The Road of Remembrance Gateway built to honor those who served in World War I by the Lions Club of Boulder, located near the intersection of Highway 287/107th and Arapahoe Road near Erie.
Before the Boulder-Denver turnpike (U.S. 36) was opened in 1952, Boulder-bound motorists from Denver drove north on U.S. 287, then turned west on Arapahoe Road. After World War I, the veterans’ group, the American Legion, came up with the idea of beautifying Arapahoe as a “Road of Remembrance,” complete with a stone gateway. Today, all that’s left are the two stone pillars at Nine-Mile Corner, the intersection of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287.
The Lions Club assisted in the project by erecting the gateway pillars. On the east side of the northern of the two stone pillars, club members placed a plaque which still reads, “Road of Remembrance Gateway, In Honor of Those Who Served in the World War, Erected by the Lions Club of Boulder.” A speaker at the gateway’s dedication extended the tribute to “the mothers and fathers who carried on the fight at home.”
A group of approximately 250 public officials, businessmen, and citizens gathered with Lions Club members when they laid their cornerstone in April 1928. Under the stone was placed a metal box with documents, newspapers, and names of club members.
Dedication of the pillars, which cost $1,600, was a big deal. Lions Club members decorated the stone gateway with wreaths and hung an American flag over the plaque prior to its unveiling. A pastor invoked a blessing, a band played some tunes, and the club’s president gave the history of the Lions Club. The president then formally presented the pillars to the American Legion which set up a flagpole and a captured 100 mm German field gun on a triangular plot at the highways’ intersection.
Legion representatives stated that the gateway was an indication that Boulder had not forgotten the war. Legion club members also spoke of their plans to beautify the whole nine-mile stretch of Arapahoe Road into Boulder. A journalist wrote, “(Boulder) is going to extend its hand that distance to greet the motorist, bid him welcome and assure him that he is entering a community that wants him to stay as long as possible.”
The beautification project was to include the planting along the route of one thousand trees, one for each veteran. Arapahoe Road was expected to become a “lane of foliage,” with small parks at every crossroads.
Unfortunately, the Arapahoe Road beautification project never materialized. The wrecked remains of the cannon, along with the flagpole, was removed after being hit by a car. But the stone gateway is still there. In 1983, the north pillar collapsed when a contractor tried to move it in order to widen the road. The pillar then was rebuilt 40 feet from its original site.
When the cornerstone was set 79 years ago, Lions Club member Louis Herman stated, “We pray to the Almighty Father of the universe that His blessing may descend upon these foundations and pillars and upon all hearts here assembled… and upon the strangers who sojourn among us and upon the graves of the lost and loved heroes, wherever they may be.”
Silvia Pettem’s history column appears every Sunday in the Camera. Write her at the Camera, P. O. Box 591, Boulder 80306, or e-mail pettem@earthlink.net
This article was originally published in the Camera 12/23/2007.
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