Colorado City was founded in 1859 as a supply centre for the prospectors who arrived during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. In 1871 General William Palmer founded Colorado Springs just over 3 kilometres (2 miles) to the east. He wanted to establish a high class resort and he considered Colorado City too rough. He built the Antlers Hotel and he was also behind the construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad which brought tourists to the town. Colorado Springs grew fast as a tourist destination and the combination of a dry climate, mineral springs and location right next to the Rockies also made it popular for recovering tuberculosis patients. It soon swallowed up the original Colorado City, now an area known as Old Colorado City. Modern Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado.
Ghost Town Museum
A small but well designed museum brings together a number of buildings, carriages and artefacts from the pioneer days. The Ghost Town Museum is a particularly great place to go on a rainy day as it is all under cover apart from the obligatory (for the area) ‘gold panning’. The carriages and stagecoaches are particularly fascinating as many of them have been beautifully restored.
Colorado Springs
Pioneer County Office, Old Colorado City
The centre of the original Colorado City is now to be found in the Bancroft Park area on West Colorado Avenue close to the junction with 24th Street. The area is known as Old Colorado City, but it seems to be mainly a shopping experience. The only building that we could find from the days when Colorado City was set up as a supply centre is the 1859 Pioneer County Office.
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Garden of the Gods
Back in 1859 a pair of surveyors were working to help plan (Old) Colorado City. Little more than 3 kilometres (2 miles) from the then centre of Colorado City, they came across an area that was punctuated by red rock outcrops. One said that it would be a capital place for a beer garden, but the other replied ‘Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods’. The name stuck and now the Garden of the Gods Park is a Registered National Natural Landmark. Entry to the park is free and you can drive round the main sights or use the extensive network of walking trails.
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Manitou Cliff Dwellings
If you have been to Mesa Verde you may think that it is not worth going to see any other Anasazi cliff dwellings. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings may be small compared Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, but they are worth a visit because here you can wander through the buildings and get a real feel for what it was like to live here 700 to 800 years ago. You can even climb up ladders and go on to a balcony. Try that in Mesa Verde and you will find yourself in serious trouble with a Park Ranger! Click Tab 2 to see the balcony that you are allowed to climb on.
Historic District, Manitou Springs
Although General Palmer named his resort Colorado Springs, the mineral springs were actually to the west at the foot of Pikes Peak. Dr. William Bell founded Manitou in 1872 as a healing community modelled on European spa towns. By the beginning of the 1890s it had a Bath House and seven elegant hotels. The building with turrets on the right of this picture is the former Barker House Hotel. The opening of the Pikes Peak Cog Railroad in 1891 made Manitou Springs (as it became known) an even more popular resort. It is worth walking round Manitou Springs as the historic district still has many buildings from the spa era.
Miramont Castle, Manitou Springs
A house so grand that it is called a castle is not something that you would associate with a catholic priest. However Jean Baptiste Francolon did not make his money from the priesthood, he was the son of a wealthy French family. In 1892 Father Francolon came to Manitou to take the mineral waters for health problems and he planned a house to live in with his mother. He called the house Miramont, and designed it with numerous architectural styles. It was completed in 1896 but he lived there only to 1900. Miramont Castle, as it is now known, has been preserved and is open to the public.
Pioneer Museum, Tejon Street
The Antlers Hotel which was once the centre of Colorado Springs has long gone, replaced by a modern Hilton Hotel that still uses the Antlers name. Along Tejon Street there are still a number of old buildings. The most imposing building is the former El Paso County Court House dating from 1903 which now houses the Pioneer Museum. From information on their web site, the museum looks well worth visiting, and admission is free. Unfortunately we were unable to visit it as our stay in Colorado Springs was on a Sunday and Monday, the two days that the museum is closed. Click Tab 2 to see some of the other old buildings in Tejon Street, including the 1897 De Graaf Building, now a pizza restaurant.
Seven Falls
South west of the centre of Colorado Springs is Seven Falls, a series of waterfalls down a cliff face. Although the falls themselves are natural, Seven Falls is purely a commercial attraction. Your entry fee gives you access to a lift (elevator) up to the viewpoint, to the stairways that go up the falls and to the gift shops that are found round every corner. The falls are pleasant, but in our view not sufficiently spectacular to justify the entrance fee.
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© Mike Elsden 1981 - 2025
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