Golden High School
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| Golden High School | |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Address | 701 24th Street |
| City | Golden, Colorado |
| Type | Public Secondary |
| Superintendent | Dr. Cindy Stevenson |
| Principal | Mike Murphy |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| District | Jefferson County Public Schools |
| Colors | Maroon and White |
| Mascot | Demons |
| School Website | GHS Home Page |
Golden High School is a secondary school in Golden, Colorado. It is located in Golden, the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district.
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[edit] History
Golden High School was created 1873, when the new South School building of Golden was opened. It was named after the city of Golden, Colorado and was part of Golden School District #1. GHS was the first senior high school opened in Jefferson County, Colorado. The exact year of the school's first graduating class is unknown, as originally it did not offer graduation, but early graduations have been traced in the news media at least as far back as the 1880s. GHS remained in the South School, eventually largely taking the building over as primary grades sharing the building moved on to other places, until a new Golden High School (now home to the American Alpine Club) was built in 1922-24. This building served until the present Golden High School was completed in 1956.
[edit] GHS Buildings
Golden High School has been housed in three buildings since it began in 1873, and ground was broken on October 23, 2006 for its fourth incarnation. Originally GHS was housed in what became known as the South School, built in 1873 as a comprehensive school building to house all of Golden's classes. The South School was a two-story brick structure with stone trim located at 1314 Cheyenne Street, a beautiful Second Empire styled building designed by Golden architect James B. Baker. Over time several lower class levels were phased out and the building expanded, and in time Golden residents wished to have a pure high school building of the latest design. They built a new Golden High School at 710 10th Street on the north side of the city in 1922-24. This was an impressive two-story blond brick structure atop a full basement, designed in the Beaux Arts style by noted Denver architect Eugene G. Groves. It featured a full upper story auditorium, gymnasium, and painting Dawn of the West by noted Santa Fe artist Gerald R. Cassidy given to the school by banker Jesse W. Rubey in memory of his brother Harold, a clay miner. Golden's North Side Improvement Association created a companion park for the school across 10th Street, named in memory of the park's spearheader George Washington Parfet (pronounced "Parfit"). This school building was expanded in 1950 and 1953, and finally the new Jefferson County R-1 School District decided to build the rapidly growing school a new home at 701 24th Street. Noted Denver architect Temple Hoyne Buell, after whom Denver's Buell Theatre is named, was hired to design the new Golden High School. Drawing from California school stylings, Buell created a Modernist outdoor campus of separate school buildings aligned towards the southwest, fronting on 24th Street. A 1984 expansion linked together most of these buildings, while giving the school a pronounced glass arched atrium entrance. In 2006 construction began on a new home for Golden High School, to be located just above the present building overlooking its location.
[edit] School Saved From Explosion
On November 23, 1905 Golden High School, along with the other classes (primary grades 1-3) of the South School building it was in, narrowly avoided a horrible catastrophe when the building was saved from a boiler explosion by Oscar Nolin, janitor of the school. As Golden's Colorado Transcript newspaper of November 30, 1905 told of the event, "For a few minutes the lives of the entire population of the south side school hung in the balance, and that all escaped injury is considered little less than a miracle...About 2:30 Oscar Nolan, janitor of the building, started down the hill on an errand. When but a short distance away he happened to glance back and saw a large volume of steam issuing from the escape pipe of the school’s steam heating plant. Rushing back to the basement he was horrified to find the boiler dry and very hot, while a big fire raged underneath. He at once gave the alarm to clear the building and then proceeded to the dangerous task of pulling the fires, although he expected every second that the overheated boiler must explode. By his prompt action the catastrophe was averted, but in the opinion of those who visited the place directly after, a delay of five minutes would have caused an entirely different story - one of death and destruction. But a short time before the janitor says his guage showed the boiler half full of water. He believes some boy or boys, either to satisfy curiosity or in a spirit of meanness, drained the water from the boiler when he was in another part of the building."
On the 100th anniversary of this event, where Nolin saved over 100 lives, the Golden City Council declared November 23, 2005 to be Oscar Nolin Day, with GHS principal Mike Murphy accepting the award. Nolin was otherwise an honored citizen in Golden history who helped develop the city, served with the Golden Fire Department and on the Golden City Council. Nolin died in the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 trying to save his brother's life.
Some have noted a startling similarity between this historical event and the series finale of Touched By An Angel, where the fictional Colorado town of Ascension is subject to a similar but alternate fate of a school being destroyed by a boiler explosion, which a boy caused, which wipes out most children of the town. There is no known connection between this event and the story, but it is remarkable in that it depicts what could have been Golden's case had Nolin never intervened.
[edit] Colors & Mascot
The official Golden High colors are maroon and white, which date at least as far back as the 1920s. The GHS mascot is the Demons, voted overwhelmingly by the students and teachers in 1928 as nominated by student Harriet Summers in a school contest.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- John Charles Vivian, Governor of Colorado
- J.J. Thomas, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, men's halfpipe
