Historical Commission Corner
Superior Historic Museum breaks ground
Nov. 7 was a glorious day in many ways. Not only was it a beautifully sunny day, but it also saw the groundbreaking for the Superior Historical Museum rebuilding project.
At high noon that day, representatives from the Board of Trustees, Town of Superior staff, Historical Commission and area news media feted the start of construction of the new building on the site of the former one destroyed in the Marshall Fire.
Armed with sparkling golden shovels, all took the symbolic first movement of dirt while, in the background, a backhoe operator moved a more serious amount of soil, and the basement hole began to take shape.
 The Historical Commission is very grateful for the backing of the Trustees and Town Government for supporting this project so completely. The completion date is to be determined.
A Superior train
A significant amount of train activity took place in Superior back in the day. Our town was on a branch of the Colorado & Southern Railroad and its subsidiary, the Denver & Interurban Railroad. We were served by steam passenger trains and steam-powered freight trains, the latter hauling coal from the Industrial Mine to market. In addition, the D&I electric-powered interurban trains offered a quick trip to Boulder, Denver, and points in between.
The accompanying photograph is chock full of intriguing local and rail history. In it we see the Louisville Depot in 1910 along with two interurban cars and one steam-powered passenger train. The location is Pine Street and the C&S tracks, currently the BNSF line. The depot was located directly east of today’s Casa Allegre restaurant. To the right a short distance is 95th Street.
 The interurban car next to the depot is headed to Boulder. The middle one is bound for Denver. The passenger train is the Lafayette local which provided a train connection for the two towns. Also, notice the inside track is both narrow and standard gauge allowing for the narrow-gauge Switzerland Trail line that serviced the hard rock mines west of Boulder. The Louisville depot was later rebuilt and then eventually moved off-site and still stands at Pine and LaFarge Streets.
Similar railroading scenes would have been observed in Superior at that time in history. The D&I cars came through Superior six times daily from 1908 to 1926 when it was discontinued and replaced by bus service. The depot here in Superior burned down in the mid 1930s.
Click to view the map of the "Kite Route," an interurban railroad that stretched from Denver, through Superior and Louisville, to Boulder.
Historical Commission Happenings
Fifty people attended the Historical Commission evening educational program on Nov. 14. Mr. Ben Ridgley of the Arapaho Nation related stories of his ancestors’ presence in Colorado and Boulder County. Mr. Ridgley is a respected leader of the Arapaho and an excellent teacher to all.
The Interim Historical Museum (112 E. William St.) will be open again on Dec. 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We have hosted a good number of visitors in recent months and look forward to seeing you there one day.
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Did You Know That:
- The City of Louisville was named for Louis Novatny, not a French saint?
- The Hard Rock Café chain operators set out to sue the café by the same name located in Empire, Colorado? Although now closed, the original opened in the mountain community in 1934 and shared a building with the Empire Town Hall. The suit never materialized and, as far as we know, Mick Jagger never frequented it.
- A flatulence plagued Pueblo psychiatrist invented and sells underwear equipped with an airtight charcoal filter? The sealed high-tech skivvies supposedly cut down on odor and sound effects.
Written by Larry Dorsey, proofed by Dorothy Mahan.
For more information about the Historical Commission and its activities, contact Commission Liaison Jennifer Garner at 303-499-3675, Commission Chair Larry Dorsey at 303-499-1969, or just click on the “Historical Commission Info” button below.
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