Nostalgia & History > Georgetown

Over time, I've been interested in how Clear Creek Canyon looked prior to the coming of U.S. 6. I would speculate that the highway was built on much of the roadbed of the old Colorado Central. There's a length of rail left in service on Golden which has an 1888 date on it, been there since the days of the Colorado Central. Thanks for posting.

Jim Burrill
Loveland, CO

Nice photos. Interesting names. Here in Texas, Georgetown is not too far from Thorndale. Did any relatives come south to Texas?

When my Grandfather, Alfred Otto Olson, emigrated from Sweden in 1891 he changed his last name from Olson to Thorndale upon arriving in the United States. . The family story is that he was reading a book on the ship to the United States and the title of the book or a character in the book was Thorndale. He took the name. Thorndale is not a common name so I set out to see if I could find the book. I found the book, “Thorndale: or The conflict of opinions” by William Smith, 1859. Perhaps this is the book. My Grandfather had two daughters, my Mom, Adelia Louise, and my aunt, Thelma Mae. The family story is that my aunt Thelma was named by my Grandfather after the character in the book, “Thelma,” by Marie Corelli and after my Grandmother Margaret Mae. My Mother was named after my Grandmother’s mother, Elizabeth Adelia Vickerson and after a friend of my Grandfather’s and my Grandmother’s, Louise. The only things my Mom and my aunt Thelma could recall was that Louise visited them when they lived in St. Elmo and that Louise had beautiful penmanship. When my aunt Thelma married and my Mom married and my Grandfather died and my Grandmother remarried the Thorndale name for this particular family disappeared.