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Happy 150th 4th of July Golden

Contributed by: Richard Gardner on 6/30/2008

It may be hard to believe, but this summer Golden is celebrating Independence Day for the 150th time. It was the first holiday celebrated in Golden, when the city was not even a month old, and has been celebrated every summer ever since.

One might wonder if I'm jumping the gun on this since Golden's sesquicentennial (150th birthday) is next year, but Golden's 150th 4th of July is now, much like how a child usually celebrates their first Christmas before their first birthday.

Back on Golden's first 4th of July the city was quite different than it is now. The newborn town was a city of tents and wagons, and the town lots were still being surveyed. Our main street was there, being a dirt road and main thoroughfare to the gold fields in the mountains, with its log bridge the only one across the river, turbulent and teeming with trout, that folks were increasingly calling Clear Creek. However, there was not a permanent building in sight throughout our infant city, and that was what our first 4th of July was about. The Boston Company, our first business, laid the cornerstone for Golden's first building, at what is today's Parfet Park. Company president George West, in the Transcript newspaper he later founded, told of our first 4th in a couple articles:

July 4th, 1859, the corner stone of the first business house to be built in Golden was laid with due ceremony. The building was a substantial hewn log one, two stories in height, and served for many years as a commercial rendezvous for a large number of customers. The projectors and builders of this first substantial building in the new town were known as The Boston Company. The members of the company were Geo. West, president; James McDonald, business manager; Walter Pollard, Mark L. Blunt, James McIntyre, Thos. Panton and Joe Bird. They carried on a general mercantile and trading business, express and stage business, published the Western Mountaineer, etc...

...in tearing away the original corner stone he discovered its contents which we well remember being deposited there we believe on July 4th, '59, with all due ceremony. The list comprises a copper cent and two-cent of the mintage of 1858, a pair of scissors, a table fork, tea spoon, a steel bitt, an ox shoe, a mule shoe and a horse shoe.

There is no doubt Old Glory made an appearance downtown that day, and has for many years since, but Golden's celebration of 1867 was especially meaningful. Colorado and America had just been through the Civil War, which tore the nation apart and pitted Goldenites against each other on the battlefields of Missouri. The war was now over, the nation reunifying and Golden the capital of Colorado Territory. One of the Gold Rush pioneers from the military, Col. Parker B. Cheney, built a tall flagpole from lodgepole pine at the southeast corner of 11th and Washington, upon which he raised the flag of the U.S.S. Cumberland. It was the first Union ship that encountered the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia, and did not go quietly before the flag went into the waters of the Chesapeake. West, himself a Captain in the Union Army, wrote upon the flag's raising "it reminded us of the associations that bind us to the memory of the fathers of our country. Although our people were not as demonstrative as usual, we believe the memories of the events that render the day sacred to every American were none the less hallowed. We hope and trust that when our next national anniversary comes, we shall be inspired to great rejoicing over a thoroughly re-united, harmonious Union, and that our national anthem will then be sung by a free and prosperous people from one extremity of the country to the other, in a harmonious and unbroken strain."

Notwithstanding that this "not as demonstrative" 4th included dancing of some 60 couples into the next early morning, Golden's celebrations did indeed become more pronounced in years after. Golden's 4th in 1871 is the earliest known to have featured a fireworks display. The celebration of 1878 included one of the longest-routed parades in Golden's history led by the Golden brass band and followed by the City Council and orator of the day, Grangers and other societies, the fire department, various Jeffco schools, citizens of the town and county in carriages and wagons, and fantastics, followed by a 4th of July address and reading of the Declaration of Independence at Golden Park (now Coors Brewery grounds), with an afternoon of music, sack racing, pole climbing, dancing, boating and swinging, culminated by a magnificent fireworks display shot off from Castle Rock. In the everning the park was lit up by Chinese lanterns, with the grand dance inaugurating the newly finished Golden Park dance pavilion. The pavilion, considered elegant at the time, continues to be so as the Coors Mansion today.

Golden's celebration of 1896 was particularly grand, featuring the firefighters' tournament including Golden's and other departments from the region competing in athletic contests which demonstrated their firefighting skill. Downtown's buildings were festively decorated in patriotic festoons, flags, buntings and more. The crowds were treated to a balloon ascension at City Park, with a concert by the Golden Cornet Band followed by the Central City Cornet Band. The evening was capped off by a great fireworks display at the park. Firefighting tournaments were a popular staple of Golden's early July 4th celebrations, including tournaments held in the city in 1879, 1883, 1891, 1896, and 1907. Certainly the idea of multi-day fireworks and themed firework shows is nothing new today, as in that year of 1907 fireworks were shot off the knoll below Castle Rock on the 4th and 5th, with the grand finale being a rendition of Niagara Falls in pyrotechnics fully 70 feet long.

In 1913 Goldenites celebrated beyond their normal big slate of festivities by reopening the Castle Rock Resort with its new funicular railway on July 3rd, with an open invitation for Goldenites to view Denver's fireworks on the 4th from atop the Rock with dancing in the afternoon and evening. In 1924 Goldenites celebrated the completion of Washington Avenue's first paving with a big street dance. Around the time of the mid-20th Century Golden's fireworks were shot off Castle Rock once again, courtesy of the Golden Jaycees. In more recent times, Golden's two annual fireworks displays have become fixtures: the Heritage Square display, started in 1971, and the Golden Lions display, began in 1972.

Golden's oldest holiday has known many ways of celebrating, and doubtless the 150th edition this year will feature even more fun. Only now there are many more Goldenites around to celebrate than we had on the 1st!


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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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