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Our Colorado Springs, CO real estate website provides a wealth of information for home buyers and home sellers. Below, you will find information on the history and culture of the community as well as links to more detailed information such as demographics and schools. You may view a virtual tour, search homes for sale, access information on different types of properties such as condos, farms, foreclosures, and vacation homes. We also offer valuable reference materials for home buyers and home sellers. This website will give you everything you need to buy or sell a home in Colorado Springs, CO.
Colorado Springs CO Community Profile & History
Colorado Springs, Colorado , the state's second largest city, is situated just east of the geographic center of the state. At an altitude of over 6,000 feet, the city abuts the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. The fabled Pike’s Peak is just 10 miles west of the city, and the state capital in Denver is slightly over an hour’s drive north. Noted for its U.S. military bases, the city is also home to several high-tech manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, ITT and Lockheed-Martin. A growing commercial center and tourist destination in America’s West, it was selected as the No.1 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine for the year 2006. The local real estate market remains strong as the city enjoys a continued influx of new residents each year.
The city was founded in August 1871 by General William Palmer, who intended to create a premier resort community for wealthy travelers the world over. Nearby Pikes Peak and the “Garden of the Gods” rock formations made the city's location a natural choice.
Within two years, the Antlers Hotel opened, welcoming U.S. and international travelers as well as health-savvy individuals seeking the high altitude and dry climate, and Palmer's visions of a thriving, quality resort town were realized. Soon after, General Palmer founded the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He maintained his presence in the city's early days by making many grants or sales of land to many important civic institutions in the community. Palmer and his wife saw the city develop into one of the most popular travel destinations in turn-of-the century America. The town of Palmer Lake and a geographic feature called the Palmer Divide are named in the General’s honor, and a bronze sculpture of Palmer on a horse is prominently displayed downtown in front of Palmer High School, the center of a busy intersection.
General Palmer intentionally situated the downtown area far from rough-and-ready Colorado City and its many saloons. In its earliest days, the community was a major hub for sending mining supplies to South Park, where a major strike in the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was found. Eventually the city was processing much of the gold ore at the Golden Cycle Mill using Palmer's railroads. The affluent, who made money from the gold rush and industry, did not stay but built their large houses in the undeveloped downtown area of neighboring Colorado Springs. Now known as Old Colorado City, the former miners’ ouptost is a national historic district today.
The flow of gold and silver ebbed as the decades passed, and the Colorado City's economic fortunes faded with it; the miners and those who processed the ore left or retired. Because of the healthy natural scenic beauty, mineral waters, and extremely dry climate, the neighboring city became a tourist attraction and popular recuperation destination for tuberculosis patients. The healthy waters in the city contained so much natural fluoride that some people’s teeth developed a pristine “Colorado Stain.”
The city saw its first military base in 1942 shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked. During this time the U.S. Army established Camp Carson near the southern borders of the city in order to train and house troops in preparation for the Second World War. Over the next several years the Army expanded Camp Carson substantially, a venture that increased growth and provided a significant area of industry for the city.
After the Korean War, Peterson Field was renamed Peterson Air Force Base and was permanently activated. In 1954 Camp Carson became Fort Carson, the city’s first Army post. Later that same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower selected the city, out of 300 other sites around the nation, to be the site of the Air Force's military academy. Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, and the newly-minted United States Air Force Academy together jump-started the city's growth.
The military boom continued and in 1963, NORAD's main facility was built in Cheyenne Mountain, just outside city limits. During the Cold War the city greatly expanded due to increased revenue from various industries and the prevailing military presence in the city. The United States military remains a vital and growing industry in the city today.
Centrally located at the heart of the Front Range Urban Corridor, the city offers an outstanding quality of life, stunning natural scenery, easy accessibility to the major cities of the American southwest and some of the nation's most desirable real estate. Excellent opportunities for recreation and leisure abound in the nearby peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the sprawling city of Denver, and the many scenic resort communities in the surrounding region. A growing site for relocation and new residential development, Colorado Springs remains a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.
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