These 11 Colorado Springs locations have an unexpected past
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Change is the only constant and Colorado Springs has seen its share of it. You may be surprised to find out what used to happen at these 11 locations.
The Rabbit Hole
The Rabbit Hole
The space that houses this subterranean restaurant has a macabre origin. According to restaurant owner Joseph Campana, it was once the city morgue. The Underground, which is next door, housed the crematory.
"We've had some weird things like shaking and stuff that I've seen over the years," Campana said.
Alexander Film Co.
Alexander Film Company
A collection of unremarkable buildings on North Nevada Avenue, a block north of Fillmore Street, is now the home of a bank, a countertop manufacturing company, a taproom/restaurant, a self storage company and other small businesses.
But from 1928-87, this area was the home of one of the biggest movie studios in the world.
In its heyday during the 1940s and 1950s, Alexander Film Co. was the nation's largest and most successful studio of its kind, with a Colorado Springs headquarters that spread over 26-acres and included 32 full-size motion picture sets, a manufacturing facility, airstrip, and local workforce of more than 600.
It also housed the world's biggest animation studio - bigger even than Disney.
Ent Air Force Base
U.S. Olympic Training Center Colorado Springs has a rich history with the U.S. Air Force, and Ent Air Force Base was one of the nerve centers of that service’s infancy. The base, opened in 1951, housed the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from its inception in 1957 until Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station opened in 1963. Named after General Uzal Girard Ent, the base closed in 1976 and was taken over by the United States Olympic Training Center in 1978. The site also hosted the United Methodist Sanitorium from 1926-43 In this photo, President John F. Kennedy exits the presidential convertible during his visit to NORAD in June 1963 in Colorado Springs. The NORAD military band and formation are visible to the right as they render honors to the commander in chief.
Tesla's experiments
North Foote Avenue
According to the Pikes Peak Library District video “Tracing Tesla: The Search of his Lost Laboratory” Nikola Tesla's lab was on top of a hill near the intersection of East Kiowa Street and North Foote Avenue. It was between the Union Printers Home and the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind.
A plaque at the north side of Memorial Park near Foote Avenue commemorates Tesla's nine-month residence in Colorado Springs.
Tesla wrote, “The perfect purity of the air, the unequaled beauty of the sky, the imposing sight of a high mountain range, all contributed to make conditions for scientific observations ideal.”
City officials didn't always think Tesla's lab was anything near ideal. During one experiment, he drew so much juice that he damaged the generators at the local power plant. He was not allowed to get electricity from the city until he agreed to have the damage repaired.
Main Hall and Cragmor Hall at UCCS
Main Hall and Cragmor Hall at UCCS
These two buildings were the main structures of the Cragmor Sanitorium, where tuberculosis patients went for "the cure" from 1905-1961. Known as the sanitorium for the rich and famous in its early years, business titans, Broadway performers and noted artists were among those who convalesced at Cragmor.
A massive renovation that began in 2001 turned Main Hall into what staff jokingly called "Main Wall" and resulted in the building being removed from the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.
Urban legend has it that the room on the fourth floor in the southwest corner of the pre-renovation Main Hall was the "death room," where those who were deemed terminal were brought to die out of sight of the other patients.
Young Life
Young Life
This building at 420 N. Cascade Ave. was constructed in 1947 to house Shepard’s Citations, a producer of legal publications and among the most significant businesses to locate in the Colorado Springs-area in the post-WWII era.
The publications referenced precedent and supporting evidence in legal cases and were widely used by lawyers throughout the U.S.
When the building opened, the Gazette-Telegraph reported that "representatives of three of the top printing equipment companies in the nation … termed the new home of Shepard's Citations 'one of the finest publishing plants in the country.' "
The building was later acquired by Young Life, a nondenominational Christian youth organization.
Trolley Barn
Fat Sully's, Atomic Cowboy, Denver Biscuit Company, et al
This row of eateries at the corner of South Tejon Street and East Moreno Avenue was previously the home of Southside Johnny's, McCabe's Tavern and others.
But until the 1930s, this was a major part of the city's transportation infrastructure.
Colorado Springs once had an extensive trolley system, and this building was where they parked the cars when they were not in use.
This photo shows several streetcars parked at the trolley barn circa 1903. A sign on the building reads, “Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway Company.” Streetcar No. 55, parked in a bay at the far right, has a banner on the front reading, “Garden of the Gods Chautauqua Capt. Hobson Thos. E. Green.”
Van Briggle Art Pottery building
Colorado College Facilities Services Building
Anne Gregory Van Briggle, widow of Artus Van Briggle, had this pottery manufacturing building at 231 W. Uintah St. / 1125 Glen Ave. erected in 1907-08.
Anne Gregory Van Briggle came to Colorado Springs in 1900 to teach at the local high school. She met and married Artus Van Briggle in 1902 and the couple established the Van Briggle Stock Pottery Company.
Artus Van Briggle died in 1904 and Anne continued as president and art director until 1912, when she leased the company to others.
The building survived a fire in 1919 and a flood of Monument Creek in 1935. It continued to operate under the Van Briggle name until it was sold to Colorado College in 1968.
Ivywild School
Ivywild School
This building at 1604 S. Cascade Ave. is a community marketplace centered around Bristol Brewing Co., and it was originally exactly what the name says - a school.
Opened in 1916, Ivywild was one of seven elementary schools closed by Colorado Springs District 11 in 2009 because of declining enrollment.
The school transformation was the idea of partners Mike Bristol of Bristol Brewing Co., Blue Star restaurant owner Joe Coleman and architect Jim Fennell.
A similar transformation was done at the former Lincoln Elementary School at 2727 N. Cascade Ave.
In this photo, crowds gather to listen to the Palmer High School marching band kick off the festivities as the grand opening of the Ivywild School on Aug. 16, 2013.
Will Rogers Stadium
Broadmoor West
The swanky addition across the lake from the original Broadmoor hotel was once the location of a pair of beloved Colorado Springs sports facilities - the Broadmoor World Arena and Will Rogers Stadium.
Originally an equestrian center, The Broadmoor World Arena was opened in 1938 and hosted 11 NCAA hockey final fours. It also hosted the World Figure Skating Championships five times and was the setting for the 1978 movie Ice Castles.
Adjacent to the skating facility was Will Rogers Stadium, which was built in 1937 and hosted the only professional football game played in Colorado until the advent of the Denver Broncos and the AFL in 1960. That game was played on Dec. 3, 1939 between the Cleveland Rams (today’s Los Angeles Rams) and the Philadelphia Eagles.
In this 1955 photo, Air Force Academy and Colorado State University football players are on the sidelines while the academy cadets stand on the field during pregame ceremonies. The Falcons played some of their games between 1956-61 at Will Rogers Stadium.
Hibbard & Company Department Store
Hibbard & Company Department Store
While it now houses a Chipotle restaurant and offices, this building at 17 S. Tejon St. was the last of the downtown department stores.
Established in 1892, Hibbard & Company replaced its original building (on the same site) with this four-story structure in 1914. The department store ended its 104-year run in 1996.
The department store featured wooden floors, bright display cases, a hand-operated elevator, and pneumatic tubes for sending money to a central cashier upstairs.
