Colorado Springs is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. That’s right—this year’s new buzzword is “sesquicentennial.” By comparison to some large cities on the east coast, Colorado Springs is fairly young, but for longtime residents in the shadow of Pikes Peak, there’s a lot to celebrate. Check out coloradosprings.gov/cos-150 for a year-long, full slate of events to commemorate our city’s birthday, July 31, 1871.
One of the best parts of the celebration is a new exhibit at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum called COS@150. Touted as, “a robust exploration of our community’s history and culture featuring 150 objects, illuminating 150 stories, commemorating 150 years” by the museum staff, this exhibit is one you can’t miss if you want to learn about the heart of Colorado Springs.
Divided into 14 sections that span the decades since our city’s birth, this display is the culmination of a supreme effort of multiple museum employees and local historians who drew together to assemble more than just a collection of dusty archived junk: this is multi-layered, interactive, and instructive material that cannot be fully absorbed in one trip. Wandering around the exhibit for a few minutes won’t do it. Writing about these things won’t necessarily do it justice either, but I’ll give it a glimpse, by decade, of things that caught my eye and made connections to things I know and love.
1870s:
The Colorado Springs Company Stock Certificate is very cool because it signifies the transition from Fountain Colony to Colorado Springs, so it really put us on the map, so to speak. Check the QR code for other specifics for this one, because there are lots of hard-to-find early pictures of Colorado Springs in the linked information.
1880s:
The Pikes Peak Summit House meteorological record is interesting because it makes me think of how long that book spent at the top of Pikes Peak as a recording device for all types of weather information. Pikes Peak has been center stage on some interesting weather, engine and altitude experiments, and this record is a way to memorialize it all. Somebody had to climb up there, even in the winter, just to write it all down. Amazing!
1890s:
One of the exhibits that made me say, “eew” was the sample of tar and feathers. This particular sample escaped from Adjutant General Thomas Tarsney’s unfortunate trip to the edge of town following the conflict during the Cripple Creek Labor Wars. I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk clear to Palmer Lake covered in tar and feathers. Would you have to bathe in turpentine to get it off?
1900s:
I’ve written about Winfield Scott Stratton’s death mask before when it was part of a Stratton exhibit, but looking at it in the sesquicentennial context makes it especially meaningful because there’s so much of Stratton’s lasting influence on our city’s development. He believed that if the land makes a person rich, the person should return the favor.
1910s:
The Shan Kive photo is interesting because people don’t necessarily know that Native Utes used to live near Colorado Springs, much less that they came back for visits to keep their traditions alive in the minds of city dwellers. What you’ll see if you access the QR code is a few interesting documents including other rare pictures of Native Americans in the region.
1920s:
An icon lost to Springs history is the Alexander Film Company, whose contributions not just to local history but to American culture are vastly under-represented. Alexander not only produced thousands of films through the 1960s but they also made advertisements designed to be shown in theaters before the main attraction. They had a huge production facility that employed 600 people. It’s hard to imagine the scope of the company, since it has faded from modern memory. Make sure to watch at least some of the film footage shown in the display. Older patrons might recognize commercials from their childhood that they didn’t know were made right here!
1930s:
It’s hard to look at a simple wooden cane and link it to a flood, let alone a flood as momentous as the one that occurred in 1935. The cane was carved from the root of a tree that was uprooted by the flood, which was so massive that Monument Valley Park was completely reshaped by it. Monument and Fountain Creeks overflowed their banks, 70 houses were lost, and at least six people were killed. Thankfully, the WPA was already in the area working on infrastructure, so they pitched in for the next six years to help put our city back together.
1940s:
I was excited to see Fannie Mae Duncan’s cash register displayed because her Cotton Club had such a positive impact on Colorado Springs’s culture and music. A click on the QR code here will bring up lots of archival photos and pictures of memorabilia that show just how much this family business changed the course of Black history in our city.
Also of note in this section is the Camp Carson ordinance, which allowed for the Camp to be established near our city, bringing much-needed revenue. Later it became Fort Carson, one of the largest military installations in the country. Most modern residents know that Colorado Springs is a military city, but they may not recognize that this simple piece of paper details much of its development.
1950s:
Some people collect vinyl albums, and our family is no exception, so when I saw the recording of the “Flying W Wranglers and Cow Country ‘Styles’” in the display case, I immediately thought of the one we have at home from a few years later (circa 1970). The Flying W Ranch is such a Springs icon that it bears a closer look, especially because the QR code backstory tells of the trials and tribulations the Ranch has gone through over the years. We weren’t so sure the Ranch could come back after being burnt to the ground in the Waldo Canyon Fire of 2012, but they reopened last summer, despite the COVID restrictions. It’s definitely a show worth attending.
1960s:
The 1960s display has so many interesting artifacts, but the one that caught my eye wasn’t the HP oscilloscope, even though that dominates the exhibit. Instead, I was drawn to the CSDB beep ball because of its importance to the history of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind. The beep ball was invented by Vernon Grimes, but Wilber Fulker, principal of the Blind School, was also instrumental in its development. Seeing this unique way to allow blind students to play baseball makes me realize what a significant impact the CSDB has had on our community.
1970s:
I love miniatures, so when I saw Clifford Nakata’s model of some downtown buildings, I spent quite a bit of time admiring the miniature representations of familiar downtown landmarks. What I didn’t know is what a huge influence he had on architecture in our city. Nakata has a really interesting backstory, including a Japanese internment camp, that bears reading. Accessing the QR code here not only gives you access to his interesting past but also glimpses at lots of architecture he was responsible for. More than you think!
1980s:
Hanging over the 80s display is a kid’s bike, a representative of the literally thousands of bikes given away by Bob Telmosse, a local businessman. What started out as a prank turned into the biggest holiday toy giveaway Colorado Springs has ever had. Look at the images accessed by the QR code and you can see what I mean! It has morphed into a whole foundation, leaving a legacy of giving without judgement for several generations.
1990s:
Garden of the Gods is an iconic symbol of Colorado Springs and its clean living, but lots of people don’t realize that the Visitor’s Center wasn’t added to the park until 1995. With the help of Lyda Hill, Nancy Lewis (Colorado Springs’ Parks Director), started the Garden of the Gods Foundation to help with funding the maintenance of the Park. With 5.8 million visitors in 2019, it’s easy to see that the Park’s notoriety has spread way beyond our local area. It’s worth a trip, but better hiked than driven. Connect this to the original Garden of the Gods resolution in the 1900s case in the next room, which granted free use of the park in perpetuity.
2000-2021:
The display near the door covers two decades instead of one, but there are lots of artifacts representing the diversity of our community. From the Out Loud choir recording to the Manitou Incline chair to the Corral Bluffs fossil, there’s no shortage of interesting information that ties these articles to our modern age. There’s even a prom dress with matching mask to remind us of what prom was like for those who graduated from high school in 2020.
There are many, many more stories that I couldn’t fit into this article. Each item in the COS@150 display has its own interesting story, and it’s easy to see when reading them the love and care that went into selecting these items for public view. So much of our unique culture is represented in this exhibit, yet it remains a slice of Americana. I encourage readers to access the COS@150 web page to pre-read some of the stories before making an appointment for a two-hour museum visit. Follow your visit with a trip through “The Story of Us” which is also worth some of your time and will fill in the gaps with stuff you might be looking for (Lon Chaney and Elvira, for example). I wrote an article about The Story of Us, too.
People think that museums are full of old dusty relics, but the goal of the Pioneers Museum staff is to tell stories and present beloved icons of timeless interest to our citizens to make history come alive. Did I mention that the building itself is a museum artifact? It’s the original El Paso County courthouse.
In an innovative blending of storytelling, QR codes, and creative displays, the staff have been described as “fearless” when it comes to sharing the diverse stories that make up the mosaic of Colorado Springs’ colorful history in COS@150. Museum admission is free, so there’s no reason not to get down there and enjoy this rich part of Colorado Springs culture.
