Golden High School - Golden, Colorado/CO

Home > Colorado > Jefferson County > Golden High School

Golden High School

701 24th Street, Golden, CO, 80401-2379 -

tel: (303)982-4258
Visit School Website
View current housing listings in this area
Review school:
Find your graduating class!

View RSS feed

Definition of Terms

Golden High School

School Level

High school

Grades Offered

Grades 9 - 12

County

Jefferson County, CO

Students & Faculty

Total Students

1287 students

% Male / % Female

53% / 47%

Total Classroom Teachers

62 teachers

Students by Grade

Grade 9 - 350 students

Grade 10 - 332 students

Grade 11 - 315 students

Grade 12 - 290 students

This School

(CO) School Average

Teacher : Student Ratio

1:21

1:16

Students by Ethnicity

This School

(CO) School Average

% American Indian	1%	1%
% Asian	3%	3%
% Hispanic	8%	29%
% Black	1%	5%
% White	87%	62%

Additional Student Information

This School

(CO) School Average

% Eligible for Free Lunch

13%

29%

% Eligible for Reduced Lunch

% Migrant Students Enrolled

n/a

(CO) Statewide Testing Performance

School Statewide Performance

View Education Department Test Scores

School District Name

Jefferson County R-1 School District

This School's Agency

(CO) District Average

Number of Schools Managed	162	3
Number of Students Managed	86,808 students	613 students
District Total Revenue	$789,345,000	$5,882,000
District Expenditure	$785,424,000	$5,502,000
District Revenue / Student	$9,093	$9,630
District Expenditure / Student	$9,048	$9,250
District Graduation Rates	n/a	n/a

Golden High School is a secondary school in Golden, Colorado. It is located in Golden, the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district.
History: Golden High School was created 1873, when the new South School building of Golden was opened. It was named after the city of Golden, Colorado and was part of Golden School District #1. GHS was the first senior high school opened in Jefferson County, Colorado. The exact year of the school's first graduating class is unknown, as originally it did not offer graduation, but early graduations have been traced in the news media at least as far back as the 1880s. GHS remained in the South School, eventually largely taking the building over as primary grades sharing the building moved on to other places, until a new Golden High School (now home to the American Alpine Club) was built in 1922-24. This building served until the present Golden High School was completed in 1956.
GHS Buildings: Golden High School has been housed in three buildings since it began in 1873, and ground was broken on October 23, 2006 for its fourth incarnation. Originally GHS was housed in what became known as the South School, built in 1873 as a comprehensive school building to house all of Golden's classes. The South School was a two-story brick structure with stone trim located at 1314 Cheyenne Street, a beautiful Second Empire styled building designed by Golden architect James B. Baker. Over time several lower class levels were phased out and the building expanded, and in time Golden residents wished to have a pure high school building of the latest design. They built a new Golden High School at 710 10th Street on the north side of the city in 1922-24. This was an impressive two-story blond brick structure atop a full basement, designed in the Beaux Arts style by noted Denver architect Eugene G. Groves. It featured a full upper story auditorium, gymnasium, and painting Dawn of the West by noted Santa Fe artist Gerald R. Cassidy given to the school by banker Jesse W. Rubey in memory of his brother Harold, a clay miner. Golden's North Side Improvement Association created a companion park for the school across 10th Street, named in memory of the park's spearheader George Washington Parfet (pronounced "Parfit"). This school building was expanded in 1950 and 1953, and finally the new Jefferson County R-1 School District decided to build the rapidly growing school a new home at 701 24th Street. Noted Denver architect Temple Hoyne Buell, after whom Denver's Buell Theatre is named, was hired to design the new Golden High School. Drawing from California school stylings, Buell created a Modernist outdoor campus of separate school buildings aligned towards the southwest, fronting on 24th Street. A 1984 expansion linked together most of these buildings, while giving the school a pronounced glass arched atrium entrance. In 2006 construction began on a new home for Golden High School, to be located just above the present building overlooking its location.
School Saved From Explosion: On November 23, 1905 Golden High School, along with the other classes (primary grades 1-3) of the South School building it was in, narrowly avoided a horrible catastrophe when the building was saved from a boiler explosion by Oscar Nolin, janitor of the school. As the front page of Golden's Colorado Transcript newspaper of November 30, 1905 recounted the event.
For a few minutes the lives of the entire population of the south side school hung in the balance, and that all escaped injury is considered little less than a miracle...About 2:30 Oscar Nolan, janitor of the building, started down the hill on an errand. When but a short distance away he happened to glance back and saw a large volume of steam issuing from the escape pipe of the school�s steam heating plant. Rushing back to the basement he was horrified to find the boiler dry and very hot, while a big fire raged underneath. He at once gave the alarm to clear the building and then proceeded to the dangerous task of pulling the fires, although he expected every second that the overheated boiler must explode. By his prompt action the catastrophe was averted, but in the opinion of those who visited the place directly after, a delay of five minutes would have caused an entirely different story - one of death and destruction. But a short time before the janitor says his gauge showed the boiler half full of water. He believes some boy or boys, either to satisfy curiosity or in a spirit of meanness, drained the water from the boiler when he was in another part of the building.
On the 100th anniversary of this event, where Nolin saved over 100 lives, the Golden City Council declared November 23, 2005 to be Oscar Nolin Day, with GHS principal Mike Murphy accepting the award. Nolin was otherwise an honored citizen in Golden history who helped develop the city, served with the Golden Fire Department and on the Golden City Council. Nolin died in the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 trying to save his brother's life.
Some have noted a startling similarity between this historical event and the series finale of Touched By An Angel, where the fictional Colorado town of Ascension is subject to a similar but alternate fate of a school being destroyed by a boiler explosion, which a boy caused, which wipes out most children of the town. There is no known connection between this event and the story, but it is remarkable in that it depicts what could have been Golden's case had Nolin never intervened.
Colors & Mascot: The official Golden High colors are maroon and white, which date at least as far back as the 1920s. The GHS mascot is the Demons, voted overwhelmingly by the students and teachers in 1928 as nominated by student Harriet Summers in a school contest.
Notable alumni: J.J. Thomas, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, men's halfpipe.
John Charles Vivian, Governor of Colorado.
Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL
Add information about this school (e.g., awards, news stories, notable alumni, fun facts)

About This Zip Code (80401)

School Zip (80401)

(CO) State Average

Population (Approximate)

38,580 people

4,157,972 people

% (age 25+) w/College Degree

52%

33%

Population Average Age

38 years old

34 years old

Average Household size

2.4 persons

2.5 persons

Median Household Income

$57,975

$49,703

Avg. # of Rooms in Household

6.2 rooms

5.7 rooms

Median Age of Housing Structure

34 years old

35 years old

View current housing listings in this area

Median Value of Housing Unit
Zipcode (80401)

What's a Zindex?
Subject to Zillow Terms of Use

% Owning / % Renting

71% / 29%

67% / 33%

Get: driving directions View weather forecasts and averages

Weather: 10-day forecast or monthly climate averages.

Nearby Schools:


1. Green Mountain High School - 1616 students - view location
2. Longview High School - 45 students - view location
3. Mc Lain Community High School - 253 students - view location
4. Mc Lain High School - 509 students - view location
5. Warren Occupation Technical Center - 38 students - view location
View all schools in: Golden Town, Jefferson County, Zip 80401

Tip: Zoom in/out using the slider below. View aerial photos using the Satellite or Hybrid buttons.

Note: Data has been gathered from several government and commercial data sources. School data reflects years 2002-04 statistics (most recent years available). Area and demographic data reflects year 2000 statistics. Public School Review does not ensure the timeliness or accuracy of the information on this site.

Quick Links:


• View website: Visit school website
• Find housing: View current housing listings in this area
• Reconnect: Find your graduating class at Classmates.com
• Review: Review school:
• Tools: Search schools by zip, Compare schools side-by-side
• More schools: Private schools, Boarding schools & military schools
• Return to: Jefferson County public schools, Colorado public schools, Home