FIRST - Bathtub in Town - Golden, Colorado
Posted by: 
Big B Bob
Assisted by: boB B giB
N 39° 45.297 W 105° 13.350
13S E 480939 N 4400583
The Astor House is a historic stone hotel from the earliest years of Golden, Colorado.
Waymark Code: WM7TCC
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2009
Views: 14
Created From:
Astor House Hotel - Golden, Colorado - posted by
boB B giB
The Astor House was originally built in 1867 by Seth Lake, a pioneer hotelkeeper who came to the area in the early 1860s. An upgrade from his original Lake House hotel on the site, it was carved of sandstone quarried by Charles R. Foreman & Co. at the far west end of 12th Street which the hotel stands on. The premier hostelry of Golden, it served patrons from miners to Territorial legislators who met nearby. It was Golden's only known hotel not to have served alcohol, as the devout Baptist owner was a temperance man who would not allow it on his premises. Later the hotel was owned by German immigrant Ida Goetze. It gradually faded from hotel to boarding house, and was altered by four fires and repaired to its present appearance.
The Astor House is known for several “firsts” in Golden. Ida Goetze, or Mother Goetze as she was fondly called, is credited with installing the first bathtub in town, a novelty that brought in many people willing to pay twenty-five cents to take a hot bath. One Golden resident observed that Ida made more money off the bathtub than from the rest of the hotel. Mother Goetze was also one of the first to have water and gas piped into the boarding house when it became available, and, some say, she even had one of the first radios in town.
In 1971 the property was acquired by the Golden Downtown Improvement District to be destroyed for a parking lot, a fate befalling a number of Golden's landmarks including the church Lake had faithfully served. City Councilor Ruben Hartmeister raised concern about whether a place of its history should be preserved. Standing alone he was not initially listened to, but Golden's modern historic preservation movement was born. Citizens rallied to the aid of the Astor House and formed the Golden Landmarks Association to try and save it. On June 13, 1972 Golden's people voted to save it, with 69% voting in favor. Afterward it became the Astor House Hotel Museum, which is open to the general public today as a historic house museum. The museum depicts life in the hotel in the early 1900s.
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