Services
What do these photos tell you about the different service industries Coloradans needed in the 20th century?
A "Bandit Chaser"
This was a Denver police car of the 1920s.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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The Denver police car in this photo was called the "bandit chaser." It had a hand-cranked siren attached to the running board. It also was equipped with three spotlights and a large bell.
Their Own Words
“[Denver] is one of the best lighted cities in the land. She has the commission form of [city] government. (Also, as you will remember, she has woman suffrage, Colorado having been the first State to accept it.) Her Children’s Court, presided over by Judge Benjamin Lindsey, is famous. She has no bread line, and as for crime, when I asked Police Inspector Leonard De Lue about it, he shook his head and said: ‘No; business is light. The fact is we ain’t got no crime out here.”
Source: Julian Street, “Hitting a High Spot: Denver,” Colliers (November 7, 1914): 16.
An Edgewater Fire Engine
This fire station was located in Edgewater, a community in Jefferson County near Denver. The station was located in the same building as the City Hall.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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Fire fighting equipment changed rapidly after the invention of the automobile. This photo shows Edgewater's old hand-pulled hose cart next to its new fire truck loaded with hoses and other equipment. The photo was taken in 1927.
Wheat Ridge Fire Department
This hose truck was owned by the Wheat Ridge Fire Department. The photo dates from the late 1940s.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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By the mid-1900s, fire trucks were bigger and more powerful. Compare the truck in this photo with the one in the previous photo.
A Telluride Bank
Banks also provided important services. This is the interior of the Bank of Telluride. The photo was taken probably in the 1930s.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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This photo may have been an advertisement to show customers how safe it was to leave their money in the Bank of Telluride. Stacks of silver dollars are lined up on the counter on the right. Next to the rolls of coins are two pistols. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people lost faith in banks because so many failed or closed.
Their Own Words
“During [the Great Depression of the 1930s] when the banks were all closed and you didn’t have any money, people used to bring chickens and vegetables and things to the office [the newspaper] to pay [their bills]. That was the Depression. We look back and we weren’t happy about it, you know—we all had plenty to eat. I think as long as you’ve got plenty to eat, things aren’t too bad.”
Source: Lena Ely Stoddard quoted in Julie Jones-Eddy, ed., Homesteading Women: An Oral History of Colorado, 1890-1950 (New York: Twayne, 1992): 76-77.
Gilmore's Funeral Home
These undertakers had their photo taken in front of their funeral home.
Photo: Colorado Historical Society
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The sign in the window says Q. J. Gilmore Undertaker. The men standing in front are the owners and employees. They are African Americans.
Bell Telephone Operators (1930's)
This is the Bell Telephone Company's central office in Denver. The photo was taken during the 1930s.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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In the 1930s, all phone calls had to be connected by an operator in a central office. The operator's job was to answer incoming calls, find out who the caller wanted to talk to, then connect the caller's phone line to that person's line. Phone companies usually hired women as phone operators.
Their Own Words
"When an operator received a call from a subscriber he would shout to a boy stationed behind him, who would grab the plug and cord from the operator and run with it across the room, sticking the plug into the hold [hole?] designated. Often it took two boys to make the connection. The result was that these boys were running and jumping wildly about, crawling under each other’s legs, leaping frog-fashion over one another, knocking each other down, and raising such bedlam that the operators could not hear many of the numbers given over the wire."
Source: A. G. Birch, “The Third Telephone Exchange Operated Anywhere in the World,” Denver Post, Jan. 9, 1916.
Electric Home Appliances
This photo shows electrical appliances for the home that were available by the 1930s.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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The appliances in this photo include a washing machine (left), an electric iron on an ironing board (center), and an automatic ironing machine (right). The woman is using the ironing machine. This display was created by the Denver Gas & Electric Light Company, which encouraged housewives to use electric appliances.
