For Immediate Release
Media contacts:
Jane Turnis
(719) 389-6138
JTurnis@ColoradoCollege.edu
Leslie Weddell
(719) 389-6038
Leslie.Weddell@ColoradoCollege.edu
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Nov. 19, 2008 – Colorado College has stepped up efforts to publicize its many historic buildings by launching a historic walking tour brochure and Web site. The free, self-guided walking tour featuring the 13 Colorado College properties listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places is aimed at assisting campus visitors locate and appreciate the buildings.
The 16-page brochure contains condensed histories and black and white photos of each of the buildings, while the Web site provides additional information about the history, people, heritage and traditions associated with the buildings, as well as additional current and historic photos (http://www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/walkingtour/).
Visitors can easily browse the building’s history as they walk the tour, which is divided into an eastern loop and a western loop. Each loop is nearly a mile in length and can take an hour or more to walk.
The project was funded with support from the State Historical Fund, which invested $14,200; Colorado College supplied an in-kind match. Twelve of the featured buildings are listed on the National Register; one building (Jackson House) is on the State Register.
Colorado College, which was founded two years before Colorado became a state, considers it its duty – and pleasure – to share these historical treasures with campus visitors and the larger Colorado Springs community, said George Eckhardt, assistant director of facilities at CC.
In 1993, CC prepared a Historic Survey and Preservation Plan documenting the historic significance of the college’s properties. Of the 91 properties surveyed, 76 percent were found to be historically significant, making Colorado College one of the largest enclaves of historic buildings in the state.
Since then, Colorado College has received $1,516,244 in grant support from the SHF. Among the grants received have been a five-part $399,834 grant for the college’s first building, Cutler Hall (1880); a two-part $300,000 grant for one of the college’s most important residential buildings, Bemis Hall (1908); $150,000 for Jackson House (1900); $161,580 for the college’s signature classroom building, Palmer Hall (1904); $150,000 for exterior restoration work on the Plaza Hotel (1900), now known as the Spencer Center; and $162,980 for exterior work on Lennox House. The most recent SHF grant is $115,000 for exterior restoration of Arthur House.
“Colorado College is a poster child for preservation,” says Nan Rickey, a historic preservation specialist with the Colorado Historical Society. “There is so much heritage on the college campus, so many traditions, which makes historical preservation at Colorado College particularly meaningful.”
“Both Colorado College and the State Historical Fund have invested significantly in the college’s historic properties, and our efforts have been well-recognized by Colorado Springs’ Historic Preservation Alliance, and others with interest in preservation,” Eckhardt said. “By encouraging the greater Colorado Springs community to take the walking tour, we will be teaching them about these significant and beautiful buildings and their role in our area’s history. Perhaps more importantly, we will be teaching them the importance of historic preservation,” he said.
Copies of walking tour brochures may be obtained at the information desk in the Worner Campus Center, 902 N. Cascade Ave.; Cutler Hall, 912 N. Cascade Ave.; or at the special collections archives in Tutt Library, 1021 N. Cascade Ave.
For information, directions or disability accommodation, members of the public may call (719) 389-6607.
About Colorado College
Colorado College is a nationally prominent, four-year liberal arts college that was founded in Colorado Springs in 1874. The college operates on the innovative Block Plan, in which its 1,985 undergraduate students study one course at a time in intensive 3½-week blocks. The college also offers a master of arts in teaching degree. For more information, visit www.ColoradoCollege.edu <http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu>.