As an art teacher, I rarely gave tests. Now and then I would give a quiz, but it was mainly to see if the students were looking and actually seeing what was around them. I would ask about things around the school that they walked by all the time. What color is this or that? What does this or that sign say? You know, usually no one got more than half right. Kids are more interested in the other kids than their surroundings at that age, but I think I did get a few to take a better look around.
As I do these columns. I discover there are things around us that some of you never noticed. My main interest is sharing with you stories about some of those things. Today I have a short quiz for you; the good news is… no grades for it! I did this a couple of years ago and received some interesting comments.
See if you can answer these five questions. Do you know where Colorado City's potato chips were made? Do you know which fire station was built as a recreation hall? How about the old city hall that was a school? How about the church that is a museum? Where the Colorado City High School was? Now if you read this column regularly, you should know all of these.
For the answers: The portion of the Goodwill center on Colorado Avenue nearest 23rd Street was Golden Flake Potato Chip's factory. Fire Station 5, at Colorado and 29th Street, was built as the Standard Cub, a recreation hall for the employees of the Standard Gold Mill. Across 29th, now a coffee shop, is Colorado City's original city hall and first Whittier School. For the museum question, oh come on, does not everyone know about the Old Colorado City History Center at Pikes Peak Avenue and 24th Street! Bancroft Park, across the street from the museum, was the site of Bancroft School, for a time not only the high school but every grade!
Here are some more to ponder. We have a streetcar that is a house (admittedly, this one is HARD!) and some grocery stores that have become a church, a tattoo parlor and (in several cases) an antique shop or a thrift store. Others to look for are a church facility that was a school, a caboose or a restaurant that was a gas station, and a gas station that now serves ice cream. Can you pick out these places? Here in Colorado City there are so many interesting buildings, and I have not even mentioned some of the more obvious ones.