COLORADO SPRINGS — For all the attention the 100th anniversary of Gen. William Jackson Palmer’s death has gotten in the past week, it’s worth remembering that in 1869, when Palmer first laid eyes on what would become Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City was already marking its first decade of existence.
This August, Old Colorado City will mark its sesquicentennial. On Sunday, the Old Colorado City Historical Society held a kick-off party for the celebration.
Society members contented themselves with punch and chocolate cake ;mdash& a far cry from the bars and brothels that made the neighborhood famous and separated it from the genteel Colorado Springs just up the road.
“Colorado Springs is a decent and law-abiding place,” said Phil McDonald, the society’s vice president. “The history of this place is more exciting.”
Founded to serve the 1859 gold rush, Old Colorado City was a working-class town from the get-go. Denver eventually gained the upper hand in supplying the miners, leading to the decline of Old Colorado City and the ascendancy of Palmer’s well-heeled Colorado Springs. When the Cripple Creek gold rush hit in 1891, the ore was processed at Old Colorado City’s mills – but the millionaires the gold produced tended to build their mansions in Colorado Springs.
In 1917, Colorado Springs incorporated Old Colorado City, but never quite absorbed it. “We’re a part of Colorado Springs, but we like to think we’re a special part and a part apart,” McDonald said. “We still maintain vestiges of that old identity.”
“I like the small-town feel of the place,” said Joanne Karlson, the society’s president. “I think what’s interesting is this is a defined area of history.”
The sesquicentennial celebration will culminate Aug. 8 with the unveiling of a 6-foot granite monument in Bancroft Park that features eight panels depicting Old Colorado City’s history.
“To summarize such a long and diverse and great history on eight panels is a pretty challenging task,” McDonald said. The society is still raising money to cover the monument’s $12,000 cost.
