Regional History Series

The city’s potential was clear to civic architect Charles Mulford Robinson, though he acknowledged the city’s previous planning mistakes and ill-conceived design choices, like the grid of wide streets and the “unfortunate spacing” of median “parking strips” on Cascade Avenue. Robinson’s recommendations, reproduced as this book, were formed from his observations described in two reports.

From Colorado Springs’ wealthiest and most prominent citizens, including Spencer Penrose and Winfield Scott Stratton, to the lesser-known but vitally important contributions of the Beth-El Nurses and American Indians, Bigwigs & Benefactors of the Pikes Peak Region is a collection of biographical narratives about people who have impacted the Pikes Peak region’s history and development.

The Candy Makers’ Manual contains dozens of formulas for creating early 20th century candies, extracts, and syrups. Originally published in Colorado City, Colo., by Cal. O. Enos in the spring of 1905, the newspaper promoted the book and its author stating, “Mr. Enos is a practical and experienced candy maker . . . and as everyone in this city knows, no better candy was ever made than he puts up.”

A community’s recorded collective memory is often benchmarked by frightening experiences and by the second-hand tales told, and retold, by others. More often than not, these delineations in time are disastrous events like fire, flood, or catastrophic occurrences such as drought, financial crisis, or explosion. Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region describes many such events in vivid detail.

Readers will learn about some of the formidable health challenges of our region, challenges often overcome by advancements in medical science; about the early development of health care as a thriving industry; and about the scientists, doctors, nurses, and other concerned professionals who have led the cause for a better quality of life in the Pikes Peak area.

Extraordinary Women of the Rocky Mountain West brings us the real women who homesteaded, worked the ranches, built the cities, ran the businesses, brought art to the frontier, founded the institutions, preserved human history and natural wonders, fought against racial and gender discrimination, and advanced the cause of equality for women.

Film and Photography on the Front Range will acquaint the reader with the stories of many photographers of this Colorado region. From the earliest Rocky Mountain daguerreotypist in 1851, landscape pioneers, portraitists, silent filmmakers, theater commercial producers, fine arts photographers, to photojournalists, you will discover a picturesque history of Colorado image making.

Legends, Labors & Loves reveals a remarkable and modest man and opens every reader’s eyes to a new view of Colorado Springs’ founder William Jackson Palmer. There is no scandal, nor is there deception. Not only will you find integrity, leadership and compassion in this book, but you will witness Palmer’s tenacious conviction, strength, and shrewdness—just how one imagines a true “founding father.”

Some of the content in Massacre, Murder, and Mayhem in the Rocky Mountain West is graphic, though not gratuitous. The subject of killing requires a level of description necessary to understand what occurred during an event. More difficult to understand are the reasons why these acts were committed.

Rush to the Rockies! The 1859 Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush provides a glimpse into the excitement of Colorado’s formative years, into the development of industrialized mining, and into the lives of people who thrived (or just survived) to establish the Centennial State of Colorado in 1876.

The Book of Colorado Springs by Manly and Eleanor Ormes is the story of the founders, the founding, and the development of Colorado Springs. Established in 1871, Colorado Springs arrived at a time and place well situated to tie its early history to the broader expansion of the western United States in the post-Civil War era.

Commemorating the centennial of the Cripple Creek Labor Wars, 1903-1904, this book recalls the causes and consequences of one of the era's violent labor strikes that spread throughout the Colorado mine fields. A "must read" for those interested in labor history, mining, and a time when the Western Federation of Miners asked, "Is Colorado in America?"