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Stop by and take a Wander Worthy of the man behind the boulevard.
This stylish little cache can be found just a stone's throw from Wadsworth. Over 60,000 cars travel this road every day. But why is it called Wadsworth? What's the story?
The street is named after Benjamin Franklin Wadsworth, an early settler to the Denver area, and the founder of Arvada. Benjamin traveled by covered wagon from Ohio to Empire Colorado in 1859. After ten years of buying and selling mining claims, the family moved to the Arvada area into a primitive log cabin. After the Wadsworth family settled into their log cabin, Benjamin Wadsworth began to make plans for a school located on his property. He also realized that the Colorado Central railroad, to be laid from Denver to Golden in 1870, would make a post office possible if a town could be platted(planned/drawn) and named. Benjamin Wadsworth developed a plat for a town of nine square blocks on his 160 acres, and his wife Mary Ann named the new town Arvada after her brother-in-law, Hiram Arvada Haskins. Now that's a nice in-law situation.
The formal notice of the new town, population 100, was posted on December 1, 1870. Wadsworth applied for a post office and became the first postmaster. Passing trains 'threw off' mail sacks and the Wadsworth family would sort mail into boxes labeled A - Z. Wadsworth worked tirelessly to attract storekeepers and homeowners to the town. Stores were centered around a street named "Centre," (later Wadsworth) which included a bank, doctors, real estate agents, restaurants, grocery stores, a pharmacy, a hardware store, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable and more.
Benjamin was killed in 1893 in an incident involving a runaway horse. The road was renamed a few times before finally getting the name Wadsworth in 1904 to honor the awesomeness of Benjamin Franklin Wadsworth.
Wads-Worthy Wander
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