Tag: archives
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Northern El Paso County has now-extinct early towns most people have never known about
There are hundreds of little ghost towns throughout Colorado, hidden away in or near the former gold rush mining camps or settlements or near the railroads. They’re easy to spot and pass by on the way to popular ski areas. But there are others that are extinct with names that have never been on highway…
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The folly and fate of the ‘Solid Muldoon’
Mystery swirled around the discovery of a petrified giant, but was it the find of a lifetime or the greatest fake of its age? By Ann Sneesby-KochHistory Colorado William Conant seemingly unearthed a marvel in September 1877. While searching for fossils near Beulah, Colorado, Conant had stopped for lunch when his attention was attracted by…
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New city Colorado Springs expanded quickly during the 1800s and 1900s with annexations and surprises
It was known as Fountain Colony as Gen. William Jackson Palmer planned his city and drove that first stake at Pikes Peak and Cascade avenues in 1871. By 1872 it was formally incorporated and officially called Colorado Springs. Major expansions, integrations and annexations started almost immediately reaching out every direction from downtown. According to Colorado…
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Little was really known about China Jim, whose elegant decor items decorated early North End mansions.
When people decorated their homes along Colorado Springs’ North End “Millionaires Row” of the 1880s and early 1900s, the coveted Chinese and Japanese porcelain, cloisonné, silk, ivory, screens, sculptures and Japanese chochin lamps came from one shop in the new city. The owner was known in history accounts as China Jim, possible real name Leu…
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Colorado Springs’ earliest nonprofits and charities, children the first focus
Colorado Springs has always had an impressively strong history of philanthropy. Today that has grown to almost 5,000 nonprofits in the metro area, almost 1,000 in the city itself. It all began, along with the city, in the 1800s and here are some of the city’s first nonprofits and charities: 1897: Early Connections Learning Centers…
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Rita the Rock Planter tells Victor’s story in the Trolls of America public art
They’re wonderful wooden giants, filled with personality, most with touching history tributes to their out-of-the-way home areas, all recycled and environmentally perfect. And two of the beloved Thomas Dambo trolls are in special sites in Colorado, including Victor. Famed Danish artist Dambo creates character trolls worldwide, working with communities and volunteers who turn into recycled-wood-pallet…
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Rita the Rock Planter tells Victor’s story in the Trolls of America public art
They’re wonderful wooden giants, filled with personality, most with touching history tributes to their out-of-the-way home areas, all recycled and environmentally perfect. And two of the beloved Thomas Dambo trolls are in special sites in Colorado, including Victor. Famed Danish artist Dambo creates character trolls worldwide, working with communities and volunteers who turn into recycled-wood-pallet…
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Who’s Waldo of Waldo Canyon and why was it named for him?
As wildfires hit Colorado again in 2026, many people are having flashbacks and curious questions about the past. Intriguing queries were about the devastating 2012 Waldo Canyon fire and several came from residents who have wondered about this for at least 14 years and probably longer: Who was the Waldo of Waldo Canyon? Just off…
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Meet Debbie, the beloved child who became the marble angel statue in Evergreen Cemetery
Her tiny face, that of a sweet little girl, has brought smiles to the faces of people viewing a memorable statue in a historic section of Evergreen Cemetery since the early 1900s. But who was this Debbie, a so-beloved child forever immortalized in life-size Italian marble? And a child whose grave had an 8-year-old guardian…
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Cursed, they say: Did the infamous Hope Diamond and its owner have a local connection?
Local lore has long said that the owner of one of the world’s most famous diamonds had lived in The Broadmoor area. No, not the famed Elizabeth Taylor gifts from Richard Burton (33.19 carats and 69.42 carats), but this one a breathtaking and rare blue stone, the Hope Diamond. What made it even more intriguing…