Chewing Sweet mural in the 1920s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum)
Schultz Building
1118 Washington Avenue
Built in 1900
Site of Williams Hotel (1868-1900)
German immigrant Julis Schultz, first Councilor of the 3rd Ward, returned to Golden at the dawn of the 20th Century to establish his grocery here once again. A near mirror image of the Dold Building that stood next door to the south since Wortham built it in 1873, the Schultz Building still depends upon its remaining northern wall for support. After Schultz died in 1905 his building became Sarell Hardware, and in 1946 the Foss Appliance Shoppe, then in 1958 the Christian Science Reading Room which it remained for 34 years. Schultz's original Golden business, the Goosetown Tavern founded in 1873, still operates in Denver, owned by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, with his original bar inside on East Colfax Avenue today. (Image - Schultz Building in the 1920s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum)
Coors Building
1122 Washington Avenue (north)
Built in 1906 (north wall from Dold Building, 1873)
Designed by Albert, Harold, Viggio, & William T. Baeressen
Constructed by Perre O. Unger
Listed on the Golden, State and National Historic Registers
Site of Williams Hotel (1859-1868); Dold Building (1873-1906)
Adolph Coors, prohibited by law from bottling at his brewery, leveled most of the historic 1873 Anselm Dold bakery to make way for his new bottling plant. Charles Sitterle, who with brother Jules long ran the famed Cracker Works in Central City and Golden, ran the storefront of this building as a saloon once contractor Perre O. Unger completed it. Designed by brothers Albert, Harold, Viggio and William Baerresen of Denver, the Coors Building long served as the City Market of Coors' fellow German immigrant John Treffeisen. In 1992 it was linked with the neighboring Loveland Block and today serves as part of the Old Capitol Grill. (Images from left - Coors Building in the 1900s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Coors Building in the 1930s, courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department)
Loveland Block
1122 Washington Avenue (south)
Built in 1863
Constructed by Duncan E. Harrison
Listed on the Golden, State and National Historic Registers
William Austin Hamilton Loveland teamed up with Colorado's first Masonic Lodge to build Golden's first brick storefront, with ornate fanlight arched doors and windows, in 1863. After adding two additions, this building housed the Colorado Territorial Legislature in 1866-67 when Golden served as the capital of Colorado. Loveland's Mercantile, in business since 1859, continued to serve on the first floor of this building to an age of 119 years, one of the longest business tenures in Colorado history. While the Territorial government met here Edward Louis Berthoud, Loveland's close business associate, ran the Territorial Library in what is now the rear room of the first floor. After the addition and removal of a third floor in 1868 and 1923 and the total renovation of its Avenue storefront in 1905 and 1923, as well as 57 years of Mercantile ownership by the prominent German family of Golden Mayor Nicholas Koenig, this building was honored by the National Historic Register. Inside one may see the original blueprints to the Coors Building and the Koenigs' two-ton Debold safe installed in 1905, and dine in the old Territorial Library room. (Images in rows from left - Loveland Block in 1866, courtesy Rizzari Collection; Loveland Block in 1890s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Loveland Block in 1907, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Loveland Block in 1930s, courtesy Golden Pioneer Museum; Edward L. Berthoud, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys", 1880; Loveland Block in 1939, courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department; William A.H. Loveland, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys, 1880; Samuel A. Koenig, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Nicholas Koenig, courtesy Colorado Transcript)
Astor House
822 12th Street
Built in 1867
Constructed by Seth Lake
Listed on the Golden, State and National Historic Registers, 12th Street Historic
District
Site of Lake House (1863-1894)
Devout Baptist Seth Lake hauled cut sandstone in sleds down 12th Street from the quarries of Foreman & Company to build Golden's only alcohol-free hotel in 1867. Named after the famed Astor House of New York City, this somewhat smaller building hosted guests from Territorial Legislators to rescuing famous actor John Shanks Lindsay, and was in the hands of American, French and German proprietors before fading into boarding house obscurity. After also surviving four fires that have altered its appearance, the Astor House was saved from destruction by the Golden Landmarks Association and a landslide 67% vote in 1972, and it has remained a National Register hotel museum ever since. Inside one may visit the piano of Governor John Evans, responsible for bribing the Territorial Legislature to move to Denver in 1867. (Images from left - Seth Lake, courtesy Golden Landmarks Association Collection; - Astor House in 1867, courtesy Golden Landmarks Association Collection; Astor House today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Premature Astor House Obituary in 1971, courtesy Golden Transcript)
Hoagland Building
720 12th Street
Built in 1933
Historic Entities - Buffalo Rose (Established by Hubert F. Crow & Henry Brundy in 1859)
This modest brick edifice, now covered with stucco, was built as a tiny little storefront by Thomas Hoagland in 1933. It is literally a one-walled building; its west wall belonging to the Iler Block, its north wall to the Buffalo Rose. Its east wall is a remnant of the venerable Haas Block, a stone and brick building of four storefronts built by German immigrant Gustavus Haas in 1881, housing tenants from newspapers to Kenrow's Restaurant until it burned down in 2000. Hoagland's hole in the wall was annexed and remodeled into part of the complex of the Buffalo Rose in 1994, becoming much more anonymous, but after the fire it was renovated in 2004 and architecturally became its own entity once again. (Image - Hoagland Building today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Iler Block
1123 Washington Avenue
Built in 1871
Historic Entities - Sportsman Barber Shop (Established circa 1904)
The oldest remaining frame storefront in Jefferson County was originally a tiny one room meat market ran by Bernard Mallon and Henry Chamberlain, built in 1871. The original building, which is the space of today's barber shop, was a clapboarded building with a false front facing Washington Avenue. It ran successfully as a meat market with marble cutting boards, and was later converted into a drugstore. In 1880 German immigrant Richard Lichtenheld opened a new barber shop there. This Union Civil War veteran, who was the favorite barber of Senator Henry M. Teller of Central City, moved out of here in 1881 and it became the dry goods store of John Nicholls Jr. After Lichtenheld sold his shop to Charles Herdic and it became the Metropolitan (still operating at 807 12th Street), he moved back here and partnered with Billy Gray to open a new barber shop at the corner around 1904. Thus started Golden's longest sibling rivalry, with these barber shops now competing for over a century. The Iler Block has survived several additions, barber shop proprietor Milton Iler's unfortunate demise in the Great Flu Epidemic in 1918, and numerous renovations that cut off its corner and gave it a tower. The barber shop was renamed the Sportsman by longtime proprietor and Golden City Councilor Frank Leek in the 1960s, and has been going strong ever since. (Images in rows from left - Iler Block in 1870s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Iler Block in 1898, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Frank I. Leek, courtesy Golden Transcript; Iler Block today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Buffalo Rose Saloon
1119 Washington Avenue
Built in 1902
Constructed by James H. Gow
Historic Entities - Buffalo Rose (Established by Hubert
F. Crow & Henry Brundy in 1859)
Site of International Building (1859-1902)
The Buffalo Rose is Colorado's oldest tavern, established at this spot as the International Bowling Saloon by Hubert F. Crow and Henry Brundy in December of 1859. Since then, this establishment has operated through repossession by the County Sheriff (1863), two shootouts (1860 and 1868), replacement of its building (1902), Prohibition (longtime owner Paul Ficht converted it to serving soft drinks from 1914-1934), and much, much more. Featured inside is the historic Eastlake style bar that Ficht, a German immigrant, installed in 1902. This tavern knew over half a century of German ownership, starting with Gustavus Haas and his taking out the ceiling of the original building to install a grand orchestrion in 1872. It continued with Ficht's 40 years with only two vacations until his retirement in 1934. After continuing as the bar and café of Leonard Larson and later Dudley J. Young, Ken Mueller made it the Buffalo Rose in 1985, and is now in the hands of Murry Martinez. This tavern has a much younger sibling, the Grizzly Rose country emporium in Denver, which Mueller established not long after acquiring this place. (Images from left - tavern in 1913, courtesy Prospector yearbook; tavern in 1950s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Buffalo Rose today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Golden Plunge
1117 Washington Avenue
Built in 1922
Designed by L.A. Desjardins (1926)
Constructed by Tracy Quick
Site of Overland Hotel (1859-1910)
Historic Entities - Buffalo Rose (Established by Hubert
F. Crow & Henry Brundy in 1859)
One of the more adventurously named places in Golden's history, the Plunge was originally built as the Churches Garage in 1922 by Grant Churches, of the pioneer ranching family of this area. Built on the site of the legendary Overland Hotel, it became an auto dealership selling Overland automobiles. In 1926 Churches hired prominent Colorado theatrical architect L.A. Desjardins to expand on the building's peculiarly-patterned brick front and add a story to turn it into the Golden Plunge, Golden's first public recreation center. The Plunge featured a large Jantzen-designed indoor pool with a 20-foot diving tower and two water slides. Nils Christiansen, one of Golden's first Olympic athletes (who in 1936 finished 11th in the 100 meter backstroke at the Berlin Games for the Phillippines), trained and worked at the Plunge. 66 years later Golden Olympic snowboard medalist J.J. Thomas would celebrate his victory here. Although very popular the Plunge went down during the Great Depression when not enough people could afford admission, and the exotic eastern-styled building was converted into a labor union hall. August Gaines Eaker, founder of the Eakers chain of department stores in Colorado, purchased the building and renovated it to Modernist design in 1953. It remained one of his more successful department stores until the chain itself went out of business in 1986. Today dancers of the Buffalo Rose and musicians from across the nation party above the historic swimming pool, which still remains beneath the floorboards. (Images from left - Golden Plunge in 1920s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; building in 1950s, courtesy Gardner Family Collection; Golden Plunge today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)
Transcript Building
1115 Washington Avenue
Built in 1869-1870
This building was the office of one of Colorado's oldest newspapers for 97 years, a paper now known as the Golden Transcript. This publication, founded as the Colorado Transcript by Union Civil War Captain George West in 1866, came to what would be its third and longest home in 1870. This place was built by West and Dr. James Kelly, Golden's prominent pioneer physician, who opened his drugstore on the ground floor while the newspaper went upstairs. Here the Transcript outlasted fierce competition for over half a century from the Golden Globe, Jefferson County Republican, and other newspapers, the two named being Republican opponents of the Democratic loyalties of the Transcript. The Transcript, under West's son Harley, a Spanish-American War veteran, took over the whole space in 1910. In 1966 the newspaper moved away to its current home at 1000 10th Street, and its space was later taken over by the Beauty Bar, itself an historic business which started in 1930s in the Iler Block on the corner. The Transcript Building originally featured a triple-arch storefront, which has since been somewhat filled in over time. (Images from left - Transcript Building in 1939, courtesy Denver Public Library Western History Department; George West, from "History of Clear Creek & Boulder Valleys", 1880)
Capitol Restaurant
1101 Washington Avenue (south)
Built in 1866
This building, likely the oldest Italian-built commercial building in Colorado, was the Capitol Restaurant of brothers Charles and Louis Garbareno, constructed in 1866. Originally it was only the forward half of the present building, a tiny hotel with double doors in the center. The Garbarenos ran their restaurant, named during Golden's tenure as Territorial headquarters, in conjunction with Col. Parker B. Cheney's saloon next door, running the saloon whenever Cheney was absent with his great billiard hall in Denver. After becoming the grocery store of Richard Rowling and having a second floor added in 1901, it became part of the lumberyard office next door and has remained unified with its northern neighbor ever since. For many years the business was operated successfully amid fierce competition by Lawrence W. Deffenbaugh, and eventually had its upper floor subtracted down to the original level in the 1960s. After serving various uses afterward, this building was annexed into the offices of Golden West Realty during the 1990s. The building's southern wall is not built as sloppily as it appears; it looks that way because it was built next to the Loveland Building that then stood next door, and there was never a chance to smooth out the mortar. (Images from left - Capitol Restaurant in 1870s, courtesy Ronzio Collection, Golden Landmarks Association; building in 1950s, courtesy Colorado Transcript)
Deffenbaugh Building
1101 Washington Avenue (north)
Built in 1935
Site of Cheney Block (1859-1924)
On this corner for years starting on June 21, 1859 stood the legendary Chicago Saloon of Col. Parker B. Cheney, from which the flag of the U.S.S. Cumberland, sunk by the Confederate ironclad ship Virginia, flew every 4th of July. Long after the pioneer bar's departure Bert E. Seip built a new lumberyard office here of similar size, but of brick, unifiying its plate glass storefront with the much older onetime neighbor of Cheney next door. For many years under Lawrence W. Deffenbaugh the lumberyard operated successfully, and during the 1970s Golden West Realty, founded in 1964, made this their permanent home. (Images from left - Deffenbaugh Building in 1950s, courtesy Colorado Transcript; Deffenbaugh Building today, courtesy Gardner Family Collection)