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Who was Kate?

Contributed by: Richard Gardner on 1/4/2008

Lately YourHub.com and others around town have noticed the new landmark going up on the north side of Clear Creek, which is the new Golden Fire Station #1.

This is the latest station of several that have served Golden's firefighters since William A.H. Loveland donated their first building in 1879, and will be state of the art for fighting the fire fiend in the 21st Century.

Yet unknown likely to even the firefighters is that this is the first building built which directly corners on one of the original intersections in the heart of the city: 10th and Kate Streets. There are no signs, no grand entries to speak of, and yet little Kate Street remains to have a building fronting on it at last.

Nobody ever got around to vacating Kate Street; it is a little midblock street that runs from 10th Street to Clear Creek west of the Golden Visitors Center.

It is doubtless the most used street by Golden police and firefighters in the town's history. It is also the last of Golden's streets named after the pioneer ladies of the town. Once there were quite a number: Mary, Helen, Nettie, Esther, Rose, and more. Those opened were renamed in 1904, much to the chagrin of early Goldenites:

Indignation is being manifested among the old timers at the changing of names of certain streets in the city as the matter is brought to their attention by the erection of name boards upon the street corners. "Illinois" and "Maple" have been substituted for "Mary" and "Helen' the two streets having been originally named for two of the honored mothers of the town Mrs. Mary Boyd and Mrs. Helen Berthoud, and have borne them for the last forty years. It serves the old timers right for electing tenderfeet to the council.

George West, the pioneer who wrote this in the Transcript, also said Nettie Street was named for another such esteemed lady, Mrs. Jeanette Ferrell, whose daughter Prunetta Ferrell Burt also shared the nickname. Another was elsewhere in town: Eva Street, named after Eva Berthoud, later renamed High Parkway. Over time those streets not opened were vacated and the others renamed, until now we are down to only one.

So this new construction has brought to light an interesting question: Who was Kate? No historical source has yet revealed her. It is highly unlikely she was ever a cop or a firefighter; Golden didn't even have police or fire departments back when it was platted. She was, however, likely as upstanding a citizen as our police and firefighters, since pattern shows the pioneers named streets after women they held in high esteem. There aren't a lot of candidates; the Rocky Mountain Gold Reporter & Mountain City Herald reported in August 1859 that the Golden area had "about two thousand inhabitants, seventy of whom are ladies." The 1860 census, completed the same year as the town plat was, shows a highly disproportionate number of women to men indeed. That census lists only one Kate: Kate Moore, who was 21 years old, from New York. She is listed at the same residence as three of our prominent citizens: future judge Chester Calvin Carpenter, J.T. WcWhirt who was the first Jefferson County official and also a judge, and saloonkeeper Billy Ford, one of the brothers whom Ford Street was named after.

Could this be the long lost Kate that our street is named for? We don't know, but that does not mean folks cannot appreciate the last of the streets named for our pioneer ladies. There is something to be said for a thoroughfare forever protected by the Kate Street brigade, maybe our only original street that has never suffered fire and has a spotless criminal record.


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Karen Groves
posted on 1/9/2008 @ 12:32:36 PM
Rated Story
Nice story Richard
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Richard Gardner

Golden , CO

Richard Gardner has posted 101 stories and 1 comment since joining on 9/15/2005. Richard Gardner 's average story rating is 4.95.
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