The 1900s

1900

August 3, 1900

Colorado State Home and Industrial School for Girls, established by statute in 1887 for wayward girls ages 6 to 18, moves to Morrison in Jefferson County. The name was changed to Mount View Girl’s School in 1961.

1901

  • Edgewater is incorporated
  • Alferd Packer, recently paroled, works as a ranch hand on the Rooney Ranch

1902

  • Coors Brewery wins international brewing award in Prague (now capital of the Czech Republic)
  • Table Mountain Resort in Golden opens with bowling and evening dance
  • Denver Interurban electric streetcar begins service to Arvada from downtown Denver

1903

  • Coal mining company town of Leyden established (pronounced Ly-den)
  • Colorado National Guard’s Rifle Range established, renamed Camp George West in 1934
  • George West family form the Transcript Printing Company - a family corporation

1904

Jewish Consumptive Relief Society (JCRS) founded in Lakewood as a non-sectarian sanatorium to treat tuberculosis patients in all stages of the disease. Patients come from all over North America and are admitted free of charge. The Sanatorium is headed by Dr. Charles Spivak and Phillip Hillkowitz.

August 1904

City of Arvada incorporated

October 11, 1904

Town of Mountain View, or "Mount View," incorporated

1905

  • Cheesman Dam on South Platte River, world’s tallest dam at 221 feet tall, completed
  • Golden Illuminating Company installs streetlights in Golden, the first incandescent street lamps in the state

August 9, 1905

Evangelical Lutheran Sanitorium established as a tent colony for tuberculosis patients in Wheat Ridge, later becomes Lutheran Hospital

1906

John Brisben Walker purchases the Park of the Red Rocks, renaming it the Garden of the Titans

January 29, 1906

Town of Morrison incorporated

May 31, 1906

Grand Opening of the Garden of the Titans (Red Rocks Park) with earliest documented performance at the amphitheatre

November 15, 1906

George West, publisher of the Colorado Transcript newspaper, dies

1907

Death of alleged Colorado cannibal Alferd Packer, a resident of Deer Creek after his release from prison in 1901

January 8, 1907

Wildfire destroys Wilson Ranch and threatens town of Leyden

April 9, 1907

Thirty square mile extreme southern tip of Jefferson County transferred to Park County

November 12, 1907

Small town of Lakeside incorporated

1908

  • Crown Hill Cemetery established. Tower of Memories built in 1926-1948
  • Harrisburg changes its name to Westminster
  • John Brisben Walker renovates the old Jesuit College of the Sacred Heart in Morrison, turning it into the Mount Morrison Hotel and Casino
  • John Brisben Walker completes road to the top of Mount Falcon from Morrison, celebrating with a Festival of Lanterns

May 15, 1908

"M" emblem for the Colorado School of Mines placed on Mount Zion by students, faculty, and a train of burros. Designed by Joe O’Byrne.

May 31, 1908

Lakeside Amusement Park opens

July 30, 1908

First automobile ascent of Castle Rock on South Table Mountain near Golden made by George Hering of Denver in his new 20-horsepower Stanley Steamer. Hering makes the trip to the top in 12 minutes 45 seconds.

September 10, 1908

First silent movie showing in Golden at the Electric Theatre (later called the Gem) on Jackson Street

1909

Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini purchases Lookout Mountain property above Jackson Gulch on which she builds a summer home for Denver orphans. The stone house is completed in 1914.

September 5, 1909

Mount Morrison Incline Railway funicular opens - the longest in the world at the time. Built by John Brisben Walker to carry tourists to his resort, the Mount Morrison Hotel and Casino, and as an additional attraction for his "Garden of the Titans," now Red Rocks Park.