Construction & Alteration History
Date Event
Source
Feb 10 1859
Gold miners established Boulder City Town Company as a supply town for miners in the mountains. Fifty-four prospectors searching for gold established the company at the base of the foothills. After gold was discovered outside of Boulder, a surge of horse and mule drawn wagons lined Pearl Street with supplies on a regular basis. The wagons would head up the one-lane road from Pearl Street towards the town of Nederland to bring miners supplies. Surveyors sighted across a stake (present-day Broadway and Pearl) to Valmont Butte to the east to determine a straight line for Pearl Street. Flagstone replaced wooden sidewalks built by shop owners along Pearl Street. Horse-drawn streetcar was built along Pearl Street. The street was plowed and scraped when tracks were laid. Large streetcars of the Interurban Railroad transported passengers along Pearl Street from 12th (present-day Broadway) to 31st. The rail extended for the length of Pearl Street and brought passengers all the way to Denver. Pearl Street from 11th to 17th became the first street in Boulder to be paved for automobiles. Uniform fifteen-foot wide concrete sidewalks flanked both sides of the road. Store fronts were lowered in an attempt at modernization. The first street light in Boulder was installed at Pearl and Broadway. City of Boulder experienced a boom in population after WWII, which led to suburban develop- ment. Crossroads Mall (present-day 29th Street Mall) was built in 1963, impacting commerce on Pearl Street. Downtown Boulder experienced higher levels of crime downtown. Pearl Street briefly closed from 11th to 14th Street to test an outdoor pedestrian mall instal- lation to maintain downtown economic viability. Temporary planters with small trees, flowers, and shrubs were installed within the street cross section. Carl Worthington began early planning for revitalizing downtown Boulder as a member of the Planning Board and Committee for the Exploration of the Core Area Potential (CECAP). CECAP changes its name to ‘Boulder Tomorrow’ under the leadership of volunteer Director Sally Irwin. A two-phase downtown improvement project was created. The first phase sought planning assistance and fund raising. The second phase created a proposal and plan for down- town development. Two downtown development plans were rejected, including one proposing a four-block pedestrian mall on Pearl Street by Carl Worthington Partnership. Governor John A. Love signed the “Public Mall Act” officially allowing Boulder and other Colo- rado cities to close streets for the construction of pedestrian malls. Boulder established the Central Area General Improvement District (CAGID) to provide parking and improvements for a thirty-five block area in downtown Boulder. Worthington commissioned to prepare the first phase of the master plan for Pearl Street Mall. Boulder Mayor Penfield Tate appointed a Core Area Revitalization Committee (CARC) to estab- lish ‘Downtown Boulder Mall.”
Downtown Boulder / Landmarks
Harrington
1870
1880s
Downtown Boulder
1880s
Downtown Boulder
1891
Downtown Boulder
1908
Downtown Boulder
1917
Downtown Boulder
1930s
Downtown Boulder
1950s to 1960s
Downtown Boulder
1963
Harrington
1966
Downtown Boulder / Worthington
1966
Streets
1970
Downtown Boulder
1970
Downtown Boulder
1973
Worthington
1974
Downtown Boulder
1974
Phase 1 is approved after a year of public meetings by a margin of 86%.
Worthington
1974
City of Boulder applied for and received a federal grant from the 1974 Community Housing and Development Act of $650,000 (a third of the cost). Property owners provided the remain- ing $1.2 million needed to build the four block brick-paved pedestrian mall.
Boulder Archives / Streets
9-11
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