Great minds think alike, but the greatest minds think innovatively.
Colorado has nurtured some of the best minds responsible for dreaming up some of the world’s most beloved — and, in some cases, despised — creations.
They’re jolly. They’re cheesy. They’re sartorially noteworthy.
From mouth-watering eats to childhood staples you can’t live without, these are some inventions created right here in Colorado.
John Epperson, Denver Post file
Jennifer Todd watches the end of the line where Jolly Rancher candy wrapped in individual wrappers, roll off the line of the Wheat Ridge factory on June 3, 1998. (John Epperson/The Denver Post)
Jolly Rancher
This hard candy classic was born out of hard times.
Dorothy and Bill Harmsen opened Jolly Rancher Ice Cream in 1949 beneath Golden’s iconic “Howdy folks” arch, according to the Golden History Museum.
Stretches of rain and problems with the ice cream machines meant the couple needed to think of a way for their business to survive the looming winter. Their savior came in the form of bulk candy and boxed chocolates that initially came from a small candy firm in Denver, the museum said.
The candy sales were coming in so hot — as hot as the original cinnamon flavored Jolly Rancher — that they turned their barn into a candy factory and switched up their whole operation, giving it a new company motto: “Jolly Rancher is the only candy guaranteed to be positively superior to any other you have ever eaten!”
Hershey Company bought the candy company — which had gone through different mergers over the years — in 1997, the museum said.
Snap-button shirts
Cowboy Jack A. Weil had a solution to a Wild West problem.
Bull riders were prone to having their shirts ripped when they got caught by a rogue horn. If the shirt buttons snapped, they could break away at the horn’s contact without tearing the shirt. In 1946, Weil founded Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Company in downtown Denver and made his snap-button shirt dreams come to fruition.
Weil’s signature Western shirt designs with sawtooth pockets and pearl diamond snaps are still being sold today from the generational family business. Yeehaw!
Denver boot
These are not the rootin’ tootin’ kind you’d wear to the rodeo nor the highfalutin kind you’d don to strut a runway. The Denver boot is made for walking, though, as it will render your car worthless.
Park somewhere you’re not supposed to, and your car wheel may meet the fate of the Denver boot — a wheel clamp designed to stop you in your tracks. The oft-maligned innovation came from the mind of Frank Marugg after a cop friend of his asked him how to immobilize cars rather than towing ticketed vehicles to an impound lot, which costs time and money.
The Denver police rolled out Marugg’s boot design in 1955, and parkers the world over have had a pit in their stomachs ever since.
Cheeseburger
OK, there’s a bit of controversy around this one.
Colorado’s first drive-in, the long-gone Humpty Dumpty Barrel Drive-In in Denver, claims to have acquired a trademark for “the cheeseburger” in 1935. There’s even a monument at Speer Boulevard and Alcott Street highlighting the achievement.
But they’re not the only establishment staking cheeseburger claims.
The Rite Spot in Pasadena, Calif., also claims to be the birthplace of the cheeseburger, as does Kaelin’s in Louisville, Ky.
A hearty thanks to whoever decided to layer a burger patty with cheese. I’ll pay my respects at the monument outside a Denver KeyBank.
Teddy bear
While there are multiple accounts of how exactly it unfolded, Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs claims to play a role in the invention of the childhood staple, the teddy bear.
Two accounts exist within the book “Hotel Colorado: Fountains of Enchantment.” The first story states that Theodore Roosevelt — a frequent guest of the hotel — nabbed a bear during a hunting trip near the property. His daughter, Alice, allegedly nicknamed the bear “Teddy.”
The second retelling is that Roosevelt had an unsuccessful bear hunt and, in an effort to cheer him up, Hotel Colorado’s housekeeping staff sewed old fabric together in the shape of a bear, which his daughter then dubbed “Teddy.”
The hotel boasts a huge, plush bear in the lobby as an ode to the toy — and the president — to this day.
Tampon
In 1931, Colorado physician Earle Haas invented a cardboard applicator tampon after a female friend confided in him about the bulky menstrual pads that existed for women at the time, according to Arizona State University’s Embryo Project Encyclopedia.
Haas filed for a patent for his invention — which he modeled after telescope tubes — in Denver in 1931, according to ASU.
Haas sold the patent to Colorado businesswoman and German immigrant Gertrude Tendrich for $32,000 in 1933. She started out sewing tampons at home and ended up creating the first commercial tampon brand, Tampax.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.
