COBWEB CORNERS: More info about the old Avenue
By Mel McFarland I have gotten some interesting comments about my recent column on the Avenue. I have two additions to it. One of these is about the post office. A hundred years ago, the post office was located in the then-new First National Bank building, where Michael Garman's is today. In the '20's the post office moved to the next block west, but getting an exact address proved difficult for a while. Now I have that information. It was 2512 W. Colorado Ave. ![]() In 1949 the Postal Service was looking for a larger location. The West End Station, as it was known (and still is), had outgrown its space at 2512 and was advertising for a larger building. Next door was a building known as the McIntosh block. Dorothy's Beauty Shop used the front part of the building, but the back was available, so the Postal Service decided to stay where it was and use the neighboring space as an addition. Doors were cut to connect the two buildings, and the front of the existing post office was remodeled to provide window service and mail boxes. Meanwhile, in back, the carriers were much happier with their new space. But the Westside was booming, and in a few years, the post office would need even more room. The other addition to my column on the Avenue is about the shuttle buses that used to run in the summer. These ran between the regular bus trips, but did not serve all the way to downtown. I believe the buses ran between 30th and 8th streets. They were little, about half the size of a regular bus - sort of the size of the buses that ran from Red Rocks Shopping Center into Manitou from 2001 to 2003. There are still a couple old White city bus bodies in a junkyard out on Farmers Highway (Highway 94). The last shuttle bus I remember being used was by KRDO as a remote studio. It could be found downtown every time there was a parade. |