Tag: archives
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Who were all the mayors of Colorado Springs?
During this Colorado 150 anniversary year, Gazette readers have been curious about Colorado Springs’ earliest history and all the people who have served as mayor since the 1800s until today. It evolved over time and as the city grew. Starting in 1872-1875 the leaders were five trustees with one serving as president, all appointed by…
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The morning a dynamite train destroyed the town of Fountain in 1888
May is an anniversary month for the town of Fountain and it’s in all their history books for the most explosive of reasons. It’s called “The Blast” and it flattened the little town south of Colorado Springs. It’s just part of an interesting history. Fountain’s roots go back to the Ute Indians who wintered at…
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Peaceful St. Jude Shrine, Pauline Chapel part of the story of generations of Penrose family women
Passersby on the road to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo during this 100th anniversary year sometimes wonder the whole story behind a lovely little roadside shrine tucked away at an intersection along the way. Residents, as well, have wanted to know more as they rest there for quiet moments. The shrine is one of two religious memorials…
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Who are those folks immortalized by all the city’s statues? Meet the cowboys, philanthropists, builders, miners and the ‘Pumpkin Man’
Perhaps as you’ve walked downtown or stopped at a red light while you were driving you’ve had that moment to wonder exactly who was that person memorialized with a statue in a median, outside a building, in a park or sculpted just gazing west toward Pikes Peak. What did they do? The people in the…
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El Paso County Poor Farm, one of the last in the country, cared for the needy, old or ill
Since 2017 the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum has told the area’s history with an interactive alphabetical “Story of Us.” “P” stood for the Poor Farm in the exhibit. Fittingly, the Poor Farm had been here since the beginning of the city. In 1880 the county commissioners chose a cottage on El Paso Street for a…
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The Antlers’ 143-year history: 3 incarnations and ghost stories, too
Since 1883 every photo or painting of downtown Colorado Springs seems to focus west along Pikes Peak Avenue to include the mountains. And that view has had one other feature, the Antlers Hotel. And what a history it has had. More than 12 years earlier, Gen. William Jackson Palmer had been pulling together plans for…
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It’s all about Olympic sports now at training center site with a local military history
As athletes travel to Milan, Italy, to represent America in the Winter Games, there are interesting local memories around the Olympics, the athletes and their connections to Colorado Springs, now Olympic City USA. Of course, there’s the history at the impressive U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, plus the Olympic & Paralympic Committee is headquartered right…