Manitou Springs

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Manitou Springs is a self-managed community in El Paso County in the US -Bundesstaat Colorado . It was founded in 1872 as “Manitou” at the source of several mineral water springs, to which the newer part of the name “Springs” refers. From its inception, Manitou Springs has always been shaped by tourism. The main street in the city center is one of the direct entrances to the base of Pikes Peak . The Barr Trail, which runs up Pikes Peak, is accessible from Manitou Springs. The city is the starting point and valley station of the " Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway ", the cogwheel mountain railway to the summit of Pikes Peak, founded in 1889.

The 2010 census determined that Manitou Sperings had almost 5,000 inhabitants. With the "Manitou Springs High School" there is a secondary school on site.

Geographical location

Manitou Springs is located on US Route 24 at the foot of Pikes Peak, not far from the " Garden of the Gods ", west of the "Cave of the Winds" (not to be confused with the cavity of the same name behind the Niagara Falls ). To the west of Manitou Springs is Mount Manitou , to the south of the Red Mountain ; the Englemann Canyon surrounds Manitou Springs to the south and west.

Manitou Springs in Colorado should not be confused with Manitou Springs in Connecticut or with Manitou in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

history

Manitou Springs, 1902

The mineral water springs had long been known to the Ute Indians when Manitou Springs was named in 1872 by Civil War veteran General William Jackson Palmer and by Dr. William Abraham Bell was founded as a health resort in a beautiful landscape ("scenic health resort"). William A. Bell's house, the "Briarhurst Manor", is a listed building and is now a restaurant.

Navajo and Manitou Springs, Colorado. From the collection of stereoscopic photographs by Robert N. Dennis

The Congregational Church in Manitou Springs at 101 Pawnee Street, built in 1880 or 1882, was designed by the German-born American architect Robert S. Roeschlaub from Denver.

First Congregationalist Church, 101 Pawnee Avenue

In 1889 the "Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway" was founded, a rack railway on the nearby Pikes Peak. It started operating as a mountain hotel in 1890, and then up to the summit in 1891. Its construction was initiated by David H. Moffat and Zalmon G. Simmons.

Manitou Springs was included in the US National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s. Among other things, the Manitou Springs Post Office (US Post Office Manitou Springs Main) is a listed building.

On the afternoon of August 9, 2013, Manitou Springs was hit by the Waldo Canyon flood, which damaged 20 homes, eight of them significantly.

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