Search Colorado Springs Real Estate, Signature Properties, homes, land, mountain properties, ranches and commercial properties You can manage your Colorado Springs properties for sale or rental inventory online. Colorado Springs, in El Paso County is approximately 45 minutes from the south end of Denver. The Springs hosts a number of exceptional properties for sale, as well as multi-faceted activities, attractions and events year round. Colorado Springs was selected as the No. 1 Best Big City in "Best Places to Live" by Money magazine in 2006. Colorado Springs is home to the United States Olympic Training Center, headquarters of the United States Olympic Committee and the Sky Sox Baseball Team. Colorado Springs has been identified as one of the nation's top ten fastest growing economies.View Information and Services Guide

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Colorado Springs History (info compiled from Wikpedia)

Colorado Springs was founded in August 1871 by General William Palmer, with the intention of creating a high quality resort community, and was soon nicknamed "Little London" because of the many English tourists who came. Nearby Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods made the city's location a natural choice.

Within two years his flagship resort the Antlers Hotel opened, welcoming U.S. and international travelers as well as health-savvy individuals seeking the high altitude and dry climate.

Soon after, he founded the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, a critical regional railroad. He maintained his presence in the city's early days by making many grants or sales of land to civic institutions. Palmer and his wife saw Colorado Springs develop into one of the most popular travel destinations in the late 1800s.

The City of Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. At 372,437, it is the second most populated city in the State of Colorado and the 47th most populous city in the United States.

Colorado Springs is located just near east of the geographic center of the state and 61 miles (98 km) south of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver.

The elevation of Colorado Springs is 6,035 feet (1839 meters) over one mile above sea level, with some areas of the city  significantly higher.

Colorado Springs sits near the  base of the famous American mountain, Pikes Peak, at the eastern edge of the southern Rocky Mountains. Colorado Springs is located at 38°51′48″N, 104°47′31″W (38.863443, -104.791914).

The city has a total area of 186.1 square miles (482.1 km²), of which, 185.7 square miles (481.1 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it (0.21%) is water.

 The Pike's Peak Gold Rush and Old Colorado City

The Pioneers Museum (old court house) contains displays of the city's founding and history. Colorado Springs' present downtown location, where General Palmer first founded the city, was partly due to Palmer's dislike of nearby rough-and-ready Colorado City  and its many saloons. Palmer ensured his new planned city stayed alcohol free by buying a huge tract of land to the east of Colorado City, and in fact, Colorado Springs stayed dry until the end of Prohibition in 1933.

In its earliest days of 1859–1860, Colorado City 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 Colorado 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 in Colorado City but built their large houses in the undeveloped downtown area of Colorado Springs.

Colorado City remained the county seat of El Paso County until 1873, when the courthouse moved to Colorado Springs.

In 1891, Winfield Scott Stratton discovered and developed one of the richest gold mines on earth in the nearby Cripple Creek and Victor area, and was perhaps the most generous early contributor to those communities and to Colorado Springs.

In Colorado Springs, he funded the Myron Stratton Home for housing itinerant children and the elderly, donated land for City Hall, the Post Office, the Courthouse, and a park; he also greatly expanded the city's trolley car system and built the Mining Exchange building.

Spencer Penrose also made his mark on Colorado Springs in its early years—though not until two decades after its founding.

Penrose used his wealth to invest in other national mineral concerns and financed construction of the Broadmoor Hotel, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, the Pikes Peak Highway, what is now known as Penrose-St Francis Health Services, and established the El Pomar Foundation, which still oversees many of his contributions in Colorado Springs today.

After the ebb of the Gold Rush, the healthy natural scenic beauty, mineral waters, and extremely dry climate, were the many factors that contributed to  Colorado Springs becoming a tourist attraction and popular recuperation destination for tuberculosis patients.

The healthy waters in Colorado Springs contained so much natural fluoride that some peoples’ teeth developed Colorado Stain.

In 1909, Dr. Frederick McKay of Colorado Springs discovered the Colorado Stain connection and that a little fluoride added to water would prevent cavities, according to the permanent health exhibit at the Pioneers Museum. In June, 14th, 1950 Colorado Springs annexed Roswell which was founded in 1888 by coal miners and became a neighborhood.

Other locations such as Austin Bluffs, Broadmoor, Woodman Valley, Pikeview, Papeton, Knob Hill, Ivywild, Stratton Meadows, Stratmoor, Elsmare, Cimarron Hills, Kelker, Stratmoor Hills, La Foret, Gleneagle, Skinners, and Colorado City (now called Old Colorado City) became the part of Colorado Springs. Old Colorado City however is located on the west side of Colorado Springs is a historic district and on the National Register of Historic Places. Its old Victorian brick buildings and main street currently offers several tourist, boutique, and antique shops.

20th Century Military Boom
The first military base was established in Colorado Springs 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 World War II. It was also during this time that the Army began using Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. It was renamed Peterson Field and used as a training base for heavy bombers .

In 1951the Army expanded Camp Carson, a venture that increased growth in Colorado Springs and provided a significant area of industry for the city.

In 1951, the United States Air Defense Command moved to Colorado Springs and opened Air Force Base (named for Major General Uzal Girard , commander of the Ninth Air Force during World War II).

After the Korean War, Peterson Field was renamed Peterson Air Force Base and was permanently activated. In 1954 Camp Carson became Fort Carson, Colorado Springs' first Army post. Later that same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower selected Colorado Springs, out of 300 other sites around the nation, to be the site of the Air Force's military academy. A new and growing Army post, an Air Force Base, and the Air Force's military academy together jump-started Colorado Springs' growth.

The military boom continued and in 1963, NORAD's main facility was built in Cheyenne Mountain. This placed NORAD directly next to Colorado Springs and permanently secured the city's military presence. During the Cold War the city greatly expanded due to increased revenue from various industries and the prevailing military presence in the city. In the mid 1970s, Air Force Base was shut down and later converted into the United States Olympic Training Center. Military presence was further increased in 1983 with the founding of Falcon Air Force Base (later changed to Schriever Air Force Base), a base primarily tasked with missile defense and satellite control. Fort Carson and Peterson are still growing and continue to contribute to the city's growth. Air Force Space Command is located on Peterson AFB.
 

Colorado Springs receives 15.42 inches of annual precipitation. Average snowfall for the area (included in the previous annual precipitation calculation) is 5.5" in November, 5.7" in December, 5.0" in January, 5.1" in February, 9.4" in March, and 6.3" in April.

Due to unusually low precipitation for the past few years before 2006, Colorado Springs has had to enact lawn water restrictions. Average January low and high temperatures are 14°F/ 42°F (-10°C/ 5.5°C) and average July low and high temperatures are 55°F/ 85°F (12.7°C/ 29.4°C).

Colorado Springs has relatively mild winters, with large snow accumulations in the downtown area relatively rare, a strong warming sun due to the altitude, and only occasional episodic periods of sub-zero cold snaps and blizzards from October 31 to March/April.

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Colorado Springs was 101°F (38.3°C) on June 7, 1874 and the coldest temperature ever recorded was -32°F (-35.5°C) on January 20, 1883. Colorado

Springs is also one of the most active lightning strike areas in the United States. This natural phenomenon led Nikola Tesla to select Colorado Springs as the preferred location to build his lab and study electricity.

Colorado Springs Transportation

Colorado Springs is served by an extensive bus system called Metro. Metro also operates the Front Range Express (FREX) service, which connects Colorado Springs to Denver and several other metropolitan areas. Although the Metro system serves much of the city and its nearest suburbs, it lacks service to many important areas and has only limited hours of operation. Taxicabs are available by phone or can usually be chartered at the airport or downtown.

In order to combat congestion the Colorado Department of Transportation is in the process of widening the Interstate 25 corridor throughout the city from four lanes to six lanes. COSMIX (Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion) Ultimately, the plan is to make the interstate eight lanes through the city when funding becomes available. This plan is similar in nature to Denver's T-Rex expansion plan.

Colorado Springs is served by the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. In the state of Colorado, only Denver International has more passenger traffic. The airport has experienced a higher recovery rate in the post-9/11 era than the rest of the country and is in the process of expanding its maintenance facilities, taxiways, and runways to accommodate future growth.
 

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