1859
Gold Hill and Mining
precious yellow metal many in his caravan were in search of. After leaving the train that had brought them to Colorado at Fort St. Vrain, at the junction of the Platte and St. Vrain rivers, the group If it hadn’t been for the Pike’s Peak gold rush and the discovery followed the St. Vrain River to Boulder Creek to the red stone cliffs of gold in Boulder County, pioneers may have never made their way at the mouth of Boulder Canyon. The date was October 27, 1858, and to Boulder in search of their own fortune. the group made camp for the winter at an area they called Red Rock. Among these eager men, often called the fifty-niners, were the Several months later, a small group left the camp and headed into first pioneers of Gold Hill. the mountains in search of gold. Again they followed Boulder and Gold Hill is thought to be the first permanent mining camp in Left Hand creeks through Sunshine Canyon until they reached a spot Colorado. Rich ores were found here in 1859, and before a year had and made camp on January 15, 1859, in an area they named Gold Hill passed 1,500 miners populated the area. While most of the first gold after discovering gold in Gold Run Creek the next day. found here was of the surface kind, many pioneers profited from It didn’t take long for the group of men to search for the the metal mining. Most ores were gold, but Gold Hill did experience source of gold, and quartz was quickly discovered on the hill. a second boom in 1872 when tellurium was found in the area. The prospectors, awed by their prosperity, as well as the fresh air, The founders of Gold Hill included Captain Thomas Aikins, who mountains, and plains, sent for their families, making the fortune believed heading into the mountains was the way to find the of Gold Hill public. Not long after, the small mining camp of Gold Hill grew into a small town. Many well-known mines in the area included The Horsfal and Cold Spring, where the first quartz was found. Many cabins were built around these areas. At its highest point, the mining town was made up of three general stores, a barber shop, a drug store, a meat market, a surveyors office, and several boarding houses. It boasted a population of between 400 and 500 people by 1900. A fire in 1894 destroyed most of the town, but it was rebuilt and continued as a successful mining town until several years later, when the mines died out. While some settlers began to leave in search of wealth, others stayed and laid claim to the land. Without the lure of gold and success at Gold Hill, settlers and their families may have never made it to Gold Hill, settling in Boulder County. Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection Twenty-eight men pose in front of the Cash Mine during the 1880s. – Summer Stair
Chapter One – Establishing Roots
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1871
Boulder Fire Department
At a town board meeting in November 1871, Boulder officials adopted regulations concerning fires, stoves, chimneys, lamps, candles, and ashes. The Boulder constable and trustees became wardens of the new regulations to make sure buildings were in check and not in violation of any rules. All Boulder residents showed up to fight any fires and were instructed to uphold the new regulations and fine anyone five dollars if they refused to comply. Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection By February 1875, the first official volunteer The Boulder Fire Department’s horse-drawn fire wagon is seen here in 1904 at the entrance of Fire Station No. 1 Boulder Hook and Ladder Company was at 1038 Pearl Street. Ed Knapp is at the reins with Thomas Danford at his left, E.L. Miller on the running board, and Jay Green by the wheel. organized, and eleven men signed up as charter members. A secondhand four-wheeled fire vehicle was purchased for $400 from the Denver fire department, and consisted of a number of ladders, lamps, poles with hooks on the end for tearing down burning timbers, and rubber buckets, since the city had no public water system. Within a month, the company had increased to about fifty members and was renamed the Phoenix Hook and Ladder Company, often referred to as “The Hooks.” In May 1875, the members of the Phoenix Hook and Ladder Company made their first appearance as a unit in public, marching around in fiery red shirts made of twilled California flannel that had flannel-covered buttons and cuffs lined in velvet. Additional fire companies organized soon after, including the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection Boulder Hose Company in July 1875, the Macky Hose Company in The fire department’s 1919 White fire truck is seen in 1932 in front of the Boulderado Hotel on Thirteenth Street at Spruce. In front, from left, are Chief Emil Johnson, Lynn 1877, the Easter Boulder Hose Company in 1878, and the Highland Burdick, Dean Morgan. Behind are Arlie Warner (standing), Cal Wellman (seated), Hose Company in 1894. Harold DeVries (at wheel), and Roy Davis (in rear). The first firehouse was built in 1882 on the west side of was a combination hose and chemical truck that carried ladders and Fourteenth Street, between Pearl and Walnut. The city also had enough horsepower to climb the hills west of Boulder. purchased a new hook and ladder truck for $500, as well as new The Boulder fire companies battled a number of large fires in their fire bells and other equipment. By 1907, the city was growing, more early days, including the 1932 fire at the old courthouse, the freight firemen joined the force, and two new stations were built, one near depot blaze, which destroyed thirty cars, and the fire at the Boulder the University of Colorado and the other near the sanitarium. Mill and Elevating Company. With growth evident, fighting fires on foot was difficult, leading to the purchase of the city’s first auto fire truck in 1913 for $5,000. It 26
Chapter One – Establishing Roots
– Kristi Ritter
1898
Colorado Chautauqua
The Colorado Chautauqua was founded in 1898 as a partnership between the city of Boulder and a group of Texas educators who sought a summer mountain retreat for teacher education. At the time, chautauquas were widely popular across the United States, in the form of both circuit, or traveling, and chautauqua and chautauqua assemblies. While they were originally created for Sunday school teacher education, chautauquas quickly evolved into all encompassing summer programs for education, recreation, and cultural exploration. The term, ‘chautauqua,’ is a Native American word and the name of the lake where the first chautauqua was founded in 1874. One translation means “bag tied in the middle,” referring to the narrow portion between shore lines. After acquiring forty acres of land just below the Flatirons in 1898, the city of Boulder erected the two main structures for what was originally called the Texas-Colorado Chautauqua – the Dining Hall and the large, 1,300seat Auditorium. The Texas-Colorado Association (now the Colorado Chautauqua Association) was established as the organization responsible Chautauqua Chautauqua Auditorium in 1898. for the lodging, initially in tents and later in cottages, the educational programs, and the entertainment pursuant to a lease with the city for twenty-six acres of the land. The remaining fourteen acres continues to be maintained by the city of Boulder as parks and Chautauqua open space. Chautauqua Auditorium in 1899.
Chautauqua
Chautauqua Dining Hall.
The Colorado Chautauqua officially opened on July 4, 1898, where 4,000 attendees witnessed the magical opening ceremonies in a picturesque Boulder setting. That summer, participants were housed in tented camps, ate meals in the dining hall, and attended programs at the auditorium. The following year welcomed the establishment of several cottages for guest stays. Other buildings were erected in subsequent years including the two-story academic hall in 1900, the stone-based Community House in 1918 and the remainder of the ninety-nine cottages that gradually replaced the tents. The Chautauqua movement died out around 1930, leaving mere remnants of the establishments around the country. However, the Colorado Chautauqua remained afloat. It continues to be one of the few surviving chautauquas in the United States and is considered the best representation of Western chautauquas. The original structures are still in tact and are still used for their original purposes. For these reasons, the Colorado Chautauqua was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, becoming one of only twentyone national historic landmarks in the state of Colorado and the only one in Boulder County. Susan Connelly, the executive director of the Colorado Chautauqua Association, attributes the organization’s perpetuity to a combination of loyal, returning guests, and a dedicated Boulder community. – Reagen Lowrey Chapter One – Establishing Roots
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1922
Macky Auditorium Pioneer, gold rush settler, carpenter, postmaster, justice of the peace, school secretary, and founding director of First National Bank of Boulder, Andrew J. Macky envisioned the town of Boulder uniting around education and the arts. Andrew had no college education and, legend says, was inspired after his trip to a Colorado versus Nebraska football game in 1905. The camaraderie and school spirit felt during the game drove Andrew to bequeath money to the University of Colorado in his will, the second largest contribution to any university or college in Colorado at the time in the amount of $300,000. Construction of Macky Auditorium began September 20, 1909. After the ground breaking, the design started taking shape. A conglomeration of architecture, the plan included aspects of buildings that then University of Colorado president James Baker admired, including the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy; the King’s Chapel in Cambridge, England; the Magdalene Tower in Oxford, England; a Princeton campus building, and a New York City church. An early start in 1909 did not avoid the legal issues that soon arose, pushing construction through thirteen long years. However, the community refused to let sporadic construction halt the auditorium’s availability. Religious services and student events were held using wooden benches as their stage in 1912. These temporary benches became an unexpected landmark for ten years, until they University of Colorado were upgraded to upright
University of Colorado, Casey A. Cass
wooden benches and then again during a 1986 renovation. Music rates high in the Macky Auditorium’s repertoire. In 1922, it received its first musical instrument. With an appropriation of $20,000 from the Board of Regents and a fund-raiser to earn the rest of the $68,000 balance, an Austin pipe organ soon rested in the auditorium. Graced with the pipe organ sound, an inaugural concert was on May 29, 1923. Macky Auditorium has now housed some of the greatest artists of current time, including Yo-Yo Ma, Harry Belafonte, Benny Goodman, and Herbie Hancock, as well as speakers and influential persons including the Dalai Lama, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Boulder has enjoyed the wide array of events Macky Auditorium has hosted for 100 years, and now awaits concerts and speeches planned for the future. Macky Auditorium will continue to unite the Boulder community and influence the many individuals who enter its walls. – Kelly Bleck Chapter Two – A New Century
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1942
Doug Looney
Douglas S. Looney epitomizes what it means to be a true Boulderite. Born on January 2, 1942, at Boulder Community Hospital, Doug spent his days as a child enjoying the view of the Flatirons from his front porch. He attended University Hill Elementary, Base Line Junior High, and Boulder High School. Doug was an enterprising child, as he created his own business mowing lawns, cut clips at the Boulder Daily Camera, and was a night janitor at the Boulder women’s clothing store Brooks-Fauber. Doug excelled at Boulder High, Doug Looney Doug Looney in 1956. Doug Looney in 2009. earning the position of head boy and lettering in tennis. He was a selfton, D.C. proclaimed athletic sensation, but his coaches Doug’s dream was to write political articles, but once he began did not have the same feeling, so Doug began his sports writing career at the National Observer, there was no going to pursue his other interest, writing for the high back. He traveled to the likes of the Olympic Games in Germany, school newspaper, The Owl. chess championships in Iceland, and the International Camel and Doug earned a journalism degree at the Ostrich Races in Virginia City, Nevada. Little did Doug know that University of Colorado, and wrote for the he was being watched closely by Sports Illustrated, and was Boulder Daily Camera and the Colorado Daily. It
Doug Looney in 1963.
Doug Looney in 1985 at Sports Illustrated.
was at the university that he met his wife, Mary Ann. They married in the spring of their senior year of college and moved to Fort Slocum, New York, where Doug served as a second lieutenant after going through the University of Colorado Army ROTC program. After serving, Doug made his first career move to the Nashville Banner, where the race riots were rampant, the shootings ceaseless and the learning experience for a Boulder boy was endless. From there, Doug traveled to the Omaha World-Herald, where he was Des Moines, Iowa, Bureau Chief, then to Better Homes and Garden as an editor, and eventually to the National Observer in Washing-
eventually asked to become a writer in 1975. Doug led a decorated career at Sports Illustrated until 1997, writing about all sports and investigating athletic scandals. Doug and Mary Ann returned to Boulder in 1992, and he spent his last years at Sports Illustrated working and writing a book. In 1994, Doug’s book, Under the Tarnished Dome: How Notre Dame Betrayed It’s Ideals for Football Glory, was published, earning him a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Doug has taught a sports and literature class at the University of Colorado since coming home and donates his salary to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He is also the benefactor of the Douglas S. Looney Journalism Fund, serves on the SJMC Advisory Board, and the Board of Trustees for the University of Colorado Foundation. – Jenny Depper Chapter Four – Building an Identity
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1958
Colorado Shakespeare Festival
Come hither, come all to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, where fun will be had by everyone. Since its inception in 1958, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival sees as many as 40,000 theater enthusiasts attend its plays annually at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre in Boulder. While the festival was founded in 1958, the idea of an outdoor theater on the University of Colorado campus began more than a century ago when senior class commencement plays were performed under a grove of large cottonwood trees on the east lawn of Old Main. It didn’t take long for these plays to become the norm, and audiences began to gather on a regular basis until the ninteen-year tradition was interrupted by World War I. At that time, construction began on the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre in 1936 where, eventually, the first Shakespearean play would be performed along with the revival of outdoor theater on the school campus. Shakespeare teacher and bibliographer James Sandoe was the first to put on a Shakespeare play at the outdoor theater in 1944. He rang in the return of the Shakespeare Festival outdoor theatre with Romeo The Tempest was performed in 1987 and was directed by J.H. Crouch. and Juliet. Throughout the next couple of years, he staged two more of Shakespeare’s works – The Merchant of Venice in 1945, and Henry IV, Part I in 1946. The following summer, English professor Jack Crouch took over, continuing an unbroken progression, Shakespeare Festival with one exception: in 1957, Henry IV, Part Two was performed in 1979 and was the Shakespeare play was directed by Tom Markus. 106
Chapter Four – Building an Identity
Lou Costy
Sarah Fallon as Titania, left, and Ceeko Scheeren as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was performed in 2002 and was directed by Patrick Kelly.
staged in the indoor University Theater. Jack directed seven plays throughout the next ten years, and founded the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in 1958, increasing the summer repertoire from one to three productions, with Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and The Taming of the Shrew. He stayed on as executive director through the 1963 season. Today, the festival offers audience members not only a great play, but a Shakesperience that includes gourmet picnics and free concerts. The focus of the festival also includes classic plays, with Shakespeare as the gold standard of good writing and exciting material. – Summer Stair
1988
Pasta Jay’s
For anyone who has ever been to Pasta Jay’s in Boulder, they know they’re not only going to get Italian food fit for a king, but that they are spending the evening in a restaurant they can call home. While Pasta Jay’s has become part of the community throughout the years, the real story began when owner and creator Jay Elowsky started washing dishes in the kitchen of his aunt and uncle’s pizza restaurant, Sonny’s Pizza in San Clemente, California. It was there at age twenty that Jay learned from his Uncle Sonny the famPaul Litman Parmesan-Encrusted Salmon at Pasta Jay’s. ily recipes passed down from Sonny’s mother, “Mama Genovese,” whose Jay had first fallen in love with Colorado when he was a kid grandmother was the cook for the first king of the United Countries watching John Denver specials on television. But after briefly of Italy. With the lure of Colorado always beckoning, Jay took a step attending the University of Colorado, having to leave to help in the toward his future and left the family business. He ended up in family business, he knew Boulder was where he really wanted to be. Boulder and purchased what would become the first Pasta Jay’s on In the early days of Pasta Jay’s, Jay did all of the cooking and Ninth and Pearl streets in 1988. would sneak brief naps in whenever he could. But within weeks of opening, the restaurant received a four-star review rating, and the rest of the story is history. Today, Pasta Jay’s has grown to include restaurants in Lonetree, Colorado, and Moab, Utah, with plans for further expansion. The restaurant in Boulder is in its third location at 1001 Pearl Street. While the restaurant is well-known for its food and friendly atmosphere, Pasta Jay’s is also regarded for its devotion to the community. Through the restaurant’s community outreach program, Jay provides food and fund-raising venues for homeless shelters, churches, police departments, and charitable organizations. Since the opening of his restaurant, Jay has also run a soup kitchen for the impoverished of the neighborhood. “I love this town, and I would do anything for it,” Jay says. Paul Litman – Summer Stair
Chapter Six – Making A Mark
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