History

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[[Image:Colorado Springs General William Palmer by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|left|Statue of [[General William Palmer]] in front of Palmer High School.]]
[[Image:Detroit Photographic Company (0251).jpg|thumb|The Antlers]]

[[General William Palmer|William Jackson Palmer]], a [[American Civil War|Civil War]] [[General officer|General]] ([[Brevet (military)#American Civil War|brevet]]) and [[Medal of Honor]] recipient, came to the [[Colorado Territory]] as a surveyor with the [[Kansas Pacific Railroad]]. He explored the area south of Denver searching for possible railroad routes for the Kansas Pacific to strategically occupy.<ref name="Taming a Wilderness">{{cite web|url=http://www.ghostdepot.com/rg/library/magazine/taming%201.htm |title=Taming a Wilderness Part 1 |publisher=Ghostdepot.com |date=1926-01-03 |accessdate=2011-10-23}}</ref> Palmer favorably viewed the valley in the shadow of [[Pikes Peak]] as an ideal town site.<ref name="Bristol">http://www.d11.org/bristol/Bristol_wall/1860/front_1860_palmer.htm{{dead link|date=October 2011}}</ref> Since he could not persuade the Kansas Pacific to follow the Arkansas River to Pueblo and from there north to Denver, Palmer secured legislation and funding to build the [[Denver & Rio Grande Railroad]] south from Denver with the declared intention of reaching [[Mexico City]], [[Mexico]].<ref name="Taming a Wilderness"/> Palmer founded Colorado Springs on July 31, 1871,<ref name="Bristol"/> as the first destination served by his railroad. He had the intention of creating a high-quality resort community, and the infant town was soon nicknamed "Little London" because of the many English tourists and settlers who came, owing partly to Palmer's financial connections in [[England]] who provided the capital for his railroad, and partly to his associate [[William Bell (city founder)|Dr. William Bell]] who actively recruited both investors and settlers.<ref name="Taming a Wilderness"/><ref name="Bristol Elementary Wall">{{cite web|last=Mazel|first=Darcy|url=http://www.cssd11.k12.co.us/bristol/bristol_wall/1880/front_1880_bobbies.htm|title=Bristol Elementary School Historical Wall of Colorado Springs|accessdate=23 October 2011|authorlink=Little London Bobbies}}</ref> The stunning mountain view from anywhere in the valley as well as the nearby [[Garden of the Gods]] made the city's location a natural choice.

Within two years, his flagship resort the Antlers Hotel opened, welcoming US and international travelers as well as health-savvy individuals seeking the high altitude, sunshine, and dry climate, and Palmer's visions of a thriving, quality resort town were coming true. Palmer's Denver & Rio Grande Railroad became a critical regional railroad, faithfully serving the city and propelling the railroad south toward Pueblo. He maintained his presence in the city's early days by making many grants or sales of land to civic institutions. Palmer and his wife saw Colorado Springs develop into one of the most popular travel destinations in the late 19th century United States.

The town of [[Palmer Lake, Colorado|Palmer Lake]], the [[Palmer Divide]], and other more minor features are named after him, and a bronze sculpture of Palmer on a horse is prominently displayed downtown in front of Palmer High School, at the center of a busy intersection. To many residents who lived in Colorado Springs in the years since, Palmer became known as "the man on the [[iron horse]]",<ref>The Man on the Iron Horse by Rhoda Davis Wilcox</ref> a fitting appellation because of his long association with the Rio Grande Railroad.

[[Image:Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|The Pioneers Museum (old court house) contains displays of the city's founding and history.]]

Colorado Springs' present downtown location, where General Palmer first founded the city, was partly due to Palmer's dislike of nearby rough-and-ready Colorado City (now called [[Old Colorado City]], and not to be confused with present-day [[Colorado City, Colorado|Colorado City]]) and its many saloons. Palmer ensured his new planned city stayed alcohol free by buying a huge tract of land to the east of Colorado City. Legally, Colorado Springs stayed dry until the end of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] in 1933, but practically, alcohol was readily available. Conveniently located druggists advertised whiskey, ale, stout and beer for "medicinal purposes."

In its earliest days of 1859–1860, Colorado City was a major hub for sending mining supplies to [[South Park (Colorado basin)|South Park]], where a major strike in the [[Pike's Peak Gold Rush]] was found. After the [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]] gold discovery in 1891, ore mills in Colorado City processed much of the gold ore at the Golden Cycle Mill using Palmer's railroads. The affluent, who made money from the gold rush and industry, did not stay in Colorado City but built their large houses in the undeveloped downtown area of Colorado Springs (i.e. Wood Ave). Early pictures show several large stone buildings like [[Colorado College]], St. Mary's Church, the first Antlers Hotel, the library, and the county courthouse (pictured at right) sitting in large empty plains.<ref>Colorado College Tutt Library. Colorado Springs Views Looking West on Pikes Peak Avenue. Inventory of the Colorado Springs Area: Early Views. Glass Plate Negatives C1-C12. Retrieved on: 2011-07-12.</ref> This is unique during this period, to anticipate a city's civic infrastructure in stone with wide streets laid out before there was a population to justify the expense.<ref>Loevy, R. (August 1, 2010). The Complete History of the Old North End Neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pp. 1-2. Colorado College. Retrieved on: 2011-07-12.</ref>

Colorado City remained the county seat of El Paso County until 1873, when the courthouse moved to Colorado Springs. Colorado City was the location of a 1903 labor strike that spread to [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]] and eventually led to the [[Colorado Labor Wars]].<ref>Colorado's War on Militant Unionism, James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners, George G. Suggs, Jr., 1972, page 47</ref>

In 1891, [[Winfield Scott Stratton]] discovered and developed [[Stratton's Independence Mine and Mill|one of the richest gold mines on earth]] in the nearby [[Cripple Creek, Colorado|Cripple Creek]] and [[Victor, Colorado|Victor]] area, and was perhaps the most generous early contributor to those communities and to Colorado Springs.

After he made his fortune he declined to build a mansion as the other gold rush millionaires were doing; instead, in later years, he lived in a house in Colorado Springs he had built when he was a carpenter in pre-gold days.
[[Image:Tesla colorado.jpg|thumb|A publicity photo of [[Nikola Tesla]] sitting in the Colorado Springs experimental station with his "[[Magnifying transmitter]]" generating millions of volts.]]
In Colorado Springs, he funded the Myron Stratton Home for housing itinerant children and the elderly, donated land for City Hall, the Post Office, the Courthouse (which now houses the Pioneer Museum), and a park; he also greatly expanded the city's trolley car system and built the Mining Exchange building, and gave to all three communities in many other ways, great and small.

As Stratton's generosity became known, he was also approached by many people looking for money, and he became reclusive and eccentric in his later years.

[[Spencer Penrose]] also made his mark on Colorado Springs in its early years—though not until two decades after its founding. Penrose started as a ladies-man and an adventurer. After making a fortune in the gold fields of nearby Cripple Creek in the 1890s, he married Julie Villiers Lewis McMillan, and settled down.

Penrose used his wealth to invest in other national mineral concerns and financed construction of the [[Broadmoor Hotel]], the [[Cheyenne Mountain Zoo]], the [[Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun]], the Pikes Peak Highway, what is now known as Penrose-St Francis Health Services, and established the El Pomar Foundation, which still oversees many of his contributions in Colorado Springs today.

The flow of gold and silver ebbed as the decades passed, and Colorado City's economic fortunes faded with it; the miners and those who processed the ore left or retired. Because of the healthy{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} natural scenic beauty, mineral waters, and extremely dry climate, Colorado Springs became a tourist attraction and popular recuperation destination for [[tuberculosis]] patients. The healthy waters in Colorado Springs contained so much natural [[fluoride]] that some peoples’ teeth developed [[Dental fluorosis|Colorado Stain]]. In 1909, Dr. [[Frederick McKay]] of Colorado Springs discovered the Colorado Stain connection and that a little fluoride added to water would prevent [[Dental caries|cavities]], according to the permanent health exhibit at the Pioneers Museum. On June 14, 1950 Colorado Springs annexed Roswell which was founded in 1888 by coal miners and became a neighborhood. Other locations such as Austin Bluffs, Broadmoor, Woodman Valley, Pikeview, Papeton, Knob Hill, Ivywild, Stratton Meadows, Stratmoor, Elsmare, Cimarron Hills, Kelker, Stratmoor Hills, La Foret, Skinners,
and Colorado City (now called [[Old Colorado City]]) became part of Colorado Springs. Old Colorado City is located on the west side of Colorado Springs and is a [[historic district]] and on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. Its old [[Victorian era|Victorian]] brick buildings and main street currently offer several tourist, boutique, and antique shops.

Colorado Springs saw its first military bases in 1942 shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked. For several years the city had been trying to attract a military installation to boost its flagging economy. In 1941, the city purchased {{convert|25000|acre|km2}} of what is now Fort Carson to try to lure a prospective Army installation. The U.S. Army established [[Fort Carson|Camp Carson]] near the southern borders of the city in order to train and house troops in preparation for World War II. It was also during this time that the Army began using [[Colorado Springs Municipal Airport]]. It was renamed [[Peterson Air Force Base|Peterson Field]] and used as a training base for heavy bombers (the airport and base still share parts of the flightline). [[Camp Hale]] was also established in 1942 in west-central Colorado to provide winter and mountain warfare training during World War II (WWII) for training in skiing, rock climbing, and cold weather survival skills. The armed ski corps in the US was based on the Ski warfare tactics of the Finnish army during the Winter War. Military units based in Camp Hale included the 10th Mountain Division (Actual birthplace, not Ft Drum NY its current location), the 38th Regimental Combat Team, 99th Infantry Battalion, The Woman's Axillary Army Corp (WAAC), and soldiers from Fort Carson conducting mountain and winter warfare training exercises. Camp Hale held "about 400 of the most incorrigible members of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps" and later the camp was used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to secretly train Tibetan Freedom Fighters resisting the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 1950s and 60s. In July 1965, Camp Hale was deactivated and control of the lands returned to the Forest Service in 1966. What's left of the camp lay in ruins, foundations of bygone barracks laying strewn about, and its history, not washed away by the hands of time, holds onto its proof of existence with weatherproof metal signs dedicated in its remeberance dotting the side of the 10th Mountain Division Memorial Highway (US Highway 24) near the famous Climax Mine and Leadville, Colorado. The landscape is still breathtaking and many Ski Troopers returned and founded the nations Ski Industry in the 50's and 60's. As for Camp Carson, the Army expanded it in
[[Image:Colorado Springs, downtown, 1950's.jpg|thumb|Hi-res [[Kodachrome]] of downtown Colorado Springs, 1951.]] a venture that increased growth in Colorado Springs and provided a significant area of industry for the city. Camp Carson was named for the Army scout General Christopher "Kit" Carson, who explored the vast western frontier during the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/ftcarson.htm |title=Fort Carson, Colorado |publisher=Cdphe.state.co.us |date=October 29, 1995 |accessdate=October 5, 2009}}</ref> After World War II the military stepped away from the Springs, Camp Carson was declining and the military was activating and deactivating Peterson Field irregularly. That all changed when the [[Korean War]] erupted. Camp Carson, which had declined to only 600 soldiers, was revitalized along with many other parts of the Springs. In 1951, the United States Air Defense Command moved to Colorado Springs and opened [[Ent Air Force Base]] (named for Major General [[Uzal Girard Ent]], commander of the [[Ninth Air Force]] during World War II).

After the Korean War, Peterson Field was renamed Peterson Air Force Base and was permanently activated. In 1954 Camp Carson became Fort Carson, Colorado Springs' first Army [[Military base|post]]. Later that same year, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] selected Colorado Springs, out of 300 other sites around the nation, to be the site of the [[United States Air Force Academy]]. A new and growing Army post, an Air Force Base, and the Air Force's military academy together jump-started Colorado Springs' growth.

The military boom continued and in 1963, [[NORAD]]'s main facility was built in [[Cheyenne Mountain]]. This placed NORAD directly next to Colorado Springs and permanently secured the city's military presence. During the Cold War the city greatly expanded due to increased revenue from various industries and the prevailing military presence in the city. In the mid 1970s, [[Ent Air Force Base]] was shut down and later converted into the [[United States Olympic Training Center]]. Military presence was further increased in 1983 with the founding of [[Schriever Air Force Base|Falcon Air Force Base]] (later changed to Schriever Air Force Base), a base primarily tasked with missile defense and satellite control. Fort Carson and Peterson are still growing and continue to contribute to the city's growth. [[Air Force Space Command]] is located on Peterson AFB.

The [[Waldo Canyon fire]], which started on June 23, 2012, sparked three miles west of Colorado Springs. Three days later, on June 26, the fire exploded eastward toward the city, engulfing the neighborhoods of Mountain Shadows and Peregrine. Evacuations peaked on June 27 at 32,000 residents. After an investigation, CSFD and USFS announced that 346 homes were destroyed and two people died during the course of the fire. On the night of June 26, the Waldo Canyon Fire became the most destructive fire in Colorado history, passing the High Park Fire of 2012. Upon reaching 100% containment on July 6, 2012, the total number of acres burned totaled 18,247. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.