Barr Trail is a 12.6-mile trail that climbs about 7,500 feet from Manitou Springs to the summit of Pikes Peak, with an average grade of 11 percent. Surveyed and constructed by Fred Barr in 1918–21, Barr Trail was the first trail to reach the summit via…

The Black Forest Community Church occupies a row of three buildings on the southeast corner of Shoup and Black Forest Roads in the rural community of Black Forest in northern El Paso County. The church had its origins in a Sunday school started in 1932,…

Located near Calhan, about thirty-five miles northeast of Colorado Springs, the Calhan Paint Mines are an area of clay deposits that have seen extensive prehistoric habitation and historic quarrying of the clay for pottery and bricks. In the 1990s,…

Cave of the Winds, located in Williams Canyon a few miles northwest of Colorado Springs, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Colorado. Two schoolboys are credited with discovering the cave in 1880, though various legends hold that Ute and…

Cheyenne Mountain, a geographical landmark southwest of Colorado Springs, is known for such famous attractions as the Broadmoor Hotel, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and, more recently, a bunker underneath it housing the North American Aerospace Defense…

The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) was established in Colorado Springs in 1874 and is the only school of its kind in the state. The school’s buildings, constructed largely in the early twentieth century, were designed by major local…

Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city in Colorado, with more than 456,000 residents. Located about sixty miles south of Denver at the base of Pikes Peak, it is the county seat of El Paso County and one of the most popular tourist destinations…

El Paso County covers 2,130 square miles in east central Colorado, situated between the southern end of the Front Range and the Great Plains. Pikes Peak, the state’s most famous mountain, lies within its borders, and the county seat, Colorado Springs, is…

Originally built in the early 1870s at the mouth of Queens Canyon in Colorado Springs, Glen Eyrie was home to city founder William Jackson Palmer. In the early twentieth century Palmer expanded the house into an elaborate stone castle, but he died soon…

Julie Villiers Lewis McMillan Penrose (1870–1956) was one of the primary benefactors of Colorado Springs institutions in the interwar years. Her husband, multimillionaire Spencer (“Speck”) Penrose, profited from Cripple Creek gold and Utah copper in the…

The Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway climbs the 8.9 miles to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak. The railway is the highest in North America and was built as a tourist attraction in the late nineteenth century. Other cog railways can be found on Mt…

The Manitou Springs Spa Building stands on top of Soda (or Manitou) Spring on the north bank of Fountain Creek in downtown Manitou Springs. The three-story Spanish Colonial Revival building was built in 1920 to help revive Manitou’s sagging health…

Located at the corner of South Twenty-First Street and US Highway 24 on the west side of Colorado Springs, the Midland Roundhouse is a relatively rare example of a surviving nineteenth-century railroad roundhouse that has been adapted to a new use. Built…

Monument Valley Park is a roughly two-mile linear park along Monument Creek in the heart of Colorado Springs. Developed and donated to the city by William Jackson Palmer, the 165-acre park opened in 1907 and has been one of the city’s most popular…

Built at the height of the Cold War, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) collects all data and information concerning air activity in North America. Currently located near the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport on Peterson Air Force Base…

At the southern tip of Colorado’s Front Range, just west of the city of Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak is the most famous mountain in the state. The Fourteener is one of the most important peaks in Colorado history and plays an essential role in the state…

Spencer Penrose (1865–1939) was a businessman, miner, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor who worked primarily in the Pikes Peak region. Penrose had assets in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Kansas, including mines and real estate properties. He is…

Perennially ranked one of the top resorts in the United States, the Broadmoor opened just southwest of Colorado Springs in 1918. Built on the site of a failed casino complex and upscale suburban development at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain, the Broadmoor…

Located in the southern part of Fort Carson, the Turkey Creek Canyon Archaeological District contains abundant rock art and other prehistoric sites from the Middle Archaic to Diversification periods (roughly 2000 BCE–1500 CE). Much of the rock art…

Established in April 1954, the United States Air Force Academy occupies 18,000 acres on the north end of Colorado Springs. It serves as an air force base and undergraduate college for officer candidates. The academy currently enrolls 4,000 cadets as…

Built primarily between 1955 and 1959, the US Air Force Academy cadet area near Colorado Springs is the heart of the Air Force Academy campus and home of the school’s 4,000 undergraduates. Occupying a prominent hilltop location, the cadet area hosts most…

Built in 1907–8, the Van Briggle Memorial Pottery Building in Colorado Springs was designed by architect Nicolaas van den Arend to serve as the company’s salesroom, pottery plant, and headquarters. Incorporating more than 5,000 tile and terra cotta…

William Jackson Palmer (1836–1909) was a military general, railroad tycoon, and founder of Colorado Springs. Though a Quaker from Delaware, Palmer fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war, he moved west and became a civil engineer…

In 1806–7, Captain Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813) led a US Army expedition to the southwestern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase, including the area that is now Colorado. Along with Lewis and Clark’s famous journey to the Pacific in 1804–6, Pike’s…