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J. C. Davidson Furniture & Undertaking |
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Shared by Richard Gardner 07/31/2020: J.C. Davidson and J.L. Davidson were father and son, John Calon Davidson and John Lofton Davidson, both prominent merchants and citizens of the community. Their furniture store was the building's tenant prior to the mortuary's arrival in 1917 (yes Woods Mortuary originated in 1913, but at the opposite end of the block in the Loveland Block, it moved here in 1917). Furniture stores going also into the undertaking business was common in those days, with furniture makers being good carpenters and materials suppliers for coffins too. John Lofton Davidson was convicted of insurance fraud for allegedly faking the death of one of his clients. The verdict was overturned on appeal and he was exonerated not long before his death. Both father and son served as Jefferson County Coroner, as did William Woods after them. I do have a photo that shows John Lofton Davidson. This mural was first painted in 1898 when J.C. Davidson moved his furniture store to this building (ironically he also started out in the Loveland Block, though it was from the now destroyed Klein Block on Ford Street that he moved from to here). That makes this the oldest confirmed such mural to remain in Golden, though it's possible the Durham Tobacco Barn mural is a little bit older (1880s; we don't know exactly when that one was painted). The alteration of the mural from J.C. Davidson to J.L. Davidson took place around September 1, 1910 when the father retired and sold his business to the son, at which point the mural was doubtless altered. It most likely received just a touchup of the one letter rather than a complete new coat. The mural would've been painted over, and the building as a whole possibly first painted, around June 28, 1917 when William Woods and Charles Sanders moved the mortuary to this building. Therefore the touchup and painted over took place just 7 years apart and their paints may well have had the same chemical composition, hence why the L might be taken off but the rest of the mural remain intact. |
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