Inside Arvada

Celebrating 120 Years of Arvada

• City of Arvada • Season 1 • Episode 9

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On August 24, 2024 Arvada will turn 120 years young! Join us as we find out how to celebrate the city's 120th anniversary with Rachael Kuroiwa, the City's Director of Communications and Engagement. Rachael shares information about the ways you can celebrate all summer-long, including at Arvada Days on August 24th.

Learn about the establishment of the city, discovering gold, the pivotal role of the railroad, our agricultural roots, and hear about the origins of Arvada's name. Keep listening for some fun facts, including how Arvada earned the title, "celery capital of the world". 

Can't get enough? Check out a virtual walking tour of Olde Town. Head to the Visit Arvada website for a complete list of events and special promotions!

Other news and events: 

Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Katie:

Welcome to Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's podcast, where we bring you conversations with the people who make Arvada a thriving community. Hear stories about the past, present and future of Arvada through the lens of the city team members who help make it all happen. Explore the complex topics impacting our community, from the roads you drive to the water you drink, the parks where you play to what your neighbors think. Join us as we take you Inside Arvada.

Sean:

Hello and welcome to Episode 9 of Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's official podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in, excited for today's episode. We have our boss on as a guest, rachel Kuroiwa. She is the communications and engagement manager for the city and we're having her on to talk about the city's 120th anniversary celebration. That's been going on and continues to go on all summer long, and so Rachel has been with the city since 2019. She started off as the infrastructure communications manager and she's been in her current role since 2022. Prior to the city, she was at the University of Colorado Denver, where she worked for 10 years doing communication and recruitment for CU Denver, and she's also still an instructor there for the Communication Department at CU Denver. And, as always, I'm joined by my co-host today, katie Patterson. Hi, katie.

Katie:

Hey, sean, really excited to talk with our boss today. It was really great to have her on, not only to hear about what's going on to celebrate this summer the 120th anniversary, but also just a ton of really fun, interesting history about Arvada. I think you know most people probably don't take the time to kind of know the history or know where to go to find that history, and so some super cool information, everything from finding gold in Arvada to really getting its roots in farming as a community. What is still there is the flour mill in Old Town is something we highlight a couple of times in the episode, and there's a lot of cool history there, including she'll talk about some goods from Arvada being served to two presidents in the 1920s. So let's dig in. Hi, rachel, thanks so much for joining us today. We're so excited to have you on. So before we dive in to talk about the 120th anniversary, tell us just a little bit about yourself and what you do here at the city.

Sean:

And so we wanted to have you on right now, because all summer long the city has been celebrating its 120th anniversary, and so that is going back to 1904, the date in which we were incorporated. How can people join in the celebration? What sort of things are going on right now that people can look forward to and participate?

Rachael:

Sure. So we've had some events starting in June, but one that is coming up that people can still attend is Arvada Days, and that is the city of Arvada's kind of end of summer celebration. It's August 24th, which coincidentally is the exact anniversary of our incorporation, and that will be the culmination of our celebration. That's at Clear Creek Valley Park and it's a fun day for families to come together. But we've got lots of stuff going on just throughout the summer with Second Saturdays and Old Town and things like that.

Rachael:

We also the city, put together a short digital walking tour of Old Town which can be found on the visitor center website and other places. It's just, I think, about 12 stops where people can read just a couple sentences about some significant buildings in Old Town. If anybody is interested in a more in-depth tour, they can always contact the Historic Society and get a personal walking tour of all of the important buildings in Old Town. So this is just a whet your appetite kind of walking tour, and those can be things from a special beer, deals on food and drinks and other services, as well as just kind of acknowledgements and celebrations. So for a complete list of everything going on, I encourage folks to go to visit Arvadaorg and there's a page that has the history celebration up there. So just lots going on. We always have lots going on in Arvada, but this summer especially.

Sean:

Yeah, I was on that Visitor Center website recently and there's a lot of businesses that are participating, a lot of different kinds of promotions, and so there's sort of whatever you're looking for, you can find a special, and it's really cool that we were able to get that many businesses to participate in this celebration. So be sure to check out that list. On visitarvadaorg. So you know we mentioned the significance of 1904 and that that was the year Arvada was incorporated as a town. What does that mean? I mean, was there an Arvada before 1904?

Sean:

What does it mean to be incorporated.

Rachael:

Yeah. So that's a great question. In 1870, that is when Benjamin Wadsworth and his wife kind of established Arvada. So Benjamin Wadsworth filed the first official town plat with the county Jefferson County. A plat is really just a map so he and another family, the Reno family, had really kind of established what the town, what the streets would be. So they mapped out the streets which is really centered in what is our now old town. But then Mr Reno kind of had maybe not cold feet but didn't want to really like move forward and so Mr Wadsworth like filed it. So he was really the person who kind of said this is a settlement that we're establishing, but it was just a settlement.

Rachael:

At that point, and in 1870 as well, the Colorado Central Railroad announced that they would do regular passenger service between Denver and Golden and they would have a stop in Arvada, so between the Platte and the stop. That's what really put Arvada on the map. And I just want to kind of do a sidetrack to how we got the name Arvada. So Benjamin Wadsworth's wife, her brother-in-law, hiram Arvada Haskins. He had lived with his family in this area it was really known as Ralston Point at that time and so he moved away to other places in, I think, georgetown, so kind of went up into the mountains a bit and so to acknowledge his establishment here she named the town after him. So we get the name Arvada from his middle name and then his middle name really comes from a biblical origin. So it's an unusual town name and that's kind of where we got it. Once the railroad was established they said they would do regular mail delivery but we had to have a post office. So Benjamin Wadsworth registered as the postmaster for Arvada with the federal government and so that meant that we could get mail service. So his house was the post office and the train would just throw bags of mail as they like went by and he and his wife would collect it and sort it and then folks in town would stop by. So that's how we were established and named initially.

Rachael:

Then, between 1870 and 1904, there were a couple of efforts to incorporate as a town. And so what incorporation is? It's sort of these legal documents that establish a self-governing municipality and whether you're a town or a city is really based on your population. So we had a couple of votes that were voted down. So folks didn't want to become a self-governing municipality. But you know, kind of in the lead up to the successful vote in 1904, there were a couple of things that kind of prompted people to think, okay, now is time.

Rachael:

Jefferson County was really growing and we couldn't get, maybe this level of services we wanted from the county at the time. Um, our roads were not in great shape, our sidewalks were, you know, wood planks, roads were dirt, and that was, you know. People didn't like that. We had kind of ongoing water woes that you know could we people were drilled, had you know, personal wells, drilling wells, but do we have water for the people who lived here? And then another one is management of liquor. So folks may not know, but Old Town there was like a dry side and a wet side. So there was a side where you couldn't drink and then there was a side where you could but somebody opened like a drinking establishment without county approval and folks were like, okay, we need to be a town so that we can manage liquor licenses essentially. So that's when we had this successful vote in 1904. And that established us as a self-governing town. And that established us as a self-governing town and initially we had a town board and a mayor who governed the town.

Sean:

Yeah, and so I've always been curious what the distinction is on the population size between town and city Like when did you cross over from? The town of Arvada to city of Arvada. I'll probably put you on the spot a little bit here.

Rachael:

No, so it was in, I think, the 1970s that we made the population trip from town to city. And what's really great well, I think it's a funny way of calling it is when that happened. Like the state of Colorado is like okay, now you are, you qualify as what's known as a second rate city, which is kind of funny, it kind of feels rough, but it's based on the population. And so we had, by the 70s, had triggered that level to go from a town to a city. And it was about in that time too that we shifted from a mayor and council governing to a city manager style of government, and that is different from Denver, for example, where it's what's known as a strong mayor. Like Denver, for example, where it's what's known as a strong mayor, so the mayor is really guiding the day-to-day operations as well as policy. So when we switched from a town to a city, we also, around about the same time, switched to a city manager, where the city managers, over the day-to-day and our council, drive the policy and direction of the city.

Sean:

Got it and so, yeah, one way to know. So when you're in Arvada, there are still some little pockets of like unincorporated Jefferson County. And one way I can I'm always curious as you look at the street sign. So if you see like a green street sign, kind of like northwest area of town that's unincorporated, then you'll drive like another block and it'll be a blue kind of city of Arvada sign. So that's just something I because I used to work for Jefferson County, so it's always something I look for as I'm driving around. So even though you're kind of in Arvada proper, there are still some pockets that are unincorporated.

Rachael:

Yeah, there's a lot of just as we've grown.

Rachael:

You know, we, different landowners, asked to be annexed into the city as part of the development, and so that's how you grow as a city and we've annexed in land but left different pockets that have not wanted to be, have not? They've not asked, they don't want to be part of the city. They've not asked they don't want to be part of the city. And so we do, and we do, being in two counties, we have those unincorporated Adams County, unincorporated Jefferson County and it can get confusing for residents.

Rachael:

So we don't expect anyone to like know this, but there are definitely times when you know as a, as an agency, people will reach out with you know issues or something like that, and it can feel a little bit like you know we never want to give anyone the runaround. But there are times when we have to say like that's not city land and that's confusing because it's literally bounded on all sides by city property or city. You know this is it within the incorporated part I'm thinking of over by Ward Road and like 58, there's a couple like more agricultural parcels in there and a lot of the townhomes and stuff have gone up around them and they're like on all sides it's City of Arvada but they're still unincorporated Jefferson County. So yeah, it's interesting.

Sean:

Yeah, I'm glad you made the distinction between the 1870 day and the 1904 day, because if you get off 570 on the wads and you see City of Arvada, 1870, and they're like, wait a second, I thought you're celebrating 1904. So 1870 is kind of when we were literally on the map, 1904 is when we officially became the town of Arvada, so glad you made that distinction there. Speaking of kind of going back in history, how did we get our start as a town? I know you know you mentioned the name Ralston and the discovery of our first documented discovery of gold was a big part of that. So how did we kind of get our start as a town back in the 1800s?

Rachael:

Yeah, so in 1850, in, I think, June of 1850, Lewis Ralston, who was a prospector from Georgia. He and his party were just kind of moving through the area. They set up camp on the bank of what is now the confluence of Clear Creek and Ralston Creek and he, you know, looking for gold, and just got in the creek and found a little bit of gold. Resident Lois Lindstrom went through the process to show that this was the first documented gold find in Colorado. For years before that, an 1859 gold strike in Denver was considered the first one in the Rocky Mountain region. But she proved that Lewis Ralston's was the first, and so that really was one of the things that brought people out here was that they heard word that Lewis Ralston had found gold.

Rachael:

Interestingly enough, Lewis Ralston just passed through. He did not establish a residence here or anything like that. He was here for a few days, kept going, went back to Georgia and then never really wanted to be back in Colorado looking for gold. So his name's on a lot of stuff, but not one of our founding folks. So one of the things that we could say is, while gold brought settlers to this area, farming kept them here. So once people came out here and maybe didn't make their fortune with gold immediately. It was good land for farming. The railroad, that development of the railroad stopping here later, the flour mill being right by the railroad, this really Arvada became a place where farmers could grow their crops, get them, you know, get wheat processed into flour and then onto the rail and out. So it was just a great place to start a farm or a ranch and have quick access to a railroad.

Sean:

Yeah, and another part of the story I think that I've heard you mention is that we do have. Obviously there were people here before Ralston and the discovery of gold and they were Native Americans, and Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were living in the area. I think there were also Ute tribe as well, and so that's, I think, something we also wanted to point out in this telling of our history and the story of this area is that you know, it didn't all start with gold. There were people inhabiting this land long before that as well, people inhabiting this land long before that as well. And so, speaking of Gold Strike specifically, you know we're redesigning that park and as part of the plans for that is to put some interpretive signage that tells the story of the Gold Strike and the documented gold, but also some of the other people's histories and indigenous people who lived there before. So that project is slowly moving forward. So keep an eye on that. I'm excited to see that kind of come to fruition.

Rachael:

So yeah, it's really thank you for bringing up indigenous folks and, you know, telling the story of of being coming to settle town, we do tend to focus on our European settlers and, you know, while that is very important, it is, you know it's it's good to keep in mind that folks were using this land long before our European settlers were here. And I'm really looking forward to Gold Strike Park. I think it will really activate that corner of town and just bring a lot of vibrancy to an area that's important to our history but also can be so great for our future.

Katie:

And I don't know if we actually said that that location of Gold Strike Park is where Lewis Ralston found this gold and that kind of is implied in the name. But it's the confluence of the Ralston Creek and Clear Creek, kind of near Sheridan and 76, sheridan and Ralston.

Rachael:

Road, yeah, and there's Ralston Road, yeah, and there's a beautiful iconic bridge out there right now. So there's, you know, in that area there's some and there's some signage and things like that. But the vision for Gold Strike Park in the future is going to be really, really cool.

Katie:

Yeah yeah, exciting project Before we go to lightning round. What else should people know?

Rachael:

We know there are some fun facts about Arvada, and one that is your particular favorite, so tell us a little bit about some of that history, or just things that don't seem that important about places, because I do think that those kinds of character is what makes different cities or places unique, and the one I love about Arvada is that it was once known as the celery capital of the world, and the reason for that was because, uh, like I mentioned, there are farm like this was a where they grew a really particular kind of celery called pascal celery celery, and this was white. It was much more tender and sweet than the celery we get in grocery stores right now. It apparently took like all year to grow. There's like a lot of prep work, um to to grow the celery and so it was ready for harvest or Thanksgiving and Christmas time and to make it white. So if anyone's ever grown like white asparagus, you have to. You grow it to a certain point and then you cover it. So the celery that was ready in November was wrapped in newspapers to blanch it and make it white. But celery that would be ready at Christmas time was trenched. So you dig, you grow the plants and then you dig a trench next to it and bury it and that's what blanches it. So in 1922, president Warren G Harding had Arvada celery for Thanksgiving and in Christmas of 1926, president Calvin Coolidge had Arvada celery. So that's what created our reputation as the celery capital of the world. And one of the families, the Spano family, still has a farm in operation.

Rachael:

It's just outside the border of the city of Arvada in, I think it's unincorporated Adams County. So great. That's, a great story there and a great history in this area. The other things that we like to talk about that are kind of fun. Firsts, arvada was the home of the very first King Soopers in Colorado. That was located in Old Town where the current Arvada Library is. We had a Safeway, we had Piggly Wiggly, we had, and then we had this King Soopers. And then we also had the first stoplight in Jefferson County and what I love about that is so you know, stop. Obviously this is the first stoplight. People aren't used to stoplights, so people would just stop at the intersection, no matter what color it was. And our, you know, marshall at the time sort of made the decision that like he wasn't gonna write any tickets until people could like get used to how to travel through a stoplight intersection. So that was the intersection at Grandview and Old Wads. Now that's where that first stoplight was. So you know lots to be proud of in Arvada.

Sean:

I did a quick Google search on the first King Soopers and I think it was Lloyd King was the founder of that and the one off 64th and Sheridan is known as the Lloyd King location. I didn't realize why until now. Oh nice.

Rachael:

Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that either.

Sean:

Well, fun fact. Yeah, Great segue into our lightning round where we ask guests the same sort of questions each episode to get to know them a little bit better. And so you know, speaking of celery, what is your favorite thing about Arvada. It can be like a hidden gem or a place or a fact.

Rachael:

Yeah, so I mean I, you know, listen to the podcast, and when I was preparing for this, I was trying to think of something different or unique than other people say. But I think what I love about Arvada is our park system. Sorry, it feels like what everybody says, but you know, it's such a. It's so great to live in an environment that has so much green space, so much access to green space. It just really improves well-being for me, and so I'm going to just be like everybody else and say parks.

Sean:

It's still park and rec month, so that's still perfect. What is your? The first concert you went to, or the last one, or the best one? All of them? Any of those stand out.

Rachael:

So when I was a teen growing up in Columbus, ohio, there was a house on Ohio State's campus that had a lot of like punk concerts and the one that sticks out to me the most, I think about the most, was I saw Elliot Smith perform before he was on the Academy Awards and everything like that and it was like so charming and just dear and just a different experience. So being with you know my high school buds sitting in a you know punk house listening to Elliot Smith just really is a good memory.

Sean:

Sounds great. And what brought you to Arvada?

Rachael:

Yeah, it's a great question and I'd have to just say my husband. So we came to Colorado in 2008 for him to go to grad school and we lived in Boulder County for several years and then, when we were getting married and looking for a home, he was just like dead set on Arvada and I kind of went along with it because it, you know, seemed fine. But you know, looking back, we had a kind of social crew in Boulder and we worked in Denver and Arvada just felt like a great place to be close to all the things we love about Colorado and a really lovely place to, you know, have a family. So we've been here since 2014.

Sean:

What was your first job?

Rachael:

My first job was at the Right Place in Columbus, ohio, and that was a dancewear store and costume shop and we sold tights and leotards and pointe shoes to ballerinas and then in Halloween we sold Halloween costumes to everyone. So it was a fun first job.

Sean:

And then, finally, what's your favorite project you've done with the city.

Rachael:

So controversial, but I was the communication lead for the implementation of waste hauling organized waste hauling communication person. You know I just got to really stretch my wings, learn a lot about the community. You know navigate, help the organization navigate a really challenging project with a lot of moving pieces. And you know, while it was challenging and waste hauling remains challenging for members of the community as a communication project, I learned so much and it was a really valuable time for me in my professional growth.

Sean:

Awesome. Yeah, a little peel back behind the curtain. Rachel is our boss. She's the director of communications and you were previously in Katie's role as the infrastructure communications manager during that project.

Katie:

Yeah, yeah, you got to lead through waste hauling when it was really difficult. I just kind of do the day-to-day of now what people get with it and you know annual rate increases, but other than that it's just kind of going chugging along for for the future of the program.

Rachael:

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, you know we don't often get to do so often our work is kind of just getting information out, maybe not getting to spend a lot of time doing the kind of strategic planning and thinking. That is my favorite part of the work, so that's something I look back on fondly, yeah.

Sean:

Well, that wraps it up for the interview portion of today's podcast. Rachel, thank you so much for coming on and being our guest today and sharing with us the history of the city and ways people can join on our 120th anniversary celebration.

Rachael:

Thank you for having me Thanks.

Katie:

And before we let you go, as always, we have our news and upcoming events segment for what's going on in the city, and so, first, jefferson County Library is working on a plan to redesign the Old Town Library, and so they have some ongoing engagement and information on their website that we'll link to. And coming up in just a couple of weeks is the next bulky item drop-off event on August 10th that's from 9 to 2 pm, and we'll put more info there to remind folks on what they need to know before they go. We'll check out the website to make sure you get all the info you need for that and each year.

Katie:

Another thing the utilities department is responsible for setting our water, sewer and stormwater rates that our water customers pay, and they start those conversations with city council actually really early, so they've already started having conversations earlier this year, and the next couple of presentations are coming up. So they had one in July. They have a workshop where they talk about kind of what they're proposing as the 2025 rates and fees. They'll have another one in August, september, and then they'll work to recommend final rates and get those approved by council in October. So just stay tuned. If that's something you're interested in. I'll link to our utilities transparency page where we put information about how you can learn more about what's going on with that.

Sean:

And then, yeah, as summer continues, we have our next Movies Around Town event coming up on Friday, august 9th, and we'll be showing Back to the Future there at Wolf Park and so, like the first couple events, we'll have some live music beforehand before the movie starts, when it gets dark around dusk. Related to that, we have our People's Choice Movie Poll open now. So help us determine what movie we're going to show. Our final Movies Around Town event of the summer on September 6th at Woodrun Park and so you can go on to speak up Arvada. We'll link in the show notes how you can participate and help choose which movie. That poll will be open until August 11th. And, as we mentioned during the interview with Rachel, our final festival of the summer is coming up. It's Arvada Days on Saturday, august 24th, and that's our end of the summer celebration. And, like all our festivals, that's a free for everyone to enjoy super family-friendly event there at Clear Creek Valley Park. Free train rides. I think there'll be a Nerf zone that we had last year. That was a big hit. So you know, circle that date on your calendar.

Sean:

And thanks again to our guest today, rachel Kuroiwa. Be sure to catch our next episode, where our guest will be the Director of Community and Economic Development, jessica Gardner, and, as always, you can stay in touch with the podcast by visiting our website at arvadagov slash podcast. That's where you can subscribe on any different number of platforms, be it Spotify or Apple, amazon as well, and you can always reach us at podcastarvadaorg to just share some feedback or ask us questions that we can answer on an upcoming episode. Thank you everyone. Thank you to all our listeners for listening to the podcast. We appreciate you so much. Be sure to subscribe to the show, give us a rating and review and share it with your family and your friends and your neighbors to help continue to grow our audience. Today's podcast was recorded and edited by Arvada Media Services producers James Long and Steve Mielke, and today's fun fact is about the Arvada Old Town Water Tower. It was built in 1910. It stands 152 feet tall, holds 150,000 gallons of water and it was decommissioned in 1977. Whoa,