The colorful history of Golden’s post office

The rich 156-year history of the Golden post office includes a postmaster who was descendant of a famous Colorado explorer, a 3,800-pound safe that sits today at the back of a local jewelry store, and one of the city’s most catastrophic construction accidents.

“There’s a lot of interesting and colorful history to it,” Golden historian Richard Gardner said, “and there’s some tragic, too. It’s a communication to the outside world. Originally, it was the way.”

Among Golden’s past postmasters was Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who served the post office from 1935 to 1963 and was a descendant of the famous explorer for whom Pikes Peak is named. And, yes, the postmaster’s name is the same as the explorer because of family tradition.

Many also had other jobs as Jefferson County sheriffs, store owners, army captains, doctors, politicians and actors.

A U.S. post office was established in Golden on April 6, 1860. But it spent 80 years in five different locations before finding a permanent home near 12 and Jackson streets in 1940.

Original service was done by stagecoach, and mail was delivered once a week on either Friday or Saturday. The post office first operated out of the Boston Company building on the corner of Washington Avenue and 10th Street, now the location of Parfet Park. The first postmaster was a man named Dr. Isaac E. Hardy –; a physician also famous as the first master of Golden’s Masonic lodge. And the one employee raised the flag every morning in front of the building.

Today, Golden has two post offices and 95 employees. Jose Perez, 50, is a full-time postmaster. He’s had the job for three years.

“I love Golden,” Perez said. “They are very appreciative of the Postal Service and always very kind to our employees.”

In 1873, the post office moved to 1200 Washington Ave., currently Goozell Yogurt & Coffee. Then, from 1884 to 1901, the post office operated out of the Belle Vista Hotel, which stood at the northwest corner of 12th and Jackson streets. The hotel was torn down on May 27, 1920. In 1902, the post office moved back to Washington Avenue, to the southern storefront of Rubey Block, what is now The Clothes Mine consignment shop.

While there, the post office’s original safe was purchased. It cost $ 350 and weighed 3,800 pounds. The post office moved two more times after the purchase, but the safe didn’t go very far –; it’s still in the back of Creekside Jewelers at 1206 Washington Ave.

For 26 years, beginning in 1914, the post office operated out of the Armory building at 1301 Arapahoe St., but moved to its permanent location, at 619 12th St., in 1940.

Golden’s downtown post office building was designed by a man named Lewis Simon, built with funds from the Public Works Administration and modeled after other post office buildings from that era.

But the post office outgrew its size just about as soon as it was built. It was expanded in 1958. Although it was the 10th largest post office in Colorado at the time, it was still too small to meet the growing need, and some years later, a decision was made to build a new one between 17 and 18 streets on Jackson Street.

However, when the building was about half completed, one of the most catastrophic construction accidents in Golden’s history occurred –; the building collapsed on Sept. 4, 1969. A witness said “it went down like dominos.” Four people were badly injured, and Michael Dossie, 19, the son of the foreman, was killed.

Construction never resumed. You can still see remains of the building at the site –; nothing was ever built on it.

Some quick expansions were done to the downtown location, and by 1975, it was handling one-fifth of all mail shipped by the Postal Service in Colorado. But the city had to make due until 1998, when a second post office to serve Goldenites was built at 1100 Johnson Road.

Today, the two Golden post offices handle 100,000 pieces of mail and 2,000 parcels each day. Yearly, that means 30 million pieces of mail and 600,000 parcels. They make 28,000 deliveries daily, serving Goldenites on 52 routes.

“This is a good community to work in,” Perez said. “I have great employees and great customers.”

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