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Notable Arvadans bring city’s history to life

Contributed by: Seth Davis/YourHub.com on 7/17/2007

After watching buildings rise and fall and local personalities shine and fade over the years in Arvada, Max Haug has made it his mission to not let these fragments of history be forgotten. For the past two years, he has been the driving force behind Arvada As It Was - a videotaped series of storytelling events held in conjunction with the Arvada Historical Society that allows longtime Arvada residents to share their experiences with others and form a more complete picture of how their city came to be.

A retired real estate agent who moved to Arvada in 1941 and graduated from Arvada High School in 1945, Haug has had plenty of time to craft his list of influential area citizens whose stories he would like to have for the archives.

Haug explained what he is looking for in his search for oral histories.

"It's kind of a one-man team," Haug said.
Harvest Festival memories

With the urging of my children, I am writing another page of my life and that of my 13 children.
I have lived in Arvada and the surrounding area about 61 years.


They want me to tell of happenings in those years. I have been to the Arvada Harvest Parade and Festival about 61 years. Of those years, I have missed only three parades. One because of a death in the family, I was in the hospital for one and the third we were rained out - it was one of those great downpours. We went but had to come home.

The first festival was about 20 minutes long, and now they are about two hours long. It is always hot, but we love every minute of them.

The best, of course, is our military with their display of our flags and bands. Of course our family loves their schools and, best of all, the bands, as my family went through a great many schools in Arvada. Coming next is horses. It seems like the riding groups aren't in attendance as they used to be. We have lived in the same house in Arvada for 34 years. We have a very nice neighborhood, our neighbors are great - ones who have lived here a long time and new ones.

Hope we will see all of you at the parade and festival this year.

Mary Fulton
Arvada

"I go down through the list of old-timers and people I think would add something to it - that I know have been involved or family has been involved in the history of the city."

The format Haug has used to record about 35 speakers in the past five Arvada As It Was sessions is fairly standard: He seats the six to eight people in a half-moon and introduces them to the 20 or 30 people who usually drop by to listen. He then calls them up to the microphone one by one and gives them uninterrupted time to relive their memories.

Once the stories start flowing, though, the feeling throughout the room is anything but standard, Haug said.

"As the speaker starts telling the stories about their childhood or how Arvada was, you can see people's eyes light up," Haug said. "They're talking amongst themselves - 'Yeah, I remember that.' It's a fun experience."

As much as the storytellers and audience seem to enjoy the historic tales, Haug said the real value comes from the video taken of the sessions. He said the thought has crossed his mind before that he wished he had tapes of people who lived in Arvada 50 or 60 years ago, and since he doesn't have access to those now, he can provide them for future generations by organizing Arvada As It Was.

"I tell them it isn't for us and not for the next several years. I think the archival value of it is probably more important than what is happening now," Haug said. People can drop by the McIlvoy House, 7307 Grandview Ave., or call the Arvada Historical Society at 303-431-1261 to inquire about purchasing copies of the recordings.

When choosing storytellers, Haug said he looks for people like Charles J. Rowe Jr., an Arvada native who was born at a home located at 58th Avenue and Kipling Street in 1918. It's Rowe Jr.'s memory of minute details of Arvada history, combined with his ability to keep the audience entertained, that make him Arvada As It Was material, Haug said.

"When you sit down with (Rowe Jr.) and get to talking, he'll tell about every building up and down Grandview, up and down Wadsworth, who was in it - he can go on for hours. People seem to enjoy it," Haug said. According to Haug, Rowe Jr. told him, "Max, it's time to get this on tape before it's too late."

Rowe Jr.'s father was the foreman of a
Seems like only yesterday

Here's a look back at some historical highlights that shaped Arvada.

1887: Twelve ounces of gold dust was taken from a placer mine at Lyman Cole's ranch, which was located where Fitzmorris Elementary is today.

1892: Arvada's first newspaper, the Colorado Fruitgrower, was established.

1903: Standley Lake was built.

1911: First organized fire protection in Arvada was provided by two companies.

1914: Wadsworth was designated as the main road from Denver and Boulder.

1918: Spanish Flu epidemic took lives of many Arvadans. Schools were closed for five weeks.

1919: Mrs. Clemency N. McIlvoy presented three acres of her property to the city of Arvada to be used for Arvada's first public park and to be called McIlvoy Park.

1925: First Arvada Harvest Festival celebrated the final link of paved road from Denver.

1926: President Coolidge eats Arvada-grown pascal celery for Christmas dinner. It was grown by S. Lombardi of College Lane (now 52nd Avenue).

1937: Arvada Garden Club organized in response to the 1936 destruction of Hackberry Tree.

1943: John C. Vivian, born in the Arvada area, became the 30th governor of Colorado and served from 1943 to 1947.

1951: Arvada became an incorporated city on Oct. 31.

1956: North Jeffco Metropolitan Recreation and Park District organized.

1961: Arvada Plaza Shopping Center approved in June.

1963: Arvada became a home-rule city and a city charter was adopted.

1967: Interstate 70 completed to Wadsworth Boulevard from the east.

1969: First sales tax in Arvada approved.

1971: Arvada High School built at West 66th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard.

1972: Arvada Historical Society organized Aug. 24 by Lois Lindstrom.

SOURCE: ARVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

lumberyard in Arvada and later became the first building inspector when Arvada became a city in 1952, which meant that he knew everyone in town and everyone automatically knew his son. Rowe Jr. was one of the first people appointed to the board of adjustment in 1952, so that helps to explain his intimate knowledge of Arvada's landscape.

Rowe Jr. shared stories about the empty lot in town where firemen set up a Christmas tree and a string of colored lights and handed out candy to children, and about the first Arvada Harvest Festival, which was threatened by a heavy snowstorm the day before but went on after the town worked to get the snow cleared away. He also shared a story that he didn't get to bring up during Arvada As It Was.

"One thing I never got to mention was the Ku Klux Klan. They were quite active there in the '20s for a while. They would go up to 69th and Carr and set a big cross on fire up there and have their meeting," Rowe Jr. said. He also said the Klan had a cabin on top of Lookout Mountain, and that a glance up there Saturday nights revealed a number of crosses burning.

Lloyd Gorrell has lived in Arvada since 1923, was in the newspaper business there for 30 years and has belonged to the Arvada Historical Society since it was founded, which gave him plenty to discuss during Arvada As It Was. He explained the value he believes the event holds for his city.

"It's just the basis of the community. It gives an idea of where the community's been and maybe sheds light on where it should go," Gorrell said. He said that although he already knows most of Arvada's history, he did gain some new insight from individual stories told during the session.

Max Haug admits that he hasn't been in the storytelling spotlight just yet, but he says he eventually will give in and step up to the microphone. When asked to tell about some of his favorite memories, he reminisced about his high school years spent cutting and growing flowers for Callaham Wholesale Florist.

"I remember a trip to Texas with Mr. Callaham - he'd introduce me as one of his boys. He was a mean old guy, but he was our dad as far as us growing up," Haug said. "I think people like that have been forgotten and probably need to brought to life a little more."


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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments
Submitted By: Erin Feese
posted on 7/18/2007 @ 2:00:26 PM
Rated Story
Awesome! I really like the timeline and the formatting looks great. Nice job, Seth!
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Submitted By: Karen Groves
posted on 7/17/2007 @ 1:40:39 PM
Rated Story
Good story and wonderful photos
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Seth Davis has posted 1404 stories and 211 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Seth Davis's average story rating is 4.69.
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