Have you ever wondered about the hidden stories that make Colorado Springs so unique? Whether you're a die-hard history buff or someone who thinks museums aren't quite your scene, this episode is about to change your perspective.
We sat down with Leah Davis Witherow, the Curator of History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and uncovered some of the most fascinating, quirky, and surprising moments from Colorado Springs' past. From the untold tales of the people who shaped this city to the secrets tucked away in everyday landmarks, this conversation is an absolute must-listen.
We got into the must-know things about the city's past, including:
The juiciest thing the museum walls would discuss if they could talk
The weirdest law in Colorado Springs history
The biggest historical Colorado Springs myth debunked
The craziest artifact the museum has
Where in Colorado Springs to look for dinosaur footprints (probably not where you think)
A fierce woman from the city's past who deserves more recognition
The three people from Colorado Springs's past Leah would invite to a dinner party
The real reason Colorado Springs used to be a "dry" town
We are thrilled to have Core Collective as our very first sponsor!! Pilates is a great way to improve your physical and mental health. Their classes are designed to help you build strength and flexibility, improve your posture and mental health, and reduce stress. On top of that, they're offering one heck of a deal!
If you use the code SPRINGSANDTHINGS, you can get 3 classes for $30 now through the end of 2024! Head to corecollectiveCOS.com to get this offer!
Chapters
Have you ever wondered about the hidden stories that make Colorado Springs so unique? Whether you're a die-hard history buff or someone who thinks museums aren't quite your scene, this episode is about to change your perspective.
We sat down with Leah Davis Witherow, the Curator of History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and uncovered some of the most fascinating, quirky, and surprising moments from Colorado Springs' past. From the untold tales of the people who shaped this city to the secrets tucked away in everyday landmarks, this conversation is an absolute must-listen.
We got into the must-know things about the city's past, including:
The juiciest thing the museum walls would discuss if they could talk
The weirdest law in Colorado Springs history
The biggest historical Colorado Springs myth debunked
The craziest artifact the museum has
Where in Colorado Springs to look for dinosaur footprints (probably not where you think)
A fierce woman from the city's past who deserves more recognition
The three people from Colorado Springs's past Leah would invite to a dinner party
The real reason Colorado Springs used to be a "dry" town
We are thrilled to have Core Collective as our very first sponsor!! Pilates is a great way to improve your physical and mental health. Their classes are designed to help you build strength and flexibility, improve your posture and mental health, and reduce stress. On top of that, they're offering one heck of a deal!
If you use the code SPRINGSANDTHINGS, you can get 3 classes for $30 now through the end of 2024! Head to corecollectiveCOS.com to get this offer!
What is Springs and Things?
Welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where two close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs! From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we’ve got it covered. Join us as we sip our coffee (or maybe something stronger) and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. Whether you're a local or just passing through, our fun, light-hearted, and always entertaining take on the quirks, hot topics, and insider tips will keep you coming back for more. Discover what’s really happening in the Springs—beyond the mountains and parks!
Speaker 1:
Okay, you guys. So after doing this for a few months now, we thought it would be fun to rerelease one of our most popular episodes to date that continues to get tons of downloads week after week. If you missed it the first time, now is your chance to hear what all of the buzz is about. And if you've already heard it, it's worth another listen. Plus, we're revamping our picks of the week segment moving forward, so be sure to check out our new picks for this episode specifically.
Speaker 2:
So we got together with some friends, and we asked the question, like, what about Colorado Springs are you grateful for? And people wrote their little answers. The first one is give me a little drum roll. Small town neighborly feel with big city amenities.
Speaker 1:
Oh, well, isn't that on brand because welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where two close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs. From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we've got it covered. I am Carly Reese. And I'm Lauren Ferrara.
Speaker 2:
We'll sip our coffee and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. So whether you're a local or you're just passing through, we hope our fun, lighthearted, and entertaining take will keep you coming back for more. So Carly, do wanna hear some others?
Speaker 1:
Yes. Because then I also want to share some funny feedback I've been getting, so this is great.
Speaker 2:
Okay. So this one was my daughter because she was hanging out with us. And she wrote the country club lake. I think she means country club. Are you a member?
Speaker 2:
No. I'm not even a member of the country club. But we do love the country club, Blake. It is magical. Okay.
Speaker 2:
Okay. That's hilarious. We've also got breweries, cheers to beer, dog friendly places. And I think some of the places I take my dog, they're not I don't even know if they're dog friendly. I just make the assumption that they are.
Speaker 2:
Do you do that sometimes?
Speaker 1:
So I am a stereotypical rule follower. So if I don't see explicitly that dogs are allowed, I do. I'm sure my husband's like, oh, it's fine. Like, he's he's much more likely to bend the rules, but I'm like, I need the sign. I need to clear with management.
Speaker 1:
Otherwise, you know.
Speaker 2:
This is saying that my dog is so cute that everybody wants me to bring him in. Fair. But I don't know. My father-in-law said something funny. He was like, I get that people love their dogs, but I don't have to love their dogs.
Speaker 1:
Yes. You do.
Speaker 2:
But, like, everybody loves Hawk.
Speaker 3:
He's the dog.
Speaker 2:
So I've also got the bar at the Broadmoor, Toki.
Speaker 1:
Oh, swanky.
Speaker 2:
And it says Peter is amazing. Now I wanna know who Peter is.
Speaker 1:
He's got Peter, if you're listening, hi. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. We need to know you. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Broadmoor brunch, and tea birds. And there was a lot about the great outdoors. Views, views, views, said one of our friends.
Speaker 2:
The view, said another. Amazing trails. Best of both worlds. Best trails in downtown vibes. Stunning mountain views, looking at the mountains every day.
Speaker 2:
I never take it for granted. And my daughter also said, world peace.
Speaker 1:
Oh, well, way to end that there. Yeah. It's just so fun listening to people's thoughts on the springs. It's fun, like, that we all agree on the outdoors. But just like you said, those little nuggets that were really specific you said.
Speaker 1:
Lauren, people keep talking about forest bathing. And what the heck that is. And it was so funny. We're we're really good friends with this family and the husband approached me and he was like, we fell asleep listening to you guys while we were going to bed. And he goes, and then I and then I went to the gym and I heard about rubbing up against a tree.
Speaker 1:
And I was like, you may have dreamed that. I don't think we're, like, shimmying
Speaker 2:
on literally hog trees.
Speaker 1:
But you don't, like, rub your back up and down the tree.
Speaker 2:
I haven't yet, but now maybe during our next forest bathing adventure, we will just oh, what's the like, where you they rub their back on a It made
Speaker 1:
me think of National Geographic, like, bear docuseries that they have.
Speaker 2:
Bear Necessities. What song what is that from? The Bear Necessities. Jungle Book. Jungle Book.
Speaker 2:
Doesn't he, like, rub his back
Speaker 1:
against the I think the fact that he fell asleep listening to it and then woke up the next morning hearing our voices, he had this weird it was so funny. I was like, I don't think you listen to the right podcast. But it was very entertaining. Anyway Yes.
Speaker 2:
You know what? Been really, like, eye opening. So I feel like you and I both know a lot of cool spots, but so does everybody else. And they have given us so many great suggestions. So I'm super excited about where this podcast is.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
I think we are scheduled on out for the next two months of And we don't, I mean, we're only skimming the surface. And I think the thing that I have loved so much about doing this show is rediscovering things that I forgot were here also exploring new things. So I am just so pumped. But on that note, we had an interview at the Pioneers Museum, speaking of revisiting old places. And Lauren, I got to tell you, I don't know if I'm missing this gene.
Speaker 1:
I feel bad saying this, but I'm not a huge museum person per se.
Speaker 2:
I don't feel bad saying that.
Speaker 1:
I know, but I feel like even if people aren't museum people, you're supposed to say you still are. Like,
Speaker 2:
oh, this intellectual. I just Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Exactly. I feel like it's like, oh, I need to hold my own. Let me grab my glasses. I want so this to to this point to this point, excuse me, my husband and I were in Northern California and toured Stanford a decade ago because we were like, well, when in Rome? And I have readers.
Speaker 1:
And I put them on for the tour even though I couldn't see because they're readers. And I was blind as a bat walking around, but I looked to the part of a standard Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Just got readers this year. And I don't know how I feel about it. But now, I mean, I've I started, like, taking pictures of things and zooming in when I couldn't read them.
Speaker 3:
So I
Speaker 2:
was like Yes. Oh, man. It is hard.
Speaker 3:
And now I'm like,
Speaker 2:
my mom, and I have them tucked in every nook and cranny of every room just so that I always have a pair near.
Speaker 1:
See, I yeah. And this was a ago. I was in my twenties for this. I actually don't really read them. Or I don't really use them.
Speaker 1:
But if I go on Stanford tours, I will put those all this to say is I have always I I and I like things like the like, the children's museum and the children's science museum, things like that. It likes to go to diet bubble. Yeah. Exactly. Stereotypical museums haven't always be been my cup of tea.
Speaker 2:
The museum game has changed. Like, I feel like back when we were kids, they were more they were kind of boring. And now, like, museums have just upped their game. And I go to museums, and I can tell if, like, the exhibit was pre, I don't know, February or so because I'm like, oh, this feels really dated. And now I think museums are just so much more interesting and inviting.
Speaker 2:
And the Pioneers Museum is no exception. It I hadn't been in a minute either. I hadn't been since
Speaker 1:
their Reopening.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. The reopening. And it is worth a second look if you're, like, in our boat where you haven't been in, you know, couple of years maybe. It it was awesome. How many times do we get goosebumps?
Speaker 2:
Or how many times, Carly, did you tear up a little bit? That's why you were such
Speaker 1:
a crier. Truth be told, I am a crier. But I didn't expect to be. And I have to say, this non museum person is now a museum person. I'm not just saying that because we had such an incredible tour, but as you just said, I really had tears in my eyes with some of the exhibits.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. There was a painting in this 50% of the story exhibit that I it caught me off guard. And I while she was explaining it to us, I had to wipe away the tears. And I've never had that feeling. And I know exactly which piece you're talking about.
Speaker 2:
Yes. It's in 50% of the story. I yeah, it that was a very
Speaker 1:
And also the the forgotten neighborhoods of Colorado Springs exhibit on that. I mean, it's and it's funny because I feel like when you go to museums a lot of times, it feels like ancient history. And it's like, this is like seventy, eighty years ago. Our grandparents, people we know are still living and this history has changed so much. I was just floored.
Speaker 1:
And you guys, any non museum goers or people like me, this is one you have to have to go to. It is fascinating. Yes. And because we're new to this podcasting game, we haven't figured out how to make a, you know, smooth transition to, like, here's our prerecorded interview. So take a listen.
Speaker 1:
Here's our prerecorded
Speaker 2:
interview. So we're talking oddities, legends, and Colorado lore, and there's really no place better to do that than the Pioneers Museum. If you haven't been here in a minute, it's definitely worth coming back and taking a little stroll because we found so many fascinating things. Thanks to Leah Davis Withrow, our guest today, the curator of history here at the Pioneers Museum. Leah, do people love to invite you to cocktail parties?
Speaker 3:
Yes. They do, but they may regret it.
Speaker 1:
I was gonna say, can I invite you to my next cocktail party?
Speaker 2:
Because you are full of all kinds of interesting things. So my first question to you actually, second, because I asked you if you were a popular guest at cocktail parties, which you are. So if these museum walls could talk,
Speaker 3:
what's the juiciest piece of old Colorado Springs lore that they'd spilled? Well, that is such a difficult question. But if we think back about what this building used to be, the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse, this building was controversial from the outset. Where to put this courthouse was a lawsuit. Who would be the architect was a problem.
Speaker 3:
So there are three county commissioners in 1899. They wanted to build a courthouse that would send a message to the entire state of Colorado that Colorado Springs and El Paso County was really important. They wanted to build a jewel. Each county commissioner had their own favorite architect. So how did they decide?
Speaker 3:
They chose someone that no one liked. Oh,
Speaker 2:
I was going to guess a jewel.
Speaker 3:
His name was AJ Smith. He had formerly built the poor house, El Paso County Poor house and a couple of homes. But this was his grand opus project. But everything about this building was contentious. And we look at it today, and it's so beautiful.
Speaker 3:
It's our number one artifact. But in 1903, people were arguing with each other about what it should look like and where it should be. There was a lawsuit, should it be in the north end of the town? That was Acacia Park. Should it be on the south end of town?
Speaker 3:
That was Alamo Park. And they decided where it should be. And the lawsuit had to essentially be abandoned when they just started digging. They started digging in a city park, and the county courthouse went up over a period of four years. But there were strikes, and there was an actual column in the Colorado Springs Gazette criticizing the architecture throughout the building process.
Speaker 3:
This building was really fraught with contention and and adversity. So one of the things that I would love to have been in the room when it was decided, There are two murals in the major courtroom. So we call it the Division I Courtroom where all the big trials took place. It's the Restored Courtroom. It looks almost just like it did in 1903.
Speaker 3:
So in the front of the room, there is an Egyptian goddess called Lady Gold. And in the back of the room, there is a Syrian goddess called Lady Silver. And they were having an argument about which of these minerals, gold or silver, should back the US dollar. And they did so through artwork. So they made Lady Gould look vicious.
Speaker 3:
She has a dress made of snakeskin. And then if you don't get the messaging that that is dangerous enough, she has a snake wrapped around her chest.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 3:
Still more danger. And then she has a naked miner hanging from the snake. So they're send I know. Ow. Vicious.
Speaker 3:
Dark. So they're sending a message that gold is a stone cold killer. And then if you look at the other mural, Assyrian goddess, Lady Silver, she is diaphanous. She has a flowing gown. She represents democracy and the people.
Speaker 3:
And if you look at her abdomen, she looks pregnant. Silver is life giving. So we don't know the artist. We don't know who was in favor or who was against, but they were having their argument out on the walls of this courthouse. And that argument is still up for the public to see.
Speaker 3:
Wow.
Speaker 1:
Is gosh, there's just so much in here. And that's like a pretty interesting artifact that you have. And when you gave us the tour, I mean, we were just mesmerized by the things that we were saying. And I'm curious, what is the most unexpected artifact museum has? And what's a little bit of the backstory?
Speaker 1:
That
Speaker 3:
is also a tough question to answer because historians love everything. Curators love everything. It's kind of like asking me who my favorite child is. So two come to mind. One is we have a cast of an Ankleosaurus dinosaur that was removed.
Speaker 3:
The cast was made in Red Rock Canyon. So if you're a hiker there, if you go to Red Rock Canyon, you're hiking around, you need to be looking for dinosaurs, dinosaur footprints. The tip is don't look on the ground because of geologic uplift. Look on the walls. Woah.
Speaker 1:
Yes, we hike there all the time.
Speaker 3:
And now you'll look for different things. Right? The other object is much more sentimental. It is a half knitted sock. Does that surprise you?
Speaker 2:
Yes. Yes.
Speaker 3:
Why would we have a half knit sock? So on 04/25/1967, Helene Knapp, who was married to Colonel Herm Knapp, he was a pilot, and he was sent over to Vietnam. On that day, was cleaning her kitchen, she looked out her front window, she lived in the Skyway neighborhood, and she saw her neighbor, who happened to be her best friend, walk out to the mailbox and then freeze. She stopped in her tracks. Helene looked a little closer out the window, and she saw a blue Air Force vehicle, and she knew exactly what that meant.
Speaker 3:
So, a knock on the door, she opened the door, and it was an Air Force chaplain and an officer who had come to tell her that her husband, Colonel Harman Knapp, had gone missing in Vietnam. At the time, Helene was knitting her husband a pair of socks, and she was knitting into the sock a jet with a beautiful white contrail coming out the back of Angora. And she stopped that moment. She never picked up those knitting needles again because Colonel Knapp never came home. She's kept that artifact all this time because she's raising two children.
Speaker 3:
She spent the next decade advocating for POWs and MIAs in Colorado Springs and in Washington, D. C. She took on a national role in an organization that was pushing the government to determine how many MIAs and POWs there were in Vietnam. And she did it all initially from her home here in Colorado Springs. It's always an example to me of everyone has a story and everyone has the power to make change.
Speaker 3:
And she did. She took her personal loss because he was MIA, never came home, and she worked to benefit other families to make sure American soldiers and airmen came back from Vietnam. And it is profound.
Speaker 2:
And even to this day, I go to a lot of military balls and banquets and things, and I love how they set a table for the MIA and POWs. And it's just such a important solemn moment that I love that is recognized. But gosh, I I don't know that I could even look at the sock.
Speaker 3:
It is beautiful. And she wants us to look at Yeah. She wants us to know her story and she wants us to know about how you can affect change. I interviewed Helene we did an exhibit about her and her sock is on exhibit right now in a different exhibit. She really wants us to remember that we all of us have the power to advocate for ourselves, but also for others to try to make the world a better place.
Speaker 3:
And she did that beautifully and she taught her children to do that as well.
Speaker 2:
That is so true. And gosh, walking through this museum, I got goosebumps so many times.
Speaker 1:
Was going say, yeah, nobody can see me right now, but this is the third time I've gotten teary eyed in the past hour and a half I've spent with Because of these stories that you just don't hear about walking around the streets, coming in here, you really have to take it all in. And I just, I mean, I've been really emotional this afternoon.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's what I love. Your attitude towards museums are not things on walls, but it's more of the stories that Everyone has a story
Speaker 3:
and how powerful it is to tell your story, to have your story heard. And I think if we think of history in terms of stories and people, it's much more meaningful than if we try to memorize names and dates. If we break it down and tell people stories, we connect them and we make them feel something. And I think that's really important. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Well, so around town, we'll see, you know, statues of Palmer Portales. But, you know, we know that women had a huge impact on Colorado Springs history. So tell us about one fierce woman from the city's past who deserves a little more credit.
Speaker 3:
Oh, how long do we have?
Speaker 2:
Multi episodes.
Speaker 3:
Okay. I will. There's so so many, but I'll tell you about Mama Susie Perkins, because most folks in Colorado Springs have heard about Fannie Mae Duncan, and she does have a statue. And that's wonderful. But we need more.
Speaker 3:
We need to tell more women's stories. So Mama Susie Perkins was born and raised in Mississippi. She is the daughter and granddaughter of sharecroppers. So they never owned a home, and she always wanted to own a home. She wanted to give her mother a home.
Speaker 3:
She had just this really deep connection to place. Her mother had asthma, so they moved out to Colorado Springs because we were healthful. We're a healthful climate. And Susie Perkins got to work. She worked in a restaurant.
Speaker 3:
She worked as a nurse. But boy, she was entrepreneurial. She wanted to own her own business. She wanted to make money. She wanted to help her family.
Speaker 3:
So she bought a garbage truck, and she drove that garbage truck around Colorado Springs Twelve, Fourteen Hours a day. And she said she would drive that truck as long as it took to buy her mom a home and buy herself a home and help her family. Well, she soon had a fleet of garbage trucks and she never stopped driving. And as she was driving, so she had an empire, a garbage empire. And as she was driving around town, she noticed all of these rundown houses that were abandoned.
Speaker 3:
So she began to buy them and flip them, although they didn't have HGTV back then. They didn't call it flipping. But with the help of her family, they would renovate the house, and then they would rent it to folks that other landlords would not rent to. So single mothers back in the 50s and 60s, mixed race couples, soldiers from Fort Carson. She rented, I think, you know, this woman who always wanted to own a home ended up extending a welcome to thousands of families over decades.
Speaker 3:
She owned 100 homes at the end of her life. Wow. She was also a quiet philanthropist. She gave money to West Elementary School, which was one of the poorest schools at the time. She gave money to that school so kids would not go hungry.
Speaker 3:
They would get lunches. She was their secret Santa. She made sure they had backpacks and school clothes, and she did it all quietly. She is really, can I say it, a badass?
Speaker 1:
Yes, a badass. Wow.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I love that story. Thank you.
Speaker 1:
Well, and Leah, you know so much about so many different people. And earlier, we were joking that we would have you to our cocktail party in a heartbeat, which will absolutely happen. But if you were to throw a historically themed dinner party with three people, just three from the springs' past, who would you invite?
Speaker 3:
I would invite General Palmer. Okay. It was his vision. He saw something in this place. He wanted to make it his own home.
Speaker 3:
He fell in love with the mountains and the scenery, and he wanted to build a town that would be his own home, but would also welcome other people. So he saw something in this this place. And I would invite Doctor. Caroline Spencer, who was a physician who moved to Colorado Springs for her own health and became a women's suffrage advocate, who traveled to Washington DC and was among 2,000 women who protested outside of President Woodrow Wilson's White House. Colorado women gained the right to vote in 1893, and they didn't just sit on that right.
Speaker 3:
Then they went out across the country to help their mothers and sisters and cousins and friends gain the right to vote. So Doctor. Caroline Spencer, along with two other women from Colorado Springs, went to Washington, D. C, and they stood on the sidewalk outside the White House. They were called the Silent Sentinels.
Speaker 3:
They never spoke. They just held signs. We were engaged in World War I, and their sign said, why fight for democracy abroad when women do not enjoy democracy at home? And for this, they were arrested. They were imprisoned.
Speaker 3:
Sometimes they were beaten and tortured. And when they got back out of jail, they went right back out to protest. So, I would love to ask her a lot of questions.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:
How do you think those two would get along real quick, Palmer and?
Speaker 3:
You know, Palmer so I wrote my graduate thesis on General Palmer. So I've read his diaries and his letters, and you never 100% know someone, but you really do get a sense of them. Believed that every he was a Quaker, a Hicksite Quaker. He believed everyone was equal in the eyes of God. So even though he's a Quaker, he decided he volunteered to fight in the Civil War because he said slavery was a greater evil than war.
Speaker 3:
So he really saw everyone as equals. I think they would have had a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2:
And
Speaker 3:
then the third person would be Do I have time for one more person? Oh, yes.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you get three guests.
Speaker 3:
I it's another person that is not as well known as she should be, and that is Joyce Gilmer. Joyce Gilmer was a military wife and mother, raised in Missouri, traveled around the country and went to Italy with her husband who's in the army. She loved Italy. She loved Italy. She loved to cook Italian food.
Speaker 3:
They lived in Montana, then they came to Colorado Springs. The couple divorced, and she raised her three children in Colorado Springs. She stayed because she loved this. She fell in love with Colorado Springs. And so she raised her three children here.
Speaker 3:
And she needed a job that was really flexible because she wanted her kids to have every single advantage. So they were Youth Symphony, famous art school, they did all the activities. So she needed a really flexible job. So she thought, what can I do? She became the first African American real estate agent in Colorado Springs and owned her own company called Joyce Realty in 1976.
Speaker 3:
And the first house she sold was one that she was actually renting. So when she sold that house, she had to find a new home to live. But she specialized in renting to military families. She also was an amazing hostess. We have her cookbook in the 50% of the story gallery because her artistry was hospitality and food.
Speaker 3:
And I wouldn't want her to have to cook the meal because I'd want to talk to her the whole time. But I think just having her as part of the conversation, she was a woman with really, really broad ambitions and deep drive, and she was a wonderful, wonderful human being, really incredibly generous. And I would just want to know more about why she stayed in Colorado Springs.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. No, absolutely. So so let me ask you this. Would since you're the host of this dinner party, would you have made something from her cookbook? Or was it too intimidating with her being a guest at the party?
Speaker 3:
So some of the recipes that's a really good question. I would probably hire someone to cook her
Speaker 2:
recipes. Smart. So what's what's the biggest historical myth about Colorado Springs that you just love to debunk for people?
Speaker 3:
Oh, that we were a dry town because Palmer was a Quaker. So we were a dry town, but the reason is much more complex. In 1896, Palmer wrote his history or remembrance of twenty five years of Colorado Springs since its founding in 1871. And he said, it was for no moral purpose that Colorado Springs was dry. Instead, it was meant it was dry, meaning alcohol was illegal here, because they wanted to it to be a sustainable community.
Speaker 3:
They wanted to attract families and schools and churches and colleges, and they wanted it to be a different kind of town than than you might find in the West that was a little rough around the edges with gunfights and violence and saloons and that sort of thing. He wanted a town where people could really build a home and a business and a life. And we have always known that he was not a teetotaler. We have known that because we have his journals. And his journals indicate when he purchased alcohol, he took a group of friends on a camping trip down to Wagon.
Speaker 3:
And when I say camping trip, it's really more of a glamping trip because they took horses with them so they could go out on rides, these big canvas tents. They took a chef, they took orders, they took servers, they had musical instruments. It was an amazing trip. And he described what they would drink at the meals. So we've always known that he did not abstain from alcohol.
Speaker 3:
And then there was an archaeological excavation as a result of flooding that happened in Camp Creek Valley, just to the north of present day Garden Of The Gods and south of the Navigator's Glen Eyrie property, we found unearthed, the city archaeologist Anna Cordova began to find artifacts that had been washed up in the creek bed. She found intact light bulbs, and she found bricks that had some very specific manufacturer information. She did research and she found out this was General Palmer's trash dump. And so they excavated it. And there were three trash dumps over successive periods of time.
Speaker 3:
So we know what cuts of meat they ate at Glen Urie. We know what types of fish they ate. We know what types of lotions they use. We know they use a lot of salad dressing and a lot of Worcestershire sauce. So think about how bland food might have been.
Speaker 3:
And we know what alcohol they drank. So there were multiple kinds of beer. There were wines from France and Germany. So we've always known. But now we have the archival, the paper evidence, and we have the archaeological evidence.
Speaker 3:
So we have hundreds of bottles proving that he likes some really nice wines and liquors from time to time.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. And no, can't find
Speaker 3:
that at Glen Eyrie. Find Eyrie.
Speaker 2:
You cannot.
Speaker 1:
Oh, the irony. Well, so this has been such a quirky place to live throughout decades. What is the weirdest law that used to be taken really seriously here?
Speaker 3:
No spitting on the sidewalks. Really? Can they keep that law? It's a really good question. I don't know whether it's on the books any longer.
Speaker 3:
But if you think about why that law was put into place, we called ourselves America's greatest sanatorium. We advertise ourselves as a healthful place for people with tuberculosis to come. In tuberculosis, typically in the lungs, but can spread to all different parts of the body, people would expectorate, gunk, if you will, from their And they would spit it out because they would cough and it's really unhealthful, but that's, it's called sputum, is the technical term for it, would be literally filled with germs. And so spitting on the sidewalk was seen to be incredibly unhealthful because TB is a communicable disease and other people could get it. There was an oral history from a local woman whose father was a physician in Old Colorado City, and he forbade her to ever go barefoot ever because he was so afraid she would step in something that someone expectorated on the sidewalk.
Speaker 3:
So that's why in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century, when you look at historic photographs, there are vessels that people would spit into, and we had them in the courthouse. So spitting was a thing, but they outlawed it on the sidewalk. Gosh. Well, was gross.
Speaker 2:
That's not what I thought you were gonna say.
Speaker 1:
No, I don't know what I thought you were say. I didn't have anything in mind, but that would have not have been on my bingo card for guesses.
Speaker 2:
Well, I love this question. So if you were to create a time capsule to represent today's Colorado Springs, what three items would you include and why?
Speaker 3:
I'm sorry I grossed you out, so I'll go in a different direction. And sometimes the real story is kind of gross. What three items? I'm not going to say anything tremendously original. I'm going to say what historians want the most.
Speaker 3:
Most. And those are firsthand accounts. So when I talk to young people, I ask them who, if I go out to speak to a classroom, I say, Who keeps a diary or journal? And a few hands go up, and I say, But that's what historians use to tell stories about the past. Would you like to read someone else's diary and journal?
Speaker 3:
Now, everyone's hand shoots up because everybody wants to read someone else's diary. And so I talked to them about why these firsthand accounts are so essential. Nearly all the stories we tell in this museum, we learn about these stories from people. So oral histories, photographs, believe it or not, one of the rarest items that we would love to be able to document twenty twenty four are photographs of your house inside and outside your neighborhood. What do you wear on a day to day basis?
Speaker 3:
Not your fanciest clothes, but what are what is it that you wear when you feel most comfortable? All of the kind of mundane everyday objects or the everyday details of life are what we really desire the most. So I'll tell you a story. We opened up our Cornerstone here in February, and it was filled with newspapers and coins. And while that may sound interesting, we have those newspapers, and we have other examples of those coins.
Speaker 1:
Oh, good.
Speaker 3:
So it didn't tell us anything unique about the people at that time. So when we think about time capsules, it's really about the individual stories, photographs, diaries, those personal things that we really desire and we need the most to tell history.
Speaker 2:
Well, I have 21 versions of the same exact turtleneck. I love it so much that I bought I have 21. I have it in every single Is that real? Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Not kidding. And
Speaker 3:
That's That's
Speaker 2:
another episode. Have twenty twenty four capsule. But you know,
Speaker 3:
everyday objects are quite rare. People donate fancy things to museums. So we have so many wedding dresses. We don't collect wedding dresses anymore. We have so many baptismal You need yoga pants.
Speaker 3:
We need yoga pants and your turtlenecks.
Speaker 1:
Maybe like half of them.
Speaker 3:
Maybe just one of each.
Speaker 1:
Get them out of your closet. So Leah, I feel like it's every day here that we hear of a new business opening up and new cool spots to try and everybody's like, Oh my gosh, have you tried this new restaurant? Oh, these are so great. What was the it spot one hundred years ago? The Broadmoor Hotel.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so built in 1917, opening in 1918 by Spencer Penrose, the Broadmoor Hotel was the fanciest, toniest, swankiest place. It attracted the Jet Set before there really was a Jet Set. It was the place where you could go and hear live music from orchestras brought in from Europe, and it had a Turkish shower room. And it had I mean, it was literally almost, Spencer Penrose and his wife, Julie, spent years traveling the globe, and they brought back artifacts from all over the world. And they paid attention to every detail of that hotel.
Speaker 3:
And starting in actually one hundred years ago, not just Colorado Springs, Colorado and the entire nation went dry because of prohibition enacted in 1920 and lasting till 1933. And it the Broadmoor, Spencer Penrose thought ahead, and he ordered trainloads of liquor brought from Philadelphia, and he stored it. He cached it underneath the Broadmoor Swimming Pool and in various places. So even though it was illegal, word was that you could go and get a drink at the Broadmoor. So not only could you listen to great music and be in this just I mean, the architecture and the interior design was exquisite, you could also probably get a drink.
Speaker 1:
Oh, honked you. Good job,
Speaker 2:
Roger. Singing, dancing. Yeah. So let's talk about 50% of the story. When we walked into that gallery, what struck me the most was that there aren't little plaques mixed to every piece of art.
Speaker 2:
You're just invited to take it in. Right? What was your intention behind that and 50% of the story?
Speaker 3:
Oh, the intention we've been dreaming up this exhibit for years. And we were closed for a year for a $6,000,000 HVAC project and building restoration project. And that allowed us the opportunity to clear out that gallery and reimagine it as the first permanent exhibition in Colorado history featuring solely the work of women artists. We always knew we wanted it to be salon style, so it hangs almost to the floor, almost to the ceiling. There's a 50 pieces in the gallery.
Speaker 3:
It's vibrant and vital and complex. We are arguing in this gallery that women have always been artists, artists, but museums just haven't collected their work. Museums have been gatekeepers. They've determined who is an artist. Are you formally trained?
Speaker 3:
Did you go to the right school? When in reality, it's it's just about the story that's being told and the creative expression. So we're showing how across time women have always been artistic, always been creative. And we for this gallery, we went out and purchased almost 70 contemporary works of art. And you might say, what?
Speaker 3:
Why is the Pioneers Museum buying artwork? Well, art is culture, culture is stories, stories are people. All of these works tell a story about a woman and her time and place. All the artists in the gallery, by the way, have a connection to the Pikes Peak region. So what we feel that we've done is create an engaging, complex conversation in the gallery.
Speaker 3:
And we didn't, we purposely chose not to put wall labels next to the artwork, because I don't know about you, but when I go to a museum, if I see a wall label, I crave information. I go and read the label, and sometimes I just barely glance at the object.
Speaker 2:
100 I do the exact same thing.
Speaker 3:
And we want people to actually engage with the work, and we want them to be drawn to. So there are all different types of works in the gallery. So there's everything from spoken word poetry to quilting to oil painting to watercolor to assemblage, photography, embroidery, you name it.
Speaker 2:
And the crown. You have to tell us a little bit about the crown.
Speaker 3:
Ah, the hair wreath. Yes. That hair wreath was created in 1840. And it is an incredibly intricate work of art. So it is a reminder of how people commemorated their loved ones pre photography.
Speaker 3:
So if your loved one passed away and you don't have a formal portrait, you're not a wealthy person, and photography doesn't exist. How would you remember them? Well, you might cut a lock of their hair and you would save it. And when you had enough, you would a woman, typically an artist, would wind the hair carefully around very thin wire and shape it and form it into some sort of pattern. And we have a hair wreath from 1840, and it is remarkable.
Speaker 3:
It's made up of the hair of multiple loved ones of the artists who created it, and we don't know who created it. Well, there are lots of challenges. We want to challenge people to think of art in new ways and not to be more open minded about it. I would argue that that hair wreath is extraordinarily beautiful. And I would love to talk to anyone who thinks it's not a work of art.
Speaker 1:
Yeah. Yeah. And just all the artwork in there. And I mean, I know I said earlier in the episode that this was that was the third time I had gotten teary eyed since spending this afternoon with you. And one of the pieces in there, and I'm like you guys, I used to go around and read the description and then kind of go on.
Speaker 1:
But there was a painting in there that just got to my core. And I'm not typically a person to respond that way to a piece of artwork as bad as that sounds. But I was really taken back. And I think this exhibit it like I feel like that's just an example of what this exhibit can do for people. Oh, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1:
I'm sorry that it made you cry, but I'm also really glad that
Speaker 3:
it made you cry because that's what we're hoping to do. I feel like it's a gallery where there is something for everyone. There's something that you connect to. And it really goes back to who we are as a museum, our values. We see ourselves as a mirror to our community that everybody who comes in sees a bit of their story reflected back to them.
Speaker 3:
And in this gallery alone, we have 150 voices, 150 women who have different stories, different backgrounds. They've lived here different time periods. They're sharing a bit of themselves with us. And for you to connect to that painting in such a visceral way, that's magic and it's working.
Speaker 1:
It is. I cannot recommend this exhibit enough. And I actually can't recommend the museum enough. Truth be told, I haven't been back in here since it reopened. And I don't know why we were so fortunate to have that brief tour with you, but I could spend all day in here and our kids would love it.
Speaker 2:
It's just And there's that new little kids room. So the Pioneers Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, ten to five, and fifty percent of the story is a permanent exhibit, right?
Speaker 3:
Yes, which in the museum world means five years. Oh. A hundred years from now, you can argue to
Speaker 2:
come the next five years or soon. Yeah.
Speaker 3:
Come
Speaker 1:
now. It is great. I am just so grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you today. Shout out to our mutual friend for bringing us together. And I can't wait to do more episodes with you.
Speaker 1:
I really do feel like this is the first of many to come.
Speaker 2:
Yes. And cocktail parties as well.
Speaker 1:
Yes. That too. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, sure do love Leah.
Speaker 1:
And in that interview, I thought that was all amazing.
Speaker 2:
It was such a good day. It was so nice to see the Pioneers Museum with fresh eyes and with somebody like her.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh. She just brought everything to life. I just I feel like she's just perfect for her job, connecting people, connecting people to the history of the springs. I don't think there could be a better person in her role. What what a treat that was.
Speaker 1:
I think we need
Speaker 2:
to take her to Pilates. CORE Collective is our wonderful sponsor. It's a Pilates reformer studio downtown. And Carly, you've been coming for a while now. Do you love it as much as I do now?
Speaker 1:
I actually brought some friends this morning, and I felt like I was a total regular at this point. Oh, super sore. Super, super sore. One that I brought had never been, and she was obsessed with it. And the other had been a while.
Speaker 1:
It was funny because we could, like, hear each other grunting, breathing heavily. It was so fun.
Speaker 2:
It is hardcore. Like there's something for everybody at CORE Collective. There's the CORE RESET classes, there's CORE STRANGTH, there's CORE BALANCE. And I just feel amazing every time I leave that studio. So they have a special deal for Springs and Things listeners.
Speaker 2:
And that is if you put in the code Springs and Things, you can get three classes for $30 through the end of the year. And that's an insane deal.
Speaker 1:
Okay. As much as we love shouting out cool events, they have this pesky habit of, well, expiring. And since past episodes keep getting downloaded week after week, we've decided to revamp our picks of the week. You'll still hear about awesome happenings around town because who doesn't love a good goat yoga, but our official picks will now be timeless, classic, and evergreen gems you can enjoy anytime. Think of it as less weekend only and more why haven't you been here yet?
Speaker 1:
So with that being said, our first pick for this week is the new release of the Colorado Springs Monopoly. You heard it. Monopoly created a Colorado Springs edition and you can find it at Garden of the Gods, Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, Port Richards Downtown, so many other locations. How exciting is this you guys? Be sure to go buy one at one of our local stores.
Speaker 1:
And then the other pick of the week is Odds and Ends Emporium is in Ivywild, and they have a puzzle club membership. So if you're sick of buying puzzles only to do them once, joining this membership. It is it is only $30 a year and and you get unlimited puzzle swaps from the puzzle library they have in their store. I have done it. It is amazing.
Speaker 1:
So be sure to check it out at oddsandendsemporium.com and you'll find all the details about their Puzzle Club membership. It is so cool. Anyway, thank you so much for tuning in this week. Please be sure to share with a friend, leave that five star review, we would so appreciate it. And we will see you next week on Springs and Things.