Old Colorado City museum hit by flooding, launches charitable drive to defray repair costs
Courtesy of the Old Colorado City Historical Society
Sustained and at times torrential rainstorms that hit the Pikes Peak region last month left August going out like a spouting whale.
“We don’t really get that much rain usually, and it was a little panicky,” said Niki Mikhalchenko, bookkeeper at the family-owned Calvin Turner Roofing.
The phones at both the Colorado Springs and Pueblo offices have been constantly ringing in the past few weeks, she said.
“We’ve had quite a bit of calls for everything leaking. People have had water coming in from roofs, ceilings, skylights, windows, basements.”
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Both residential and commercial buildings with older roofs were particularly susceptible to the late-month surge of monsoon moisture.
Large buckets to catch dripping water appeared in some businesses through Labor Day weekend, including JC Penney at The Citadel mall. It’s a common sight at many commercial buildings when there’s been so much rainfall, Mikhalchenko said.
One nonprofit that has been severely affected, the History Center and Museum of the Old Colorado City Historical Society, has issued a plea to the community to help it “save history.”
Leo Knudson, head of maintenance at the Old Colorado City Historical Society Museum and History Center, shows where water flooded a portion of the basement of the old church building where it’s located.
A portion of the basement of the museum and history center at 1 S. 24th St. on Colorado Springs’ Westside requires repairs that can no longer be postponed, according to a letter President Barb Sweat recently sent to about 350 historical society members.
Several days of continuing rain “supersaturated the south side of the museum and spilled into the basement,” the letter said.
About 2 inches of water flooded the area where archives, photos and other historical materials were stored, Leo Knudson, head of maintenance, said Tuesday. The event left cracks in the exterior foundational walls.
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Volunteers used sandbags to direct the deluge into a drain last week, however the damage is extensive, he said. Irreplaceable artifacts were threatened, and some display building materials, paper documents and other memorabilia were ruined.
“We’ll have to do a lot of work to stop the water from seeping through,” Knudson said.
The Old Colorado City Historical Society Museum and History Center at 21 S. 24th St., in Old Colorado City has launched a campaign to help repair flood damage to its location in an old church building.
As a result, the historical society has launched a drive to raise $50,000 to repair the old church building that’s served as its headquarters since the organization purchased the property in 1992.
The problem has been around for a while. Originally built in 1891 as First Baptist Church, the initial stone structure is solid and is not deteriorating. But an addition in the late 1930s was built “quickly and poorly,” Sweat said in her appeal to supporters.
Programs and activities could be curtailed if not enough donations come in, Knudson said, since the nonprofit does not use any government funding and relies solely on philanthropic dollars.
Its next big fundraiser is the annual Legends & Lore of Fairview Cemetery Crawl in October.
To donate, call the museum at (719) 636-1225, or stop by the free museum, or mail a check to the Old Colorado City Historical Society, 1 S. 24th St., Colorado Springs, CO 80904. There’s also a GoFundMe campaign online.
The museum is free to visitors and filled with educational displays and treasures from the region’s first metropolis, Colorado City, now a neighborhood known as Old Colorado City in western Colorado Springs.
Visitors can introduce kids to an interactive exhibit and everyone can learn from displays that provide important facets of the area’s founding, which was steeped in saloons and brothels, and subsequent development.
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Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.
