There are many things that make Colorado Springs (COS) a desirable place to visit, and an even better place to live. Here are a few fun facts you might not know.
- Our city has several nicknames, but one of the best known is City of Millionaires. Why? In the early 1900s, the lucrative gold mines of Cripple Creek on the southwest face of Pikes Peak made our city home to 1 out of 3 of the nation’s millionaires. The first nickname was Little London. There is currently a push to have the city known as Olympic City USA.
- One such millionaire was Spencer Penrose, an adventure seeker, playboy, and serial entrepreneur. A Harvard graduate who came in last in his class but struck it big during the Cripple Creek Gold Rush. He and his wife Julie were avid philanthropists and instrumental in building our community. There legend lives on in the projects and landmarks that we still enjoy today:
- The Broadmoor Hotel
- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
- Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun
- Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
- The Colorado College Expansion
- Broadmoor Fine Art Academy
- Penrose St. Francis Hospital
- And more!
- With over 50 tourist attractions, the Springs is visited by over 5 million tourists per year. This, of course, includes the award-winning Western Museum of Mining and Industry.
- Denver is known as the Mile High City, but COS is actually higher, sitting over 6000 feet above sea level—and the top of Pikes Peak is 2.67 miles above sea level.
- Pikes Peak mountain was named after explorer Zebulon Pike, but Pike never actually reached the summit. He boldly claimed that no man would ever reach the summit. He was not very good at predicting the future.
- Keep your eye out while in town and you might spot an Olympian during your visit! We are home to the Olympic Training Center which houses over 500 athletes and coaches for the Olympics and Paralympics. It is the official training center for figure skating, gymnastics, wrestling, cycling, boxing, and more. You can even head over to the training center for a tour.
- Katherine Lee Bates, the lyricist behind the beloved patriotic song America the Beautiful wrote the anthem after an inspiring visit to the top of Pikes Peak in 1893.
- Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz lived in the Springs, and his famous character Lucy van Pelt was inspired by his real-life Colorado Springs neighbor—Louanne van Pelt.
- The Pikes Peak Hill Climb was created by Spencer Penrose as a promotional event for his Pikes Peak Toll Road. It is the nation’s second oldest car race, being contested since 1916. The oldest race in the nation is the Indianapolis 500.
- The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is an ultra-secure military bunker that was built below 2000 feet of granite in Cheyenne Mountain. The command center has been featured in movies such as War Games, The Terminator, Independence Day, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Ice Castles and Our Souls at Night were also filmed in Colorado Springs. The story of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman was also based in the Springs but actually filmed in California.
- There are 4 military bases in the area employing approximately 20 percent of the population. This includes Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, Schriever Air Force Base, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Seven U.S. presidents have accepted the invitation to speak at an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony: John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
- At almost 450,000, Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado. We were also recently ranked as the fifth best place to live in the nation.
As you can see there are many reasons to visit and plenty of things to see and do!