It could be said that much of Colorado
Springs’ history was predetermined some 60 million or 70 million years ago, when
volcanic pressures forced the earth’s crust to rise and buckle, forming the Rocky Mountains. These
mountains, rising abruptly from the High Plains, have had much to do with who we were and
what we have become.
Cheyenne, Ute, Arapaho, and other Native
American tribes hunted in the area and visited the mineral springs in the foothills of
Pikes Peak. Some say they also came to worship Manitou, the Great Spirit.
The first white men to see Pikes Peak were
probably fur trappers or traders. An expedition led by 27-year-old army Lieutenant Zebulon
Pike spotted the
great white peak in 1806 from somewhere near the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River. Pike
dispatched a party and intended to scale it. But ill equipped and fighting November snows,
they abandoned the effort.
In 1859, gold seekers, lured by the
prospect of riches in the mountains west of Denver, established a village they called
Colorado City as a supply depot and jumping off point for the South Park goldfields. That
area is now part of Colorado Springs’ West Side.
General William Jackson Palmer, a former
Civil War general and railroad tycoon, passed through the area while surveying the route
of his Denver
& Rio Grande Railway. He decided this was the perfect place to build a genteel resort
like Newport, Saratoga, and others he had enjoyed back east. He formed a town company, and
staked out the first streets in 1871. A Quaker and strict teetotaler, Palmer forbade the
manufacture, sale, or consumption of alcohol in his new town. Drinkers and carousers
simply rode out to the saloons of Colorado City.
During the next 20 years or so, Colorado Springs
grew to be a popular spa. Well-to-do tourists arrived by train and spent summers at
General Palmer’s luxurious Antlers Hotel or at other grand establishments in Manitou
Springs. Many of the celebrities of the time--Jefferson Davis, Oscar Wilde, John D.
Rockefeller--vacationed here. And the area was so popular with English visitors and
settlers that the town acquired the nickname Little London.
The Springs’ days as a quiet little
resort came to an abrupt end in 1891 when gold was discovered at Cripple Creek. In 10
years, the population of Colorado Springs tripled to 35,000. More than 50 of these new
residents were newly minted millionaires, and many of them built splendid mansions in the North End of
the city. One of these was Spencer Penrose who built not only the world famous Broadmoor
Hotel, but the Pikes Peak Highway, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and the Will Rogers Shrine
of the Sun. After Cripple Creek gold dried up, Colorado Springs returned to a sleepy
existence catering to the tourists and to the many tuberculosis patients who came to
regain their health in the thin, dry air.
World War II got the town going again. Fort
Carson and Peterson Air Force Base were established. The North American Air (now Aerospace) Defense
Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Air Force Academy joined them in the 1950s. This military
presence continued to grow as Colorado Springs became the nation’s military space
capital in the 1980s and 1990s.
Today, General Palmer’s Saratoga of
the West is home to more than 360,000 people. Projections say El Paso County could count
more than half a million residents in the 2000 census. The influx and growth of high-tech manufacturers,
software companies, nonprofit organizations and ministries, and other businesses have made
Colorado Springs less reliant on tourism and the military, and have attracted tens of
thousands of highly educated and technically skilled newcomers. Homes, plants, offices,
and malls have spread onto the prairie and into the foothills, creating new neighborhoods
that, except for the dramatic mountain backdrop, look much like suburbs anywhere.
But for those who care to look, the history
of the Pikes Peak region is remarkably visible and accessible. The Colorado Springs of
yesterday is very much a part of the Colorado Springs of today.
Contact
Colorado Springs Realtor Hollee Jo Vail for your real estate needs
Mountains. These
mountains, rising abruptly from the High Plains, have had much to do with who we were and
what we have become.
spotted the
great white peak in 1806 from somewhere near the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River. Pike
dispatched a party and intended to scale it. But ill equipped and fighting November snows,
they abandoned the effort. 
his Denver
& Rio Grande Railway. He decided this was the perfect place to build a genteel resort
like Newport, Saratoga, and others he had enjoyed back east. He formed a town company, and
staked out the first streets in 1871. A Quaker and strict teetotaler, Palmer forbade the
manufacture, sale, or consumption of alcohol in his new town. Drinkers and carousers
simply rode out to the saloons of Colorado City.
During the next 20 years or so, Colorado Springs
grew to be a popular spa. Well-to-do tourists arrived by train and spent summers at
General Palmer’s luxurious Antlers Hotel or at other grand establishments in Manitou
Springs. Many of the celebrities of the time--Jefferson Davis, Oscar Wilde, John D.
Rockefeller--vacationed here. And the area was so popular with English visitors and
settlers that the town acquired the nickname Little London.
built splendid mansions in the North End of
the city. One of these was Spencer Penrose who built not only the world famous Broadmoor
Hotel, but the Pikes Peak Highway, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and the Will Rogers Shrine
of the Sun. After Cripple Creek gold dried up, Colorado Springs returned to a sleepy
existence catering to the tourists and to the many tuberculosis patients who came to
regain their health in the thin, dry air. 
Force Base were established. The North American Air (now Aerospace) Defense
Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Air Force Academy joined them in the 1950s. This military
presence continued to grow as Colorado Springs became the nation’s military space
capital in the 1980s and 1990s.
high-tech manufacturers,
software companies, nonprofit organizations and ministries, and other businesses have made
Colorado Springs less reliant on tourism and the military, and have attracted tens of
thousands of highly educated and technically skilled newcomers. Homes, plants, offices,
and malls have spread onto the prairie and into the foothills, creating new neighborhoods
that, except for the dramatic mountain backdrop, look much like suburbs anywhere.