Colorado Trivia & Tidbits - Page 20

Looking for Colorado trivia? Try our list Colorado little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Astor House in Golden (pop. 17,159) was the first stone hotel built west of the Mississippi. Owners of the 1867 hotel, built with stone from area quarries, boasted that it was “free of the pests associated with wood structures.” Today, the hotel is a museum.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

Every day is Christmas in Cascade (pop. 1,709), home to Santa’s Workshop/North Pole, an amusement park since 1956. The Christmas-themed park features rides, several gift shops, magic shows, and, of course, Santa.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

Legendary frontiersman Kit Carson had a number of jobs in his lifetime—trapper, scout, American Indian agent, and commander of a Colorado military post after the Civil War. Carson and his volunteer troops were assigned to Fort Garland near Alamosa (pop. 7,960) in 1866, serving for a year before regular troops took over the post.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

Cokedale (pop. 139) was a company town created by the American Smelting and Refining Co., which operated 350 coke ovens there from 1907 until 1947, when the nearby coal mines closed. At that point, the company offered to sell homes in the town to its employees for $100 per room and $50 a lot. Because of that, the original turn-of-the-century mining town is still intact.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

Ranchers along a four-mile stretch of the San Luis Valley are still getting their water from an irrigation ditch built almost 150 years ago. Colonists built the San Luis People’s Ditch in 1852. Today, it is Colorado’s oldest continuously used irrigation system.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

The Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista (pop. 4,529) curves around a drive-in movie screen so the large room windows face the movie. Sound from the movie is piped into the rooms at the motel, which its owners bill as the world’s only “movie motel.”

first appeared: 12/9/2001

The International B-24 Museum in Pueblo details the history of the B-24 “Liberator,” one of the most successful World War II bombers. Displays include photographs tracing development of the airplane, along with radio gear and flight logbooks. Pueblo served as a B-24 training base from 1942 to 1946.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

The mining museum and community center in Creede (pop. 377) are both completely underground. Silver was discovered here in 1889, and mining was the main industry in Creede until the Bulldog Mine closed in 1985.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Census data of Fountain (pop. 15,197) so closely resembles that of the United States as a whole that the town was selected in 1999 as the country’s “Millennium City.” Using U.S. Census Bureau Statistics, a sociologist hired by The New York Times determined that the breakdown of Fountain’s population by age, income, and race almost exactly mirrored that of the nation.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

The state seems an unlikely place for alligators, but about 80 can be found at the Colorado Alligator Farm near Mosca (pop. 1,037). Geothermal pools that maintain a temperature of about 87 degrees make the area comfortable for the reptiles.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

Visitors to Empire (pop. 355) can spend a night in the Peck House, Colorado’s oldest hotel. Built in 1862 as a home, the building soon became an inn for the area’s gold and silver miners.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

The legendary boxer Jack Dempsey was born June 24, 1895, to a mining family in Manassa (pop. 1,042). He began fighting in mining town saloons as a teenager and was named heavyweight champion in 1919. A museum in a log cabin in his hometown showcases artifacts from the career of the “The Manassa Mauler.”

first appeared: 11/4/2001

While looking for elk in 1891, Mollie Kathleen Gortner spotted an interesting rock formation that turned out to be gold in quartz. She then became the first woman to file a gold claim in her own name in the Colorado camps. Today, the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, near Cripple Creek (pop. 1,115), is named for her and offers a look at the workings of a turn-of-the-century gold mine.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo near Colorado Springs rises above all other zoos in the nation—at 6,800 feet above sea level. The country’s only mountain zoo, it features more than 500 animals from around the world.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

A larger-than-life limestone statue of comic strip action star Steve Canyon near Idaho Springs (pop. 1,889) commemorates his fictional heroics during World War II.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

Each of the 241 rooms at the historic Brown Palace Hotel in Denver has a view. The hotel was built in 1892 on a triangular piece of land, and the architect designed the building so there were no interior rooms.

first appeared: 10/14/2001

The Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs can accommodate simultaneous services for three major religions. The building contains three chapels—one each for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

The world’s only museum dedicated to professional rodeo is in Colorado Springs. The ProRodeo Hall of Fame offers visitors an inside look at professional rodeos through exhibits of rodeo gear, live rodeo animals, and art displays.

first appeared: 9/30/2001

The highest railway in the United States is the track to the summit of Pikes Peak. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway climbs from an elevation of 6,571 feet at Manitou Springs (pop. 4,980) to 14,110 feet at the top of Pikes Peak.

first appeared: 9/30/2001

Breckenridge (pop. 2,408) was originally named Breckinridge, spelled with an “in,” after John C. Breckinridge, vice president from 1857 to 1861 under President James Buchanan. But when Breckinridge sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War, Union supporters petitioned Congress to make the small, but significant, change in the spelling of the town’s name.

first appeared: 9/23/2001

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