A beautiful day to move a piano or two

Three big guys from Keyboard Carriers arrived at 1:30 on Thursday to prep our J. M. Pelton square grand piano for a move from the Astor House Museum to the Golden History Center. Dating from 1860-1880, this 1600-pound mass of cherry and gumwood was one of the first major donations to the Astor House Museum in 1972, where it has remained ever since.  

Back when Mr. and Mrs. Keith Simmons from Littleton donated the piano, Mrs. Simmons recalled that Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans bought the instrument around 1859 for his youngest daughter. She died later at age 15. The piano was later sold, only to reside in Central City until 1910, when it was purchased by Mrs. Simmon’s family.

This was back before Golden had a train, so the story goes that he had the piano shipped to Cheyenne by train, and then transported by wagon to Golden. Fortunately, the four piano legs are removable, allowing the cabinet to fit snugly into a wagon. Come full circle back to today–this is basically what we did. The legs were removed and it was carted this time in a truck by professional movers.

Padding the piano at the Astor House Museum.

Removing one of the legs at the Astor House Museum.

Putting legs back on at the Golden History Center.

This is only the beginning of this story. The piano is about to undergo a complete restoration of all of its musical components. It will have new strings, hammers, and more, thanks to the generous support of several longtime museum supporters. All of the work will be completed under the talented eye of Dan Holstein, owner of Dan’s Piano Service, who will sponsor our upcoming music exhibit showcasing the Pelton grand. When the exhibit is done, you might even get a chance to hear it make beautiful music. This yet-to-be-named exhibit will open June 3, 2011.  Stay tuned, because next week Dan will be working in the Golden History Center’s gallery when he plans to began removing the strings.

Offsite collections in better, more secure location

From big-wheeled baby buggies to a hand-grenade-style glass fire extinguisher, the offsite collection storage for Golden History Museums has an amazing variety of Golden-centric artifacts. The collection has been growing for decades and numbers over 15,000 items—so many that they can’t all be stored at our three museums near downtown Golden.

Shelves have been assembled by volunteers, and items were boxed, labeled and cataloged in recent months.

Yesterday the whole staff, along with one lucky volunteer, donned special gloves (so as not to damage the artifacts we handled) and moved the last few hundred of the items, large and small, to a new and more secure storage room where everything is consolidated. With smaller items neatly organized on shelving units and larger items carefully placed anywhere space could be found, the transfer of artifacts is now nearly complete.

We even have a repurposed (from a federal government office) flat-file storage unit that will ensure proper care for maps and other large paper artifacts.

See the before-and-after images below to get a sense of the room’s scope.


 

  

Hands on History Summer Camp

When it comes to the public programs we provide at Golden History Museums it’s difficult to get a true handle on what parents and families really need and believe it or not, the best way to get at the needs of local families is to ask them. Last December I met with three Golden moms who were able to volunteer some time to talk about possible changes to the Hands-on History Summer Camp (HoH) structure and how it would affect parents.

The meeting went great and all three ladies had really helpful suggestions that ranged from session themes to making sure parents know their kids won’t be in the sun all day. With their suggestions I really think we’ll be able to make HoH 2011 work for a lot of families. This summer we’re dividing the kids by age, 6-8 and 9-11, and offering half-day or full-day sessions. And even better, in addition to our pioneer session, we’ve got 3 new session themes for kids to explore new time periods and topics.

 

Having involvement from community members is invaluable and I’m really thankful to all three women for taking the time to talk with me about this and I think we made HoH more convenient for parents and even more fun for kids.

Behind the Scenes: Golden in Focus Photo Show

Golden in Focus: Historic Photo Show & Sale opened on Dec. 3 at the Golden History Center at 923 10th St., in conjunction with Golden’s Candlelight Walk. 





Visitors to the Golden History Center take in the exhibit on Dec. 3.

© Peter Skiba, SkibaPhotography.com

  

A collection of 36 images is still on display, featuring such diverse topics as Buffalo Bill, Coors Brewery employees, and Golden street scenes.



© Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection



To create Golden in Focus, professional photographer Scott Dressel-Martin and museum curator Mark Dodge pored over the City of Golden collection to choose the best images for the exhibit. Painstakingly scanned and retouched when necessary, the images were reproduced and transferred to display boards, and then arranged in the Golden History Center’s gallery space.

Mark and Scott work to select the right images.

Elizabeth Strnad won the image of the Colorado & Southern train yard in Golden.



© Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection



© Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection

Reproductions are still for sale starting at $59.99. Stop in or call 303.278.3557 for details.

Construction excitement: new concrete pathways

One of our institutional goals is to continually improve the way the public sees Golden History Museums. We’re working on such diverse items as exterior visibility, branding, and social media.

This week we were very pleased to get one of our goals for the Golden History Center on the fast track: improvement of the creek-side entrance. Battling cold and some light snow, our work crew sneaked in the pouring of cement on two reconstructed pathways as well as a new staircase. We’re excited to see the difference this will make in traffic for our guests. We hope you can come try out the new pathways soon!

Author asks Golden residents for help in documenting Magic Mountain's history

The following was originally published in the Golden Transcript.

In search of Magic moments
Author asks Golden residents for help in documenting Magic Mountain's history
by Linda Detroy Alexander

November 10, 2010 | 03:51 PM
Magic Mountain needed a big sprinkle of fairy dust to be a success, but Disney wasn't sharing Tinkerbell.

The amusement park, part of a grand scheme to build a dozen or more Disneyesque parks across the county, opened its gates on June 30, 1960, but closed for good just two months later. It was the victim of lawsuits filed by Disney against the designer of the park, Marco Engineering (the head of whom was a former Disney vice president) and, poor leadership, or as some say, leaders who lined their own pockets with investors' money.

© Golden History Museums, City of Golden Collection

Bob McLaughlin, an author from Wakefield, Mass., wants to tell the story of Magic Mountain, which is now Heritage Square, 18301 W. Colfax Ave. Magic Mountain was the first of the amusement parks to be built, followed by just two others.

"This is the only one of the copycat parks that still has anything intact," McLaughlin said. "The core four blocks of Heritage Square are all original to Magic Mountain"

McLaughlin is fascinated by the history of the parks and the men who had the grandiose dreams to build them. He has already written books about the others: Pleasure Island opened in 1959 in Wakefield and was billed as the "Disneyland of the East." It too went bankrupt during that first season, but new owners kept it open until 1969.

Freedomland, New York's answer to Disneyland, was built in the Bronx and opened just before Magic Mountain. It also closed its doors because of bankruptcy, lasting only four years.

McLaughlin's books are part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series. A prominent feature of the series is the abundant use of photographs.

"If I don't have the photos, it ain't gonna happen," McLaughlin said during a visit to Golden in October. "I'm chasing down bits and pieces of the story, and I need some help."

The help he needs most is from people who remember going to Magic Mountain, and who have pictures or home movies of those trips. Other memorabilia, such as tickets, programs or posters, would also be valuable for the book.

While in Golden, McLaughlin met with Mark Dodge, exhibit and collections curator for the Golden Museums, to find out if those items would be valuable to the museums. Dodge was also able to give McLaughlin some leads on contacting people who were in Golden while Magic Mountain was being developed.

McLaughlin also visited Heritage Square to take photos of the buildings as they look today, walk the railroad tracks around the park, and talk to anyone he could find who remembered the park. With him, he carried a binder crammed with newspaper clippings, photocopies of documents about the park and other bits of its history that he has unearthed as he has crisscrossed the country to do research on the three amusement parks.

"Three years ago, I was in Golden and tried to get people to come out of the woodwork," he said.

He and a friend who now lives in Golden, Bill Robie, put up flyers around town, but didn't get a single response. This time, with the involvement of the History Museums, he hopes he'll have better success.

"If the museums get even one photograph, that's one more than they've got," McLaughlin said.

A Smashing Success!

Cemetery tours were a smashing success this year, and I’d like to send out a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped with everything from parking to packing up the supply trucks. The event received wonderful reviews from those who attended, and the cider and homemade cookies were enjoyed by everyone, especially me. Even the weather was good; we only lost one pop tent to the wind!

© Lynne Lawlor Photography

This was the first year lantern tours were offered in the evening, and while the thought of hanging out in a cemetery after dark didn’t originally appeal to my naturally skittish personality, the Golden Cemetery is such a welcoming environment that I felt comfortable there even after the sun went down. Or maybe I was too distracted by trying not to blow myself up with the propane lantern to freak out about the situation.


© Lynne Lawlor Photography

This year we resurrected a few notable people from Golden’s history: Willie Russell, Gertrude Bell, Captain Edward Berthoud, Caroline Millikin, and George and Eliza West. All volunteer ghosts performed their characters beautifully and really brought them back to life for the attendees. In one of the photos, you can see George West staying true to his character as he shows his flask. (Later, he sneaks a drink when his wife Eliza’s not looking.) We also had fantastic tour guides, including local historian Dennis Potter and Rick Gardner as the Keeper of Cemetery Hill.

Finally, I’d like to thank Paul, Jay, and Troy for being incredibly supportive of the event and letting the museums invade their space for a couple weekends, and for letting me drive their maintenance vehicle (despite what I and everyone else was expecting, I returned it in one piece).