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Learn the story of Colorado Springs' history and heritage captured in the mural at the Visitor Information Center.
Visit Colorado Springs is proud to unveil its brand-new mural by local artist Laura Tiller of Ink & Bone Design Co. Look closely, as each iconic depiction tells the tale of our rich history and what has made Colorado Springs the amazing place that it is today.
With a spirit as expansive as the Colorado landscape he loved, Dr. Robert Hamilton devoted his life to healing people, strengthening communities, and honoring the Western way of life. A lifelong outdoorsman and proud member of both the Roundup Riders of the Rockies and the Pikes Peak Range Riders, Dr. Hamilton embodied hard work, compassion, and stewardship. This building stands in gratitude to a man whose innovation, generosity, and quiet conviction continue to inspire all who follow.
Housed in the restored 1903 El Paso County Courthouse, this historic museum presents collections that examine Indigenous histories, the city’s founding era and the stories that shaped modern Colorado Springs. Its exhibitions highlight primary materials, archival records and artifacts that help visitors understand how the Pikes Peak Region developed and how its institutions emerged over time. You can learn more about this museum here.
Pikes Peak rises above the Front Range as a landmark that has guided people for tens of thousands of years. Long before it became known as "America’s Mountain," the Ute called it Tava or Sun Mountain, a name that reflects its role in their seasonal life and spiritual geography. Other tribes in the region, including the Arapaho and Cheyenne, Pawnee, Jicarilla and Apache, also recognized the peak as an orientation point and a place of spiritual significance with sacred names such as:
Kiowa Tribe | T'áiñk'òp: White Mountain
Ute Tribe | Tavá Kaa-vi: Sun Mountain
Pawnee Tribe | Tûs Pêh: Where the Heavens Touch the Earth
Comanche | Pʉkʉra Anahabinʉʔa Karʉnʉ: Place to Pray and Sit
Arapaho | Heey-otoyoo': The Long Mountain
Jicarilla Apache | Ya ta ye' It si': The Mountain that Holds Up the Sky
Today, visitors can explore the mountain by the Pikes Peak highway, the Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway or hiking trail, but the draw remains the same. The mountain offers sweeping views, incredible flora and fauna and a sense of scale that explains why generations have looked to it as a symbol of the region.
Another nod to Tavá Kaa-vi, or "Sun Mountain," Colorado Springs boasts 300 days of sunshine and bluebird skies. This means that no matter the time of year or the weather, you can count on the clouds to part and the sun to break through in no time, bringing warmth and brighter days. It's not unusual to get a morning of snow showers followed by bright, sunny skies in the afternoon. There's a reason we tell guests to wear lots of layers!
Garden of the Gods Park is an out-of-this-world landscape that stops people in their tracks with towering red sandstone formations that rise straight out of the earth. This iconic rock formation at Garden of the Gods Park gets its name from what looks like two camels sharing a kiss. Garden of the Gods owes its dramatic skyline to geologic forces that began more than 300 million years ago. Layers of sediment were compressed into sandstone, tilted upright during the uplift of the Rocky Mountains, then carved by wind, water and time. The result is a corridor of vertical fins, balanced rocks and arches that look almost sculpted, even though every shape was formed by erosion working slowly and unevenly across the stone.
The name came much later. In 1859, two surveyors exploring the area remarked on the unusual formations. When one suggested it would make a good beer garden the other countered that it was a place fit for the gods. The phrase stuck and appeared in print soon after. The land later became a public park when Charles Perkins’ family honored his wish to keep it open to all people free of charge.
Visitors to the park can stop into the Visitor & Nature Center to learn all about the history and Geography of the park before exploring the area.
The Julie Penrose Fountain is a kinetic sculpture that anchors America the Beautiful Park and signals the city’s long connection to public art and open space. Designed by David Barber and Bill Burgess, the structure takes the form of a 4-story steel circle that slowly rotates, releasing arcs of water that shift with the wind and light. Its motion is deliberate rather than decorative, reflecting the idea of continuous flow in a landscape shaped by the confluence of Fountain and Monument Creeks.
The fountain honors Julie Penrose, a civic leader whose philanthropy influenced hospitals, arts institutions and public projects across Colorado Springs. Her legacy lives on in a space designed for gathering, movement and unobstructed views of Pikes Peak, the mountain that inspired the song “America the Beautiful.”
Aspen groves are a hallmark of fall in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region, turning entire hillsides gold in a way that feels almost electric in September and October. What most visitors don't realize is that a grove is not a cluster of individual trees. It is a single living organism connected through an underground root system that sends up genetically identical stems. Each singular tree is really one part of a larger whole that grows, regenerates and adapts as a unified colony.
This biology explains why aspens appear in sweeping clusters across the Pikes Peak foothills, along Gold Camp Road and around North Cheyenne Cañon. Their color change is synchronized because every stem shares the same genetic code. It is also why aspen colonies can persist for thousands of years, continually replacing damaged stems with new growth from the same root network.
Colorado Springs founder, General William Jackson Palmer, built Glen Eyrie Castle for his wife Mary, hoping the quiet canyon and dramatic backdrop would give their family a place to settle in Colorado Springs. This dramatic Tudor-style mansion is tucked into towering red rock formations near Garden of the Gods and feels like a quiet world of its own with winding paths, stone towers and breathtaking views. Mary never spent as much time at Glen Eyrie as Palmer hoped due to ongoing health issues, yet the estate remains closely tied to their story and to the early identity of the city they shaped.
Today, the castle welcomes visitors for tours, high tea and retreats while keeping the Palmer story alive through thoughtful preservation and programming that connects the past to the Colorado Springs landscape. Guests can wander the grounds, explore the halls and experience the canyon that Palmer believed captured the promise of the region.
Bighorn sheep have long called the Pikes Peak Region home. Archeological evidence shows Indigenous peoples, including the Ute and Apache, hunted and tracked them across the Front Range, where steep cliffs offered both habitat and protection. Early accounts from the 1800s describe large herds moving through the foothills around Cheyenne Mountain, Red Rock Canyon and the Garden of the Gods corridor.
One of the most recognizable herds today lives in and around the Garden of the Gods and the Glen Eyrie property. The steep sandstone formations create natural escape terrain and the open meadows offer reliable forage. Visitors often spot them along the ridgeline above Gateway Road, in the park or moving between Glen Eyrie and Queen’s Canyon.
“Until Forever Comes: This is Ute Homeland” presents the Pikes Peak Region through the perspective of the Ute people who have lived and cared for this landscape, extending far beyond written history. Developed in collaboration with the three Ute tribes, the exhibit brings forward their accounts of seasonal movement, family life, governance and the ongoing relationship between community and land.
The installation uses oral histories, material culture and contemporary voices to show how Ute homelands extended across what is now Colorado and how those homelands were shaped. Rather than framing the Ute solely in a historical context, the exhibit emphasizes continuity. Language, sovereignty, ceremony and land stewardship remain active parts of Ute identity today.
Visitors encounter maps, objects and narratives that trace both resilience and disruption, including the pressures of settlement, forced removal and changes to traditional territory. Throughout, the exhibit keeps Ute interpretation at the center, making clear that these stories are told by the people to whom they belong. It invites reflection on a simple but essential truth: the places surrounding Colorado Springs are part of a living homeland with a history far older and deeper than the city itself.
This exhibit is represented in the mural through the exhibit logo, designed by Ute designer Justin Gilbert.
Water has shaped the Pikes Peak Region long before cities and roads appeared on the landscape. The natural mineral springs in Manitou were central to Ute life, valued for their taste, cultural meaning and perceived healing properties. Each individual spring carries a distinct mineral profile created as snowmelt filters through the mountain, dissolving limestone and trace elements before rising naturally to the surface. Early settlers recognized the springs as rare and traveled to Mantiou Springs during the tuberculosis epidemic in hopes that it's healing properties and fresh mountain air would cure their ailments. In turn, the town grew around access to these waters.
From springs to rivers, alpine lakes and reservoirs, recreation began to develop alongside these systems. Anglers, hikers and paddlers trace the same waterways that once guided the area’s earliest inhabitants. In a semi-arid landscape, water is both a resource and a constraint. Its presence shapes settlement patterns, land use and ecological health. From the mineral springs beneath Manitou to the snowpack on Pikes Peak, the region’s identity is tied to the movement, scarcity and renewal of water across the mountain.
Van Briggle pottery has deep roots in Colorado Springs. Artus Van Briggle, a trained ceramicist, came to the city in 1899 seeking a climate that might support his tuberculosis and allow him to keep working. Here, he developed his signature matte glazes inspired by French Art Nouveau forms and natural motifs. His early pieces gained national attention and won awards at world expositions, placing Colorado Springs on the map as a center for American art pottery.
After Artus died in 1904, Anne Van Briggle and a dedicated team of craftsmen kept the studio operating and expanded its reach. The company moved into a distinctive building on Uintah Street in 1908, designed with arched windows and decorative tiles that echoed the patterns found on the pottery itself. For decades, Van Briggle pieces were produced in Colorado Springs by skilled artisans who passed techniques from one generation to the next.
Today, vintage Van Briggle remains highly collected. The designs show a blend of natural forms and careful handwork that reflects the region’s early artistic identity. The legacy is visible in local architecture, community collections and in the continued interest from historians who see Van Briggle as one of the most influential art pottery studios of the early twentieth century. Look closely throughout the water feature for subtle nods to his style.
Colorado’s wildflowers thrive in a high-altitude climate shaped by sun, wind and short growing seasons. Black-eyed Susans, columbine, pulsatilla and native sunflowers were chosen for their role in supporting pollinators across the Pikes Peak region. Each species offers reliable nectar or early-season pollen, creating habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects that anchor the local ecosystem. Their colors and bloom patterns also reflect the diversity of Colorado’s foothills where bright petals, hardy stems and deep root systems allow these plants to endure and return year after year.
Trolley cars once shaped daily life in Colorado Springs, linking neighborhoods, markets and parks across a growing city. The building at 515 South Cascade Avenue is tied directly to this era. Known historically as the Colorado Springs Rapid Transit Company car barn, it served as a hub for storing, maintaining and dispatching the city’s streetcars.
Today, the Pikes Peak Trolley Museum preserves this history through restored streetcars, archival records and hands-on demonstrations. The museum interprets the rise and decline of electric transit in Colorado Springs and maintains several working cars that once served the region. Their collection helps visitors understand how buildings like the one on South Cascade supported a network that influenced settlement patterns, commerce and the city’s early identity.
The old car barn (now the Colorado Visitor Center) remains one of the most visible reminders of that system. It connects the modern city to a transportation era when steel rails and overhead wires defined movement across Colorado Springs.
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum presents the history of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through a lens that emphasizes performance, innovation and the realities of elite competition. Designed in consultation with Paralympians, the building is structured so visitors of all mobility levels share the same continuous path from start to finish. Ramps, sightline considerations, tactile elements and integrated technologies reflect the goal of creating one of the most accessible museums in the world.
Inside, exhibits trace the evolution of both movements from early Olympic participation to the growth of the Paralympic Games after World War II. Artifacts, athlete interviews and interactive stations document training methods, equipment changes and the social forces that shaped each era. The museum’s galleries place Olympians and Paralympians on equal footing, underscoring that their stories are part of a shared national legacy.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo began as Spencer Penrose’s private collection that grew alongside the development of the Broadmoor in the early twentieth century. Penrose kept exotic animals on the property, then expanded the idea by building enclosures on the lower slopes of Cheyenne Mountain where the terrain offered natural rock, shade and views. In 1926, he formalized the collection into a public zoo and transferred it to the citizens of Colorado Springs through the El Pomar Foundation. What started as a private curiosity evolved into one of the highest-altitude zoological institutions in the country, shaped by its mountainside setting and a long commitment to wildlife care, education and conservation.
Ponderosa pines are one of the defining trees of the Pikes Peak foothills. Their tall, straight trunks and patchwork bark thrive in the dry, sunny conditions that shape the eastern slope of the Rockies. On warm days their bark releases a distinct vanilla or butterscotch scent, a detail long noted by hikers and naturalists in the region. From Cheyenne Mountain to the Rampart Range, ponderosa stands trace the transition between prairie and high country and remain central to the ecology and character of the Pikes Peak landscape.
Labor Day Lift Off has been a beloved Colorado Springs tradition for nearly 50 years, filling the late-summer sky with hot air balloons that launch from Memorial Park each September. The event began in 1976 as a small local rally and quickly became a regional tradition as pilots and spectators discovered how well the city’s morning conditions suited ballooning. Over the years, it has grown into one of the longest-running balloon events in the country, drawing visitors who come to watch dawn ascensions, evening glows and flights framed by Pikes Peak.
Generations of residents have marked the end of summer by gathering at the park to see the balloons rise over Prospect Lake, a ritual that has become woven into the rhythm of the city. Labor Day Lift Off remains one of Colorado Springs’ most recognizable annual events, rooted in local history and shaped by the landscape that makes ballooning here possible.
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