When Clinton O. Heath visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he brought back an unusual wedding gift for his soon-to-be bride, Mattie Williamson.
The orange, velvet-covered upright piano he chose for his fiancee was built as a novelty showpiece for the Regal Piano Co. It was shipped to Heath in Colorado and spent many years on display in the couple’s Congress Park home.
“Companies built oddities just for the World’s Fair,” says Nathan Richie, director of Golden History Museums. “This (piano) was Regal’s eye- catcher.”
Years later, the instrument was donated to the museum. Its story — along with those of other unusual instruments and musicians — are commemorated in “Turn It Up: Golden’s Musical Memories,” a new exhibit on display through December at the Golden History Center.
“Pianos were showpieces for family status . . . at the time,” Richie says. Another unusual piano on display is an 1860 Pelton square grand piano, purchased by former territorial governor John Evans for his daughter, Anne. Golden was the capital of the Colorado Territory during Evans’ term, from 1862 to 1865.
“The square grand pianos were a very popular style at the time,” Richie says of this piece. “They were easier to ship and move around.”
The exhibit is chockablock with such historic tidbits about Golden. For example, jazz musician George Morrison once ran a popular dance hall called the Rock Rest Tavern (now known as the Rock Rest Lodge) on South Golden Road. The hall opened in 1923 during Prohibition, and Morrison charged 10 cents per dance.
Morrison was an African-American bandleader and violinist, and “one of Colorado’s best-known musicians of the era,” whose time in Golden was short-lived.
“The Ku Klux Klan was active in Golden at the time, and they chased him out of town in 1925,” Richie says.
Morrison settled in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, where he founded the Morrison Jazz Orchestra and was proclaimed the “Best Musician West of K.C.” by Downbeat magazine in 1941.
Current residents are also highlighted in the “Music Maker Lounge” interactive video display. Six short documentary-style videos are available, with clips of live performances in the Golden area interspersed with personal interviews. Adam Kinghorn of the bluegrass band Head for the Hills, for instance, discusses Golden’s bluegrass music scene, while local ranchers reminisce about square dances in the canyons, at area “granges” or country dance halls.
“The instruments are interesting, but they are really more a vehicle for telling the stories of the people behind them,” Richie says. “We wanted to show them off and talk about the important role that musicians have played in Golden’s history and social life.”
“Turn it Up: Golden’s Musical Memories”
When: through December
Where: The Golden History Center, 923 10th St., Golden
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
Admission: $4-$5; free for children 5 and under and museum members
