“Rats!” The one-word exclamation once rang out to express annoyance or irritation. The utterance wasn’t necessarily directed at rodents, the highly opportunistic rodents who follow humans closely. Common brown rats, known today as “sewer rats”, arrived in eastern seaports in the mid-1700s, just in time to hitch rides during westward movement. Life for the pioneers was
In a nod to the area’s rich history of apple production, the Wheat Ridge Historical Society will again sponsor the Apple Cider Festival on Saturday, October 11 from 10:00 to 2:00 at the Historical Park (4610 Robb St.). Last year, the festival broke attendance records, but with that increase came the unfortunate expansion of the
Summer’s nearing an end. Time to turn attention from frolicking in the pool to more serious matters, like planning and organizing ways to make it through the coming winter comfortably. Unfortunately, with cooler weather comes the tendency to grow sedentary and hang out in front of the TV. Every year we tell ourselves we’re not
August is here, and the Carnation Festival approaches with all its wonderful activities. Knowing we’re only days away from carnival rides, art and car shows, a pancake breakfast and spaghetti dinner and gobs of live music, kids and their adults can hardly wait! Wheat Ridge has been celebrating its ties to the carnation (a yellow
I read an article about fads recently that I found intriguing. It said that fads are apt to appear when society is shaken up for some reason. Perhaps they sooth our collective psyche when the culture is clouded with unknowns. Take, for instance, fads in the Roaring Twenties, like flappers or yoyos. Flappers represented new
Thankful, as defined by Webster’s New Universal Dictionary, is an adjective “expressing gratitude or appreciation”. Somehow, that’s too few words to express the depth of appreciation that we at the Historical Society are feeling about folks who dug down deep and gave chunks of their hearts, their time and their pocketbooks. Were it not for
In the late 1980s as part of a redesign of 38th Avenue, city officials decided to demolish certain buildings along the south side of 38th Avenue just east of Teller to create additional off-street parking. However, behind the facade of one abandoned building lay one of the area’s most important historical structures: Wheat Ridge’s original
April’s Second Saturday Social April 13 at the Baugh House (44th and Robb, 10:00-2:00) will celebrate Earth Day and make available information on Wheat Ridge’s Sustainability program. The concept of Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling is gaining in importance. Awareness about recycling by composting is common knowledge these days, but it’s time to take a deeper
I was talking to a sign painter friend of mine the other day. An aficionado of painted sign history, he was regaling me with tales of ads painted on barns and commercial buildings, and I, a dedicated member of the Wheat Ridge Historical Society, was inviting him to the Society’s Second Saturday Social on March
The penning of poetic Valentines has been documented since the 15th century, and it rose to immense and lasting prominence during the Victorian period of the late 1800s. Consider the following four-line plea: Thou say my heart, my too fond heart / is cold, my dear, to you. / Ah! Canst thou such a thought
January at the Historical Society welcomes the new year with a favorite Second Saturday Social at the Baugh House from 10:00-2:00. It’s Tea Party time, based on the British long-observed tradition of High Tea. WRHS board member Bonnie Botham loves hosting this special day and promises several kinds of tea and a plethora of culinary
Just like finding a specific grave on the-180 acre campus of Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery, trying to pinpoint focus for a column on Crown Hill is a challenge! The oldest graves lie in the northeast area, close to Wadsworth and 32nd Ave. Look quick to the south while heading east on 32nd toward Wadsworth, and
The Historical Society’s Cider Day Festival celebrating “all things apple” is approaching. I meant to discuss (and will, later) the wonderful offerings planned at the Historical Park for Saturday, Oct. 12 from 10:00 to 2:00, but that discussion was derailed by a last-minute visit to the Old Post Office where I found workers busily sifting
Are you glad the dog days of summer are finally past? Hold on, there’s actually one more “dog day” as fall approaches, and it’s the funniest of all the Historical Society’s Second Saturday Socials: September’s Dogs on Paw-rade, scheduled for the 14th from 10:00 to 2:00 at the Baugh House (11361 W. 44th Ave). This
This month the Historical Society celebrates one of the earliest settlers and the cabin he built, now surrounded by the farmhouse which stands at 44th and Robb Street. James Baugh stands out because of his contributions and the timing of his arrival. Baugh was the first in the area to file on a 160-acre plot
When Fathers’ Day rolled through a few weeks ago, I began to wonder if there were any famous fathers around Wheat Ridge. A little research produced several references to the Honorable Henry Lee, Father of Wheat Ridge, another of the area’s first wave of pioneers. Born in 1839, Henry Lee arrived in America from England
Oil your chain and locate your helmet — it’s almost time for the Historical Society’s newest Second Saturday event: Bikes, Bingo & BBQ, scheduled for June 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.at the Baugh House. In keeping with the celebratory nature of the WRHS’s 50th year, the June event has switched from the “Clean
Though April’s weather seemed manic, keep the faith that the second Saturday in May, when the Historical Society’s May Festival is scheduled on May 11th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the temperature will be in the high 70s with blue skies, the grass in the Historical Park (4610 Robb St.) will be a luxuriant
It’s not an April Fools’ prank that I’m going to devote this column to April Fools’ Day when it’s already past. The day is one of my favorite times of the year, although having been a public school teacher, it always contained certain challenges — think tacks on teacher’s chair or, worse, water. I beg
It’s great to have active members in the Historical Society. Sometimes, like cats, they bring you treats. Member Sandy Nance contacted me recently about the passage of some local history: A Wheat Ridge institution will be closing March 30 on its 60th anniversary. Beauty Inc. is believed to be the oldest woman-owned business in Wheat
Along with fashions popular in the Era, the Victorians ushered in all sorts of societal change. One lasting convention was the new idea that marriage should be based on romantic love instead of by arrangement or for “convenience.” With the new societal dynamic, references to and descriptions of love appeared frequently. A popular mid-century lithograph,
Pockets. They seem like such a simple concept, so practical, so necessary! Yet, they have been the focus of debate for centuries, particularly for women. The word pocket comes from the French “poke” or “pouque,” which meant pouch. I suppose Ötzi, aka “the Iceman,” is the earliest link to pouch pockets. He lived around 3000
In these days of online everything, shoppers must automatically trust the products they’re going to receive without seeing the actual physical items. We live in a world where we expect (and secretly regret!) the planned obsolescence of our purchases. How did this come to pass? Consider clothing: few people are willing to put in the
Working on the archives in Wheat Ridge’s original Post Office is a rewarding endeavor – but, at the same time, quite challenging. The old building in the Historical Park is chocked full of fascinating information on all sorts of historical topics, ideally on the history of the area, but in reality, ranging far beyond those
