Happy Tuesday, Goldenites, and a Happy (belated) Easter to all who celebrate! 🐰 Sounds like the Kiwanis Club’s annual Easter egg hunt had a strong turnout on Saturday. Did any of you go? Or did you stop by some other local Easter egg hunts?

Along with Easter happenings, the Golden community said goodbye to its respected Police Chief Joe Harvey at a retirement celebration; construction crews broke ground on The Prosper at Golden condos — formerly called Calvary Flats — across the street from Calvary Church; and defendant Tyler Young pleaded guilty to the Sept. 11 chase down I-70 from the Evergreen Walmart. 🚨

We’ve got lots of interesting things to read and discuss in this week’s Tintype.

Plus, for this week’s “Blast from the Past” section, a Tintype reader referred me to a Colorado Public Radio story about Colorado’s first recorded game of baseball in 1862. So, this reader asked me: “When was the earliest record of baseball in Golden?” ⚾

Do you have any guesses? Be sure to read until the end to find out!

🦬 This week’s High-Low-Buffalo

High: A few keen-eyed readers replied to me last week about getting a free COTLN shopping bag, and I got to hand-deliver one to avid Transcript/Tintype reader Beth. Hi, Beth! I still have a few readers I’m coordinating hand-delivery with. Don’t worry. I’m looking forward to meeting you all this week! 👋

Low: Very happy to say I don’t really have a “low” this week. Everything went really smoothly, thanks in part to longtime freelance photographer Sara Hertwig and new freelance reporter Corey Neumeier pinch-hitting a few items this week. (See, John Renfrow, I can do baseball puns too!) 🦇

Buffalo: Harvey started as GPD chief right before I took over as the Golden reporter. So, his retirement feels a bit like the end of an era… But, as I was telling some Transcript readers earlier this week, it won’t be the first time I’ve covered a town hiring a new police chief. 👮

Outgoing Police Chief Joe Harvey has told people that he’s “just an average Joe.” However, his friends, colleagues and officers would say he’s anything but.

They described Harvey as: a selfless leader, an asset to the Golden community, a mentor and a coach at heart, a progressive voice, a force of nature, an out-of-the-box thinker, and a fierce advocate for the law enforcement community and for the City of Golden.

Former GPD Chief Bill Kilpatrick recalled hiring Harvey in 2015, saying, “He wasn’t just another candidate. He was the candidate. … He was a change in the atmosphere.”

The Golden and law enforcement communities celebrated Harvey at an April 1 retirement party at Fossil Trace Golf Club.

Deputy Chief Mike Hendershot is serving as interim chief until Golden hires Harvey’s successor later this spring.

Harvey took a leave of absence from GPD in January and then announced his retirement in February, after nearly 40 years in public safety. He said his only plans for retirement are focusing on being a husband and father, and improving his golf game.

“I get asked a lot: What am I going to do (in retirement)?” Harvey said. “I’m going to be a husband and I’m going to be a father, because they deserve it.”

Since retiring, he said he’s been getting up to make breakfast for his family, adding, “These are important things that, when we’re going through this career, you don’t get to enjoy.”

Next year, at least 40 Goldenites will have a new place to call home.

Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver has broken ground on The Prosper at Golden — formerly called Calvary Flats — across the street from Calvary Church and near the Colorado School of Mines campus.

The Prosper at Golden will house 40 affordable for-sale condominiums, which officials said will help meet an “urgent need for affordable homeownership opportunities in the city” in an April 1 press release.

The forthcoming building at 817 14th St. will have 23 one-bedroom units and 17 two-bedroom units. These will be sold to income- and mortgage-qualified buyers.

Construction started on April 1 and is scheduled to wrap up next year. The condos will be listed for sale, with applications being accepted starting next summer.

Habitat for Humanity will host a project kickoff event in June with community partners, local elected officials, etc.

More than 100 children returned home Saturday with sweet treats and happy memories from their time as “hunters.”

The Kiwanis Club of Golden hosted its annual Easter egg hunt on April 4 at Parfet Park. Families were encouraged to get there before the 10 a.m. whistle or risk missing out on the hunt, as eggs always go fast.

More than 6,000 eggs were scattered throughout the park, which were filled with candy, thanks to help from Scouting America Troop 130, the Kiwanis Club stated on its website.

🎿 In this week’s BizBeat: Old Crows Antiques and its iconic Root Beer Bar is now roosting in Golden; Icelantic Skis is celebrating its 20th anniversary; and Dallas-based CSI Pharmacy has expanded to Corporate Circle in South Golden. Read the full BizBeat section here.

🦖 The World’s Largest Dinosaurs are literally on display at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The New York-based exhibit runs through Sept. 7 and is “a great exhibit, even for people who don’t like dinosaurs,” according to museum officials. Read the full preview story here.

⚾ The Colorado School of Mines baseball team won this weekend’s home series against CSU Pueblo 3-1. The Orediggers now have four weekend series left in their regular season, only one of which is at home. They’ll return to Jim Darden Field April 24-26 for their series against Colorado Christian. Read a recap of this weekend’s series here.

⚖ A former social worker with Jeffco Public Schools has been sentenced to at least 20 years’ intensive probation and heavily monitored community supervision for sexually assaulting a student. Read the full story here.

🚓 A Lakewood man has pleaded guilty to motor vehicle theft and two other counts regarding the Sept. 11 high-speed chase from the El Rancho Walmart down I-70 toward Golden. He is scheduled to be sentenced to 10-13 years in prison on April 27 at the Jeffco courthouse. Read the latest on the court case here.

Tonight:

Saturday:

Next Tuesday:

Next Wednesday:

Next Saturday:

This week’s keyword search: “baseball” ⚾

The results: A regular Tintype reader asked me when Goldenites first played baseball, as the sport was first played in Colorado in 1862. The results were interesting. The earliest mention I found was in August 1874. An ad for Jarvis Hall describes how students had “a most favorable opportunity for outdoor exercises, such as rifle practice, military drill, with both sabres and rifles, baseball and gymnastic exercises…”

So, Goldenites were playing baseball by at least 1874. However, I wanted to highlight an excerpt about Golden’s first baseball league, published the following year.

It’s possible that other historical records have earlier mentions of baseball, but this was the earliest I could find in the Transcript archives. If any of our local historians — Stephanie, Rick, Barb, etc. — have more information, I’d be happy to share it in next week’s Tintype.

All archive clippings are available through The Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection

🔍 HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR NEXT WEEK’S KEYWORD SEARCH? REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER AND LET ME KNOW!