Henderson
  Henderson Photo  
 

James Henderson was a builder and, being a Scot, an ardent curler. Both pursuits have left a lasting legacy in Golden. James and his new bride, Johanna Hood, arrived in Golden in the early 1890s. Soon after, James encouraged his mother-in-law, her three daughters and two sons to leave Scotland and join them in Golden. Mrs. Hood was lovingly termed by all who knew her as “Granny Hood.”

Kay Soles (sitting), Hub Henderson, Louise Jackson, Bill Henderson (l to r) are four of James’ many grandchildren.

 

Kay is holding a family photo of some of the clan taken on the veranda of the house that James built where the Golden Medicine Centre mall now sits.

Many of the buildings seen in images of the time were built by James Henderson, including H. G. Parson Store, Rolston’s, the Imperial Bank, Russell Hotel and Golden’s first indoor Curling Rink (on the land behind the present Apostoles Restaurant.) Golden’s Curling Club was established in 1894 – the first in B.C. – and games

 

were played outdoors on Phantom Lake – now Reflection Lake.

This historical print is from a glass plate taken by William Wenman inside the curling rink circa 1916-21. There were two sheets of ice in the centre and skating around the outside. Bonspiels would go from Thursday night to Sunday – day and night. In the decades since, Henderson teams have won the club’s Grand Challenge so many times folks started to call it the Henderson trophy.