Proctor Nichols in his George Washington Costume, 1909. This costume is now on display at the CSPM in our 150/250 exhibit.
In 2025, Ed Nichols contacted our Curator, Leah Davis Witherow, to share the Nichols Family Collection with her. Among the materials and objects in the collection—spanning five generations—was a photograph of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone at The Cliff House hotel in Manitou Springs, and a hand-made George Washington costume worn by Ed’s father, Proctor W. Nichols, in 1909. Additionally, Ed shared catalogs, photographs and plans related to the operations of Aircraft Mechanics, Inc. of Colorado Springs.
The Nichols Family is most well known in the Pikes Peak region for The Cliff House hotel. Edward E. and Anne McAuley Nichols, and later their son Edward E. Jr. and wife Grace Swezey Nichols, began running the resort-town hotel in 1876. The family sold the hotel 70 years later. During this time, the Cliff House guest register included names such as P.T. Barnum, Theodore Roosevelt, and photographer William Henry Jackson. Proctor W., Edward E. Jr. and Grace’s son, chose a different path. After becoming a licensed pilot in 1927, Proctor worked for Alexander Aircraft Company and later established Aircraft Mechanics, Inc. in 1936.
Ed Nichols generously donated the family’s collection to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, to fully reveal a collection rich in the history of the Cliff House, Manitou Springs, the Nichols Family, and Aircraft Mechanics, Inc. The twelve cubic feet of photographs, correspondence, journals, ephemera, and objects—such as an airplane part forged at Aircraft Mechanics Inc. —will be an invaluable resource for researchers, museum guests and staff. Thank you, Ed, for sharing your family’s history with us, and entrusting us to preserve and share this wonderful collection in perpetuity.
