El Paso County wants its courthouse back.

The Board of Commissioners said today they’re willing to pony up funds that would help keep the Pioneers Museum open. The catch — and it could be a deal killer — is the county wants the deed to the turn-of-the-century courthouse and the square on which it sits at Tejon Street and Vermijo Avenue.

“The only way this makes sense is for the county to regain ownership of the building. If that’s not negotiable, then we’re going to have a hard time moving forward,” said Commission Chairman Jim Bensberg.

City Council members and the county commissioners met today to discuss the future of the museum, which could be mothballed in 2010 because of the city’s budget shortfall.

The county had offered to contribute toward the upkeep of the museum, but several city council members seemed to have been caught off-guard by the county’s ownership proposal.

“I think it’s driven by the county’s desire to expand their office space,” said Larry Small, vice mayor and councilor-at-large. “If ownership is part of the deal they can consider the deal broken.” 

Under the county’s offer, it would pay for the building’s upkeep and turn the surrounding square into a regional park, while the city would operate the museum, which sees more than 50,000 visitors annually.

“The current board is trying to atone for past mistakes,”  said County Administrator Jeff Greene.

Greene said the county would use conservation and state park funds to pay for maintenance and upkeep of the building. The county has to own the building to legally use those funds for that purpose, he said.

The old courthouse was finished in 1903 and served as an elegant location for district court trials for 70 years. In 1973, after the new judicial complex and county building opened, the county commissioners decided to deed the granite, three-story building to the city for a dollar.

“It was a beautiful, beautiful building and I hated to see it go,” said Terry Harris, who was county administrator at the time of the transaction and for whom the present-day judicial complex is named.

Harris said he recommended that  commissioners keep the old courthouse and use it for offices for board meetings and offices. But the courthouse cost a bundle to operate and needed repairs. In addition, he said, the commissioners “had just got finished building the new courthouse and county building and they were a little nervous about having too much space on their hands.”

Although commissioners in the mid-1960s had decided to raze the courthouse, the mood had shifted by the time Harris took over.  “They would never have torn down a building like that,” he said.

It opened as a museum in 1979, displaying historic artifacts and photographs donated by  the El Paso County Pioneers’ Association. It’s stately second-floor courtrooms have been the backdrop for several motion pictures and made-for-TV movies.

Despite the ownership obstacle, county commissioners and city council members want to find a way to preserve the museum. “We should explore ways of keeping it open,” said Mayor Lionel Rivera.

Both sides agreed that they needed to look to other ways to boost revenue, including finding more public and private partners, opening the facility to more events and possibly charging an admission fee.

But the question of admission fees is a difficult one. The El Paso County Pioneers’ Association, which was formed in the 1890s, donated some 5,000 artifacts to the city of Colorado Springs in 1941.

The association specifically stipulated that the items be housed in a facility known as the Pioneers Museum, maintained forever as a public facility and open to everyone without charge. The association, which is still a viable entity, has been “vociferously” opposed to charging an admission fee, said Matt Mayberry, museum director. 

Prior to 2009, the museum’s annual budget was $870,000 with approximately $200,000 to $300,000 coming from third parties. In 2009, the budget shrunk to $666,945 and in 2010, the budget is $302,000. The funds, which come from third-party sources, will be used to mothball the museum and pay two staffers.

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Call the writer at 476-4825.

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The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Thursday, February 19, 2009. Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by

Mark Reis

El Paso County Courthouse, 1906 Photo by