It was an elegant turn-of-the-century “club for gentlemen,” then became one of the best places in the country for dancing, was restaurants and then a parking lot for folks catching the shuttle to the Manitou Incline. Hiawatha Gardens has quite the history at the corner of Old Man’s Trail and El Paso Boulevard in Manitou Springs.

Built in 1887-1889, the first part was the Hiawatha Club, where stylish gentlemen played many a card game as they gambled and sipped fine liquid refreshment. Soon there was an addition to the building, a beer garden and theater with the Hiawatha Family Concert Garden. There was an open-air dance pavilion. The Hiawatha Park Opera Company performed light opera in 1903, but it became vaudeville entertainment after that.

Disaster struck in 1920, when the building burned down, but firefighters were able to save the beautiful maple wood dance floor.

Hiawatha Gardens was rebuilt on the site. According to the city’s Hiawatha Gardens Task Force, charged in the mid-2000s with compiling its history, it was described this way: “Hiawatha Gardens’ historical importance was as a Music and Dance venue from 1921 through to 1955, because it tied Manitou Springs into a nationally significant trend that changed America — Big Band Music and Dancing.”

That put Manitou Springs in the same elite dance hall class as such top music and dancing spots as The Trocadero in Elitch Gardens, Denver; Trianon Ballroom in Chicago; Arcadia Dancing Pavilion in San Francisco; The Broadmoor’s Hawaiian Room in the Golf Club; and the early-day ballroom at Colorado Springs’ Antlers Hotel.

One delightful piece of history was discounted over time by many because there were few people who actually saw it happen, even watching through the windows. It was rumored that in 1923 ” Latin Lover” movie sex symbol Rudolph Valentino (star of “The Sheik”) and wife Natacha Rambova had slipped into Hiawatha Gardens to tango across the famous wood floor.

Turns out it probably was true. Valentino had disputed his movie contracts and was barred by the industry for two years. In an attempt to stay in the public eye, the couple were stars of a 1923 Mineralava Beauty Company Dance Tour, going nationwide to dance at dance halls and theaters, moving quickly from one city to the next. They danced the tango everywhere, sometimes judging dance contests, with $1.65 admission, and it stands to reason that one of those nights would have been at the famous Hiawatha.

For years, crowds of dancing couples “dressed to the nines” and even coming in by train filled Hiawatha Gardens, where famous entertainers were headliners, including Jimmy Dorsey and Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters with Bon Bon Tunnell. In the 1940s local favorite Bob Hiltbrand and His Orchestra reported playing to crowds of 2,000.

During its early years, the dance hall clubs were all segregated. By the 1950s, one headliner night in Manitou was Duke Ellington’s.

As the Big Band era diminished, crowds dwindled, entertainment choices evolved, owners changed and Hiawatha Gardens lost its early luster. Time for a change to the Sundown Lounge and for a time it was a bowling alley.

Starting in 1978, the building became the popular House of Prime Rib, and then for a decade was Tajine Alami Moroccan restaurant.

The city bought the property in 2016 for $1.05 million with plans that included public parking and a transportation hub. The Hiawatha Gardens Task Force was formed by the city to fully research the Hiawatha Gardens years and architectural history and residents became involved in ongoing public plans for the property’s future. Grant proposals have been submitted and some already approved. The building was deemed sound but renovations will be required and that area is in the Fountain Creek flood zone.

But why was everything here named Hiawatha, including Nokomis Park for grandmother of Hiawatha? He had been head of the Iroquois/Mohawks, not a tribe connected to Colorado history. The speculation is that it leads back to a romantic love of Indigenous names at that time, but most probably because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1855 Native American poem “The Song of Hiawatha.”

Early day Manitou Springs. Courtesy Manitou Springs Heritage Museum