By Leah Davis Witherow, Curator of History May is National Historic Preservation Month, a time for people across the country to celebrate historic structures that have meaning to their communities. Of special local significance this year, the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse building turns a grand 115 years old on May 16th. To commemorate the occasion, CSPM will be unveiling a brand new Story of Us theme, E = El Paso County Courthouse. A touchscreen storytelling platform will be placed in the Division I courtroom this summer, and will share stories about the building’s history and the people connected to it. CSPM Interior 1903 Thankfully, the efforts of the historic preservation community in Colorado Springs saved the ninth El Paso County Courthouse from destruction when a new courthouse was completed across the street during the Urban Renewal Era. On September 29, 1972, the historic 1903 building was entered on the National Register of Historic Places, and the next year the County presented the deed for the Courthouse and the park surrounding it to the City of Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum opened to the public in this building in March of 1979. The Courthouse was designed by August J. Smith (1868-1936) and built from 1899 to 1903. Located in Alamo Square (also called South Park), it was built on land donated to El Paso County by the Colorado Springs Company with the clause, only so much of said block shall be used as may be necessary for the erection thereon of a courthouse consisting of one building; the remainder of the block to be appropriately kept and maintained as a public park. The bandstand was added to the grounds in 1920, and the park was re-landscaped in 1988. MUSELETTER MAY 2018| PG 8
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