The 1940s

  • U.S Highway 6 through Clear Creek Canyon is constructed

1940

  • Golden Post Office at 619 12th Street is built. Designed by Lewis Simon and modeled after other post office buildings of the era, it is built with funds from the Public Works Administration.
  • Berthoud Hall on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines opens. Designed by Temple Hoyne Buell, it is one of two New Deal buildings on campus. Named after the school’s first geology professor and inaugural board member, Edward L. Berthoud.

October 12, 1940

Undersheriff Clarence Bunch Fugate is the first Jefferson County Sheriff’s officer to die in the line of duty

1941

  • The Federal Government contracts with Remington Arms Company to operate the Denver Ordnance Plant, the largest contract awarded by the federal government in Colorado up to that time. Construction begins in May, with operations beginning in October. Now the site of the Denver Federal Center.
  • Coors introduces Coors Light beer
  • Jefferson County’s first stoplight installed at the intersection of Olde Wadsworth Boulevard and Grandview Avenue in Arvada

June 15, 1941

Red Rocks Amphitheater is formally dedicated

1942

September 7, 1942

Denver to Golden interurban car hits horse at a crossing, killing its 15 year old rider, Janet Lamoure of Arvada

1943

April 10, 1943

Two boys from Lakewood, Donald Matta, age 8, and Milo Flint, age 11, were robbed and then pushed off the top of Castle Rock in Golden by William Wymer. Wymer, age 16, was found guilty of the slaying of the two young boys and punished to life in prison.

1945

Ruth W. Quinn of Edgewater becomes the first woman to serve on a Jefferson County jury

1946

  • Piggly Wiggly store No. 29 opens in downtown Golden
  • Mother Cabrini canonized by Pope Pius XII

August 24, 1946

Flood from rainstorm near Idledale overwhelms Bear Creek, killing woman at Morrison

1947

The Dollhouse Library opens in Morrison in November. Becomes part of the Jefferson County Public Library system in 1958.

1947-1950

Denver Federal Center established on the site of the Denver Ordnance Plant

1948

Charles Boettcher dies

June 7, 1948

Second Tucker Gulch flood hits Golden causing major damage

1949

  • Golden’s iconic Welcome Arch is built
  • Elmer Wyland establishes the Paul Gregg Pony Club which would eventually be renamed Lakewood Westernaires

June 3, 1949

Bill and Dorothy Harmsen open the Jolly Rancher Ice Cream store on Washington Avenue in downtown Golden. Later develop the world-famous Jolly Rancher hard candies.