Object Decade: 1930 - 1939

Private ownership of exotic animals continues to create controversy, but most of us likely agree that it is in the animals’ best interest to be cared for by concerned and qualified professionals. Julie and Spencer Penrose reached the same conclusion and established the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to provide a more adequate environment for their menagerie. Tessie was only one of many unusual creatures in their collection, which had started in 1916, when Spencer was gifted a bear. The elephant was reportedly a present from an Indian Rajah, but had, in fact, been purchased from circus. The furred and feathered beings were either kept at El Pomar, the Penroses’ private residence, at their Turkey Creek Ranch south of town, or at their Broadmoor Hotel. It wasn’t only golfers who disliked stepping into pachyderm dung, but monkey bites also caused no small degree of consternation among the Broadmoor guests.

In 1926, the Penroses founded the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society and commenced construction of an animal park along what was then a gravel road, which was completed only the previous year and connected their hotel with Cheyenne Mountain’s northernmost summit. In 1938, Julie and Spencer deeded the zoo to the city as a non-profit public trust “for the sole purpose of establishing and maintaining a zoological park to provide recreation, education, conservation and scientific facilities in the field of zoology and related subjects, and to preserve the Zoo in perpetuity for the people of the Pikes Peak region.”

Metal bars and cages are part of our, at times, desperate attempts to save a species from extinction. No zoo in the world can completely recreate an animal’s habitat, but the best endeavor to. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, consistently ranked among the top in the country, functions according to the highest standards. It cares for more than 30 endangered species, a Black Rhinoceros and several primates among them. Giraffes raised in the world-class breeding program are perennial favorites with guests. Each admission fee supports both our local institution as well as numerous global conservation projects through the Quarters For Conservation program, which has raised $3 million since 2008. The zoo’s elevated location affords splendid views of Colorado Springs and the Great Plains, and even though its footprint covers a mere 140 acres, it enables us not only to experience the Americas, but also to explore Africa, Asia, and Australia, all during the same memorable visit.

Generously Submitted by Tanja Britton, CSPM Volunteer Educator

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center formally opened its then-revolutionary building on April 20, 1936. The new nonprofit was directly descended from the Broadmoor Art Academy, amplifying and fulfilling the ambitions of its predecessor.

Like the BAC, the CSFAC was conceived, funded and created by powerful women. Elizabeth Sage Hare and Alice Bemis Taylor joined BAC founder Julie Penrose in a visionary, unlikely and expensive project; to demolish the BAC building (formerly the Penrose residence) at 30 W. Dale and build a vast modernist center for the arts on the site.

Hare and Taylor were independently wealthy philanthropists unburdened with spouses who might question their charitable priorities. Betty Hare had been a major funder of Fountain Valley School (founded in 1930) while Alice Bemis Taylor had founded the Colorado Springs Day Nursery.

Led by Hare, whom Marshall Sprague described as “rich, witty, smart, imperious, dominating and tremendously energetic,” the three friends put together a deal. They hired Taylor’s nephew-by-marriage, Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem, to design the building, which would also house Taylor’s expansive collection of southwestern art. The cost: close to $1 million, including a relatively small endowment. Taylor footed most of the bill.

The gala opening featured Martha Graham’s dance company, a performance by Eva Gauthier of Erik Satie’s Socrate with sets by Alexander Calder and an exhibition of French paintings that included works by Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Leger and Van Gogh. In a town of 35,000, 5,000 visited the new building during opening week.

It was a rip-roaring start to a new era. Meem’s extraordinary building, marrying Native American pueblo architecture with Art Deco, modernism and emerging regionalist art was unequaled in the Mountain West. For years to come, FAC instructors and students would gain national renown, while helping to create and sustain the center as a community institution.

For nearly 80 years, the FAC endured as an independent nonprofit arts entity, with a relatively tiny endowment and no government funding. Hoping to attract new donors, patrons, members and visitors, then-Director Michael De Marsche raised funds for a $30 million addition, which opened in 2007. De Marsche resigned a few days later, the Great Recession took its toll and the FAC’s balance sheet cratered. Seeing no good alternative, the FAC’s trustees agreed to a 2016 merger with its financially stable neighbor, Colorado College.

Now rebranded as “The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College,” the organization’s mission and focus have evolved to meet the needs of the Colorado College community. The building and its collections endure, and should continue to inspire and enlighten future generations of Springs residents. That’s what Betty, Alice and Julie would want – and no sensible CC President would want to summon those angry ghosts!

Generously Submitted by John Hazlehurst, Journalist & Historian

In the early twentieth-century Colorado Springs had a thriving silent picture theatre scene, playing host to the Odeon, Liberty, Princess, America, and Burns Theatre. These theatres employed live musicians to play over the pictures and held live performances, such as vaudeville shows. With the advent of talking pictures in the 1930s theatres specifically geared towards showing movies began to arise and supplant the traditional venues.

One of the most opulent movie theatres in Colorado Springs was the Ute Theatre. In 1935 the Ute was built on the grounds of the old Rialto Theatre. Joseph Cooper, who owned a variety of theatres in the Midwest and West, commissioned the building. He sent architects and designers throughout the southwest to find inspiration in authentic Native America objects and design. Upon completion the theatre had ornate decorations with highly stylized and colored sconces, banisters, and tables. Cooper commissioned Lloyd Moylan, a nationally known artist who specialized in southwest imagery, to paint 2 murals in the main auditorium that were each 40 feet in length.

The Ute Theatre was the setting of an infamous act of discrimination, and resistance, in Colorado Springs. On April 1, 1944, Juanita Hairston, joined by her nephew and a friend, went to see a film at the Ute Theatre. After the film had started an usher approached the group and informed them that they would have to move from their seats on the main floor and go to the balcony. Juanita refused as there was a large sign in the lobby advertising all seats as the same price. Eventually the theatre brought in the police and when they deemed Juanita to be causing a disturbance, they forcibly removed her, not even allowing her to return for her purse, which was never located. The NAACP assisted Juanita in filing a lawsuit against the theatre for violating Colorado’s 1935 Civil Rights Law. After numerous legal delays Juanita received $627.18 in 1947, primarily for her lost purse which contained a paycheck.

In the 1960s the Ute Theatre was purchased by Colorado Interstate Gas. The theatre was demolished to make way for office buildings and parking lots. Russ Wolfe, owner of the Flying W Ranch, purchased most of the theatre’s décor at auction. Sadly, much of it was destroyed when the Flying W Ranch was burnt in the Waldo Canyon Fire, finally ending the Ute Theatre’s physical legacy in Colorado Springs.

Generously Submitted by Patrick Lee, CSPM Museum Technician

In 1901 William S. Jackson, President of the El Paso County Bank, submitted a summary of the Colorado Springs banking industry, expressing his desire for its’ continuity 100 years on. “The Banks of Colorado Springs are the underlying force of much of the business of this section, they are under safe, liberal & wise management. I venture the hope that those who read this paper one hundred years hence may find the financial institutions of the city with the then existing conditions, under as safe liberal & wise control.”

Banking in Colorado Springs in the late 1800’s had a peculiar character due to the circumstances of life in the West. Individuals could start a bank regardless of holdings or capital. All it took was enough faith from private citizens to entrust their money to an institution. This meant that early private banks were dependent on the community trusting the leadership. Due to this fact the founders or part owners of many of Colorado Springs’ banks were wealthy figures whom citizens trusted could ensure their deposits. Such figures included Jackson, Charles Tutt, and Spencer Penrose.

William B. Young opened one of the first banks in Colorado Springs in 1872. Without capital Young’s bank went under during the panic of 1873. William S. Jackson, with two other men, purchased all of the holdings from Young and started the El Paso County bank. That same year the People’s Bank opened. The next year Young, working with local and eastern capitalists, started the first national bank in the Pikes Peak Region, aptly called the First National Bank. The Exchange National Bank, founded in 1888, became one of the city’s largest with deposits of $2.5 million.

The Colorado Springs’ banking community was one of the strongest in the Pikes Peak region. It wasn’t until the Great Depression that a Colorado Springs bank failed to repay its customers when it went out of business. The integration of city builders and businessmen into banks contributed to this robustness. Loans and capitol were readily available for a variety of investments from a variety of sources. However, Colorado Springs was dependent on a wealthy ruling class, one unencumbered by responsibilities to civilians and civic duties. The banking system of Colorado Springs changed forever in the 1930’s with the onset of new banking regulations and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The last private bank in Colorado closed in Akron in 1938.

Generously Submitted by Patrick Lee, CSPM Museum Technician

El Pomar Foundation is one of the largest and oldest private foundations in Colorado. It was founded in 1937 by prominent Colorado Springs entrepreneurs and philanthropists Julie and Spencer Penrose with the mission to enhance, encourage and promote the current and future wellbeing of the people of Colorado. The Penroses endowed the Foundation with a $21 million gift, which has grown to over $600 million in assets. El Pomar has disbursed $526 million in grants since 1937.

In the early years, less than a dozen grants were made annually. Today, El Pomar makes more than 1,000 grants annually, averaging a combined total of $22 million in support of Colorado nonprofits involved in health, human services, education, arts, humanities, civic and community initiatives. For over 80 years, El Pomar has supported Colorado Springs organizations like Penrose Hospital, Early Connections Learning Centers and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College.

To increase impact and establish deep-rooted connections beyond Colorado Springs, El Pomar created Regional Partnerships in 2003 to help communities across the state identify and address local needs. Through 11 regional councils El Pomar convenes community leaders representing all 64 Colorado counties who advise El Pomar’s Trustees on the greatest needs in their communities. Since 2003, the councils have invested over $21 million in their regional communities.

In times of crises, El Pomar creates funds to provide support where it is urgently needed. During the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession, El Pomar created the Colorado Assistance Fund, which allocated $1 million annually for a period of five years to human service organizations throughout Colorado. In 2020, El Pomar quickly responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by utilizing the Colorado Assistance Fund for the sixth time with $1 million in immediate aid granted to nonprofit organizations supporting Colorado communities impacted by the virus.

In addition to grant making, El Pomar delivers programs that encourage leadership and promote community development. One such program, the Emerging Leaders Development program, equips ethnic minorities already engaged in their communities with the training to broaden their impact on the community at-large. El Pomar also owns and operates Penrose Heritage Museum, Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun and Penrose House. Since 1992, Penrose House has served as a free gathering space for nonprofit entities across the state.

For more than 80 years, El Pomar has invested in the people of Colorado Springs and the communities of Colorado as did its founders Julie and Spencer Penrose.

Generously Submitted by Sarah Woods, El Pomar Curator of Historic Properties & Archives

In the midst of a drought, during the devastation of the dustbowl in southeastern Colorado, a storm pushed from the northeast against the Rampart Range and dropped over 7” of rain on Memorial Day, 1935.  A massively destructive flood hit Colorado Springs and El Paso County. Monument and Fountain Creeks overflowed their banks, destroying 70 houses and killing at least six people. In Monument Creek, that today averages around 20 cubic feet per second (cfs) flow (with peaks up to 1,500 cfs), water reached close to 50,000 cfs.  Witnesses reported 10 to 15 foot waves. Every bridge over Monument Creek was washed out, with the exception of the viaduct at Bijou Street.  The Eight Street bridge over Fountain Creek was damaged, but remained open to one car at a time and provided the only connection between the city and the Broadmoor and Ivywild neighborhoods.  In addition to the loss of city bridges, 47 bridges in rural El Paso County were heavily damaged.  Railroad and highway connections outside of the city were cut off.  Sewer lines were busted, the electricity and power plants flooded, and three miles of the El Paso Canal washed out. Hard hit was Monument Valley Park, the jewel of the city park system since 1907.   Where once were charming gardens, winding walks, and water features with picturesque bridges now lay uprooted trees, gravel, mud, and debris.  Damage was estimated at over $1.7 million.  Fortunately, depression-era Works Progress Administration programs were already established in the city building roads in Pike National Forest and erosion control projects in Palmer Park.  These crews quickly went to work to rehabilitate and rebuild Monument Valley Park.  The Monument Creek floodplain was widened and straightened, with riprap installed to slow down water and walls lining the creek.  For the next six years, hundreds worked to rebuild the park and the city bridges.  While flood control improvements were necessary, sixty-five acres of land previously used for park recreation was reallocated into the inaccessible floodplain, reducing the amount of usable park space.

Generously Submitted by Dr. John Harner, Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

The 1930s Great Depression, resulting from years of inequities and unsustainable practices and 1929 stock market crash, brought failed banks, 25% unemployment, hunger, labor wars, environmental disasters. Life savings disappeared. Farmed beyond capacity, millions of acres of topsoil blew away in a decade-long drought. Thousands abandoning farms became homeless transients. Starving families boiled grass for food.

Accepting the 1932 Presidential nomination, Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed “I pledge…a new deal for the American people…a new order of competence and courage.” Though desperate, people considered “handouts” degrading: “I don’t want no relief, I want work!” Roosevelt’s programs both provided income and lifted morale; they returned taxpayers’ money as wages and materials for jobs benefiting the nation’s infrastructure, conservation, education, health, culture, and more. His New Deal eventually comprised over 70 legislative acts, including 30 new public projects agencies.

The Pikes Peak Region’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps performed work ranging from planting trees in Pike National Forest and Garden of the Gods to building Rampart Range Road. CCC workers received food, lodging, education, skills, a lifelong sense of accomplishment, and $30 per month ($25 sent to their families). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built Palmer High School, Manitou Post Office, Monument Valley Park’s creek channeling and stonework, and provided activities from swimming lessons to WPA’s Theater Project puppets. Other programs funded local artists’ murals in public buildings. No longer forced to trade paintings for soup bones, Manitou’s muralist felt these projects “convert the artist from precious parlor monkey” to being useful enough to “walk on the sidewalk with respectable people.”

Not everyone approved. Though local regions specified projects they needed, Pikes Peak area governments disliked federal programs (and the small percentage of local funds some required). Spencer Penrose, like many of Roosevelt’s wealthy peers, considered him a “traitor to his class,” yet the New Deal may have saved them from revolution. Some on the political right called the New Deal “socialist;” some on the left, “fascist.” Despite job creation for minorities and women (thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt), many programs bore racial, ethnic, or gender bias. Paradoxically, successes brought challenges: hope’s high expectations.

New Deal innovations now taken for granted include federally-insured banking (FDIC), Social Security, the National Labor Relations Board, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Though flawed, New Deal Indian programs shifted US government policy from cultural suppression and assimilation to tribal sovereignty. New Deal programs employed 8,000,000 youth. Nationally, hundreds of thousands of New Deal-funded artworks, classes, and performances reached millions of citizens. Three billion trees planted, 650,000 miles of roads built were among CCC/WPA achievements. The Pikes Peak Region’s parks, roads, buildings, forests, stonework, and art embody the New Deal’s legacy.

Generously Submitted by Pat Musick, Artist & Historian

October 15, 1903, Henry and Ray Sachs arrived in Colorado Springs and took up residence at the Antlers Hotel. He came to Colorado Springs for treatment of tuberculosis. He began his recovery by becoming involved in business and civic opportunities. He also undertook many charitable and civic oriented philanthropies as well.

Henry Sachs was a successful businessman. His fortune came from his investment in the Gillette Safety Razor Company. In Colorado Springs, he created the Three Eagles Company which was the holding company for what becomes later the largest residential area, known as Ivywild. He invested his money in people and causes for the betterment of people’s lives.

In a time when social and racial boundaries were clearly defined, Sachs’ vision for people’s welfare were considered ahead of its time. Being Jewish, Mr. Sachs understood the difficulties of being different and the importance of education in erasing those difficulties. He experienced discrimination and understood the impact on people’s lives. While he prospered in business, he never ceased to help others. His philanthropical activities were especially notable in the Jewish and Black communities.

In 1931 with help of Rev K.D. Stroud and his wife Lulu, he established the Sachs Foundation of Colorado Springs for Negro Welfare. He was the first president of the Foundation. Sachs stated, “I don’t think there’s any better was to spend money than by investing in people. If you want them to be successful, to contribute in some way to society, education is the key.” The intended purpose of the Foundation was to recognize the injustices of the past.

The Sachs Foundation is for the use by the Black community in the State of Colorado. The qualifying criteria:

• A Black high school student in their senior year,
• A full-time Colorado resident for a minimum of five years. Residence due to military orders to
  Colorado may be accepted on a case by case basis,
• Have attained a cumulative, weighted GPA of at least 3.0 through your last completed term,
• Scholarships renewable each semester with a 3.0 average or higher for 4 year program.

Since 1931, more than 5000 students have benefited from the scholarships of the Foundation. They have become leaders in communities throughout the US.

Henry Sachs was a man of vision and commitment to diversity at a time when it was most needed.

Generously Submitted by Jim Sciegel, CSPM Volunteer Educator