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    Legendary Locals of Arvada
    Legendary Locals of Arvada
    Legendary Locals of Arvada
    Ebook192 pages1 hour

    Legendary Locals of Arvada

    By Tanya Long

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    Unique characters have always made up the landscape of Arvada. Pioneers, ranchers and farmers, business leaders, community-minded individuals, doctors, sports figures, and even a Broadway star have all called home the city on a bluff overlooking Clear Creek. Benjamin Wadsworth was not only one of Arvada's founding fathers but also the town's first postmaster, and he donated many parcels of land for schools and churches to be built in the burgeoning town. Lloyd King, in 1947, opened the first King Soopers grocery store in Arvada. From this one small market grew an empire of more than 100 King Soopers stores in Colorado. Popular radio personality Irv Brown is known as "Denver's go-to guy" for sports talk. Brown coached at Arvada High School during the 1960s, leading the Redskins to 10 conference football titles and one state championship. And two-time Cy Young Award-winner Roy Halladay honed his baseball skills in Arvada as a youth. The starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies graduated from Arvada West High School in 1995. From Louis Ralston's discovery of gold in 1850 along the creek that bears his name, to the present day sprawling suburb, Arvada's people have helped make the town a jewel of the Centennial State.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLegendary Locals
    Release dateJan 19, 2015
    ISBN9781439649206
    Legendary Locals of Arvada
    Author

    Tanya Long

    Tanya Long is a third-generation Arvadan and local historian. She is a member of the Arvada Historical Society.

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      Book preview

      Legendary Locals of Arvada - Tanya Long

      wisdom.

      INTRODUCTION

      In 1850, California was admitted to the Union as the 31st state, Millard Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th president of the United States following the death of President Tyler, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published. On June 22 of that year, Lewis Ralston, a Georgia prospector, found about a third of an ounce of gold (worth about $5 in 1850 money) in a tributary of Clear Creek in what would become central Colorado. At that time, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes still roamed the area, and Anglo inhabitants were few. On June 23, Ralston and his fellow travelers continued on to the California gold fields but not before the creek where the gold discovery was made was christened Ralston Creek. Out of this first documented gold strike in the Rocky Mountain area grew a settlement called Ralston Point, where agriculture instead of gold flourished.

      On December 1, 1870, Benjamin Wadsworth and Louis Reno plated the former Ralston Point, now called Arvada. At the time, the population was 100 residents. With the arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad, Arvada acquired its first post office, with Wadsworth as the first postmaster. From there, the business district made up of Railroad Street (Grandview Avenue) and Centre Street (Olde Wadsworth Boulevard) sprang up.

      Incorporation in 1904 led to major improvements to the town. A town marshal was hired, electric and telephone service soon was provided, and a town board was launched to administer and enforce city ordinances. In 1910, the Arvada Water Tower began providing residents with quality artesian water. Education has been vital to Arvada since the earliest pioneers settled in the area. In 1863, the area’s first school was started in a log cabin on the John Wolff homestead near present-day I-70 and Wadsworth Bypass. The first schoolhouse in Arvada proper was built in 1882, and the brick building at the corner of Olde Wadsworth and Fifty-seventh Avenue still stands. Today, Arvada has 4 high schools, 5 middle schools, 22 elementary schools, and 2 charter schools.

      Arvada in the 1920s and 1930s was known as the celery capital of the world. In 1922, Pascal celery grown by Albert Bacher was sent to the White House to be enjoyed by President Harding with his Thanksgiving dinner. Four years later, Pres. Calvin Coolidge dined on celery raised by S.A. Lombardi.

      In 1925, an Arvada tradition began. To celebrate the first paved road between Denver and Arvada, the Arvada Chamber of Commerce planned a fall celebration. Agriculture exhibits, a football game, raffle tickets dropped from an airplane, and a street dance were among the events planned. All signs pointed to a great festival for October 17. Then, on the night of October 16, the snow came. An overnight blizzard covered the town. In their best the show must go on fashion, the people of Arvada went to work clearing the streets and setting up so the first Arvada Harvest Festival could proceed.

      That’s the kind of pluck and determination Arvadans have always been made of. With ingenuity, hometown pride, talent, industriousness, compassion, and character, the Arvadans have changed history not only in their own hometown but also often in the world.

      A.L. Davis

      Arvada businessman A.L. Davis leads an Arvada Boosters parade down Grandview Avenue in 1915.

      CHAPTER ONE

      Pioneers

      From the Native Americans who called the banks of Clear Creek home to the gold-seekers and early settlers of the 1850s, Arvada has been inhabited by a host of diverse individuals.

      The legendary Hackberry Tree stood silent watch over the early settlers. John B. Wolff established the area’s first school. Benjamin Wadsworth, who, along with Louis Reno, platted the town of Arvada in November 1870, named the town after his brother in law. The first city park in Arvada was formed from land bequeathed to the city in 1919 by pioneer Clemancy McIlvoy. Farmers and ranchers like George Swadley, Thomas Weaver, John Juchem, and George Bayer made their mark on the burgeoning community. These pioneers also donated land for schools and churches and held political office.

      If not for these individuals’ dreams of a better community and love of their hometown, Arvada would not be blessed with the many landmarks, homes, and legends that make up its rich history.

      Thomas Weaver Family

      In 1880, Thomas and Emma Weaver, along with their four children, homesteaded on 160 acres north of Arvada. Many times thereafter, Thomas left his family to seek his fortune in gold. In those times—according to Harriet Weaver Bueb, Thomas and Emma’s granddaughter—it was up to Emma to keep the farm up and running. Thomas Weaver donated an acre of his land to became the old North School at present-day Sixty-eighth Avenue and Saulsbury Street. It was there the Weaver children and grandchildren attended school. Harriet’s father, John, a successful rancher and operator of the Lone Tree Dairy, took over the farm as an adult. John and his wife, Anna, had three children. Gertrude was born in 1893 and Harriet in 1896, and the lone boy, Thomas, came along 12 years later.

      After her high school graduation from Arvada in 1911, Gertrude attended Teacher’s College in Greeley. Her first teaching job was in 1914 in Antonito, Colorado, in the extreme southern part of the state. It was there that the raven-haired Gertrude was introduced to Robert Edward Barlow, son of a local cattleman. The couple married at the Weaver Ranch on July 7, 1915. Less than three weeks later, on Sunday, July 25, Gertrude Weaver Barlow died in a New Mexico cattle camp under mysterious circumstances that are still not solved almost 100 years later. Harriet Weaver married William Bueb in 1918, and the couple became the third generation of Weavers to live on the original homestead. Harriet passed away in 1974.

      George Swadley

      One of the most prolific and innovative of Arvada’s early pioneers, George Swadley fully served his community for over 40 years.

      Born in Virginia in 1837, Swadley apprenticed as a carpenter until the 1850s gold rush fever hit. Heading west, he settled near Ralston Point (present-day Arvada) in the winter of 1859. In the fall of 1860, Swadley purchased a $50 log cabin that had once belonged to Horace

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