Jonas Wannemaker alongside his wife Elizabeth and one of their daughters outside of their first (or second) log cabin in Arapahoe City, about 1859-60.
Golden History Museum & Park, City of Golden Collection
Arapahoe City was located north of Clear Creek, west of present-day McIntyre Street approximately two miles east of Golden. Initially, a mining district, and the earliest city in Jefferson County, it was founded on November 28, 1858. Members of the Arapahoe Town Company included Marshal Cook, President, George B. Allen, Secretary, and Thomas Golden, Treasurer.
Since these early mining settlements appeared virtually overnight, conflicts sometimes ensued between the “new” white settlers and native bands of Arapahoe Indians already inhabiting the land. Thomas Golden recounted the naming of the town in his 1859 account published in a Missouri newspaper: “We have laid out a town by the name of Arapahoe City after the aborigines.”
The monument for Jefferson County’s first city is roughly two miles east of Golden on 44th Avenue.
The town grew quickly. An advertisement in the April 1859 Rocky Mountain News publicized the Arapahoe Express which offered transportation to and from Denver every Monday and Saturday. Fox Diefendorf was the Assistant Marshal and there was even a post office. The first official census of the Colorado Territory from 1860 recorded 80 people living in Arapahoe City scattered throughout 21 “residences.”
The Wannemakers were one prominent and influential family to settle here from Wisconsin. Informally, referred to as the Mayor of Arapahoe, Jonas filed the first irrigation claim on Clear Creek in 1859 after hand digging an irrigation ditch still known as the Wannemaker Ditch. By 1863 the town and most of its inhabitants were gone. In the 1890s mining resumed periodically in the form of dredging and hydraulic mining. However, the area quickly evolved into an agricultural community known as Fairmount. In 1901, historian Jerome Smiley noted, “The rise and prosperity of Golden caused the decline and fall of Arapahoe.” Nothing remains today of Arapahoe City except for a small stone monument and a dedication plaque installed in 1946.
Learn more about Arapahoe City
Arapahoe City to Fairmount: From a Ghost Town to a Community by Joyce A. Manley
Ghost City-Arapahoe City by Edna Witt
Manuscript, Marshall Cook, Early Colorado Pioneer
Historically Jeffco, 2008, “The Sesquicentennial of Arapahoe City,” by Richard Gardner
Thanks, Mark, for sharing that story. Golden has so many history stories. We pretty much only learn them when GHM puts them out there for us. I miss the evening lectures so much so thanks for keeping us included in the history. AND my grandkids miss playing in the GHM kitchen! ????
Thank you for your comments and encouragement Janet. We love to hear feedback!
Mark—Always like “History of Golden” Stories (even if it is Arapaho City!). Have a question about the picture of the Wannemakers by their cabin that includes a very straight line behind them on what must be South Table Mtn. Could that be the Welch Ditch? If so, the picture would be 1880’s, not 1860’s? Did they stay on around Arapaho City near their ditch on the north side of Clear Creek?
Hi Fran- thanks for the feedback and comments. I feel pretty good about the date on that image. Wannemakers built two cabins-one about 1859, and a nicer replacement a year or two later. I think this may be the second cabin. At any rate we’re still talking 1860s, well before the Welch Ditch makes an appearance. You make a very good point though-that line is perplexing now that I see it. It certainly warrants some additional research.
The Wannemakers are the only original Arapahoe City residents who stay on. In fact, family members remain on the land into the 1940s I think.
Last year we acquired a number of items from the family. Additionally, we recently came across a great account from a 1904 Weekly Magazine out of Denver that chronicles more of their life. Hope to republish it sometime soon.
Marshall Cook was my great, great grandfather, I have the manuscript that he wrote.
Marshall Cook, is also my great great Grandfather. My great grandmother Rose, Cook Tucker was his one of his daughters. My grandfather Archie Vernon Tucker was one of Rose’s sons. Her other sons were Ivin, Bryon, Raymind. My mother Evelyn Tucker Scheuermann was Rose’ s granddaughter and one one Archie’s children. Susan Scheuermann in Evergreen, Colorado.
Where might I read this manuscript?