Episode 5: Oddities, Legends, and Colorado Springs Lore
Have you ever wondered about the hidden stories that make Colorado Springs so unique? Whether you're a die-hard history buff or someone who thinks museums aren't quite your scene, this episode is about to change your perspective.
We sat down with Leah Davis Witherow, the Curator of History at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and uncovered some of the most fascinating, quirky, and surprising moments from Colorado Springs' past. From the untold tales of the people who shaped this city to the secrets tucked away in everyday landmarks, this conversation is an absolute must-listen.
We got into the must-know things about the city's past, including:
The juiciest thing the museum walls would discuss if they could talk
The weirdest law in Colorado Springs history
The biggest historical Colorado Springs myth debunked
The craziest artifact the museum has
Where in Colorado Springs to look for dinosaur footprints (probably not where you think)
A fierce woman from the city's past who deserves more recognition
The three people from Colorado Springs's past Leah would invite to a dinner party
The real reason Colorado Springs used to be a "dry" town
The "it" spot in Colorado Springs 100 years ago
The intent behind 50% of the Story
Plus so much more. So, be sure to tune in!
MISC MENTIONS IN THIS EPISODE
PICKS OF THE WEEK
Lauren: Festival of Lights Family Fun Day at The Pioneer's Museum
Carly: Sense & Sensibility at Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS
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Episode Transcript
Lauren Ferrara: So, Carly, have you heard
Carly Ries: of the turkey on the table? So I hadn't. You told me about it, but I'm still kind of remember? I'm still kind of unclear.
Lauren Ferrara: So Okay. So it's this little turkey that you put on your table, turkey on the table, and then you put what you're grateful for on their little tail feathers, and you write it down and you put it in there. And we got one several years ago, and we do it at dinner time during, like, Thanksgiving y times and all during the holiday season. So we got together with some friends and we asked the question, like, what about Colorado Springs are you grateful for? And people wrote their little answers on the tail feathers.
The first one is give me a little drum roll. Small town neighborly feel with big city amenities.
Carly Ries: Oh, well, isn't that on brand? Because welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where 2 close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs. From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we've got it covered. I am Carly Reiss.
Lauren Ferrara: And I'm Lauren Ferrara. We'll sip our coffee and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. So whether you're a local or you're just passing through, we hope our fun, lighthearted, and entertaining tape will keep you coming back for more. So Carly, do you wanna hear some others?
Carly Ries: Yes. Because then I also want to share some funny feedback I've been getting, so this is great.
Lauren Ferrara: Okay. So this one was my daughter because she was hanging out with us and she wrote the country club lake. I think she means country club.
Carly Ries: Are you a member?
Lauren Ferrara: No. I'm not even a member of the country club. But we do love the country club lake. It is magical. Okay.
Okay. That's hilarious. We've also got breweries, cheers to beer, dog friendly places. And I think some of the places I take my dog, they're not I don't even know if they're dog friendly. I just make the assumption that they are.
Do you do that sometimes?
Carly Ries: So I am a stereotypical rule follower. So if I don't see explicitly that dogs are allowed, I do. I'm sure my husband's like, oh, it's fine. Like, he's he's much more likely to bend the rules, but I'm like, I need the sign. I need to clear with management.
Otherwise
Lauren Ferrara: This is the one that my dog is so cute that everybody wants me to bring him in. Fair. But I don't know. My father-in-law said something funny. He's like, I get that people love their dogs, but I don't have to love their dogs.
Yes. You do. Everybody loves Hawk. He's
Carly Ries: the dog.
Lauren Ferrara: So I've also got the bar at the Broadmoor, Toki.
Carly Ries: Oh, swanky.
Lauren Ferrara: And it says Peter is amazing. Now I wanna know who Peter is.
Carly Ries: He's that Peter, if you're listening, hi. Yeah. Yeah. We need
Lauren Ferrara: to know you. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Broadmoor brunch, and Tee Birds. And there was a lot about the great outdoors. Views, views, views, said one of our friends. The view, said another.
Amazing trails. Best of both worlds, best trails in downtown. Vibes. Stunning mountain views, looking at the mountains every day. I never take it for granted.
And my daughter also said, world peace.
Carly Ries: Oh, well, way to end that there. It was just so fun listening to people's thoughts on the springs because we just launched. And so I feel like so many conversations have been about the show. It's new. Our friends wanna comment on it.
Our community wants to comment on it. And it's fun, like, that we all agree on the outdoors, but just like you said, those little nuggets that were really specific you said. But, Lauren, the biggest takeaway from our first two episodes is people keep talking about forest bathing and what the heck that is. And it was so funny. We're we're really good friends with this family, and the husband approached me.
And he was like, we fell asleep listening to you guys while we were going to bed. And he goes, and then I and then I went to the gym, and I heard about rubbing up against a tree, and I was like, you may have dreamed that. I don't think we're, like, shimming
Lauren Ferrara: on trees. Literally hug trees.
Carly Ries: But you don't, like, rub your back up and down the tree.
Lauren Ferrara: I would. I haven't yet. But now maybe during our next forest bathing adventure, we will just, what's the like, we use like, rub their back on a it's something It
Carly Ries: made me think of National Geographic, like, bare docuseries that they have.
Lauren Ferrara: Bare necessities. What song what is that from? The bare necessities?
Carly Ries: Jungle Book.
Lauren Ferrara: Jungle Book. Doesn't he, like, rub his back against the tree?
Carly Ries: I know. I think the fact that he fell asleep listening to it and then woke up the next morning hearing our voices, he had this weird it was so funny. I was like, I don't think you listen to the right podcast, Wait. It was very entertaining. Anyway Yes.
We had
Lauren Ferrara: to has been really, like, eye opening. So I, you know, I feel like you and I both know know a lot of cool spots, but so does everybody else. And they have given us so many great suggestions. So I'm super excited about where this podcast Yes.
Carly Ries: I think we are scheduled on out for the next 2 months
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah.
Carly Ries: Of ideas. And we don't I mean, we're only skimming the service. And I think the thing that I have loved so much about doing this show is rediscovering things that I forgot were here and also exploring new things. So I am just so pumped. But on that note, we had an interview at the Pioneers Museum thinking speaking of revisiting old places.
And Lauren, I gotta tell you, I I don't know if I'm missing this gene. I feel like I I'm I feel bad saying this, but I'm not a huge museum person per se. Feel bad saying that.
Leah Davis Witherow: I know.
Carly Ries: But I feel like even if people aren't museum people, you're supposed to say you still are.
Lauren Ferrara: Like, oh, this intellectual. I just Yeah.
Carly Ries: Exactly. I feel like it's like, oh, I need to hold my own. Let me grab my glasses. I went. So this to to this point to this point.
Excuse me. My husband and I were in Northern California and toured Stanford a decade ago because we were like, well, when in Rome. And I have readers, and I put them on for the tour even though I couldn't see because they're readers. And I was blind as a bat walking around, but I looked to the part of a stand alone.
Lauren Ferrara: I just got readers this year, and, I don't know how I feel about it. But now, I mean, I've I started, like, taking pictures of things and zooming in when I couldn't read them. So I was like Yes. Oh, man. It is
Carly Ries: I started now I'm with
Lauren Ferrara: my mom and I have them tucked in every nook and cranny of every room just so that I always have a pair near.
Carly Ries: See, I yeah. And this was a decade ago. So I was in my twenties for this. I actually don't really read them or I don't really use them. But if I go on Stanford tours, I will put those all this to say is I have always I I and I like things like the like the children's museum, the children's science museum, things like that.
But I like to go to
Lauren Ferrara: the Dubai shovel. Yeah. Exactly. Stereotypical
Carly Ries: museums haven't always be been my cup of tea.
Lauren Ferrara: The museum game has changed. Like, I feel like back when we were kids, they were more they were kind of boring. And now, like, museums have just upped their game. And I go to museums and I can tell if, like, the exhibit was pre, I don't know, 2000 or so. Because I'm like, oh, this feels really dated.
And now I think museums are just so much more interesting and inviting. And the pioneers museum is no exception. It I hadn't been in a minute either. I hadn't been since their, yeah, the reopening. And it is worth a second look if you're, like, in our boat where you haven't been in, you know, couple of years maybe.
It it was awesome. How many times do we get goosebumps? Or how many times, Carly, did you tear up a little bit? So that's why you were such a crier.
Carly Ries: Well, truth be told, I am a crier, but I didn't expect to be. And I have to say this non museum person is now a museum person, and I'm not just saying that because we had such an incredible tour. But as you just said, I really had tears in my eyes with some of the exhibits. Yeah. There was a painting in this 50% of the story exhibit that I it caught me off guard.
And I while she was explaining it to us, I I had to wipe away the tears, and I've never had that feeling.
Lauren Ferrara: And I know exactly which which piece you're talking about
Carly Ries: Yes. In the 50%
Lauren Ferrara: of the story. I I, yeah. It that was
Carly Ries: a very And also the for the forgotten neighborhoods of Colorado Springs exhibit on that. I mean, it and it's funny because I feel like when you go to museums, a lot of times, it feels like ancient history. And it's like this is, like, 70, 80 years ago. It our grandparents, like, people people we know are still living, and this history has changed so much. I was just floored.
And you guys, any non museum goers or people like me, this is one you have to have to go to. It is fascinating. Yes. And because we're new to this podcasting game, we haven't figured out how
Lauren Ferrara: to make a, you know, smooth transition to, like, here's our prerecorded interview. So take a listen. Here's our prerecorded interview. So we're talking oddities, legends, and Colorado lore. And there's really no place better to do that than the Pioneers Museum.
If you haven't been here in a minute, it's definitely worth coming back and taking a little stroll because we found so many fascinating things. Thanks to Leah Davis Withereau, our guest today, the curator of history here at the Pioneers Museum. Leah, do people love to invite you to cocktail parties?
Leah Davis Witherow: Yes, they do, but they may regret
Carly Ries: it. I was gonna say, can I invite you to my next cocktail party?
Lauren Ferrara: Because you are full of all kinds of interesting things. So my first question to you actually second, because I asked you if you were a popular guest at cocktail parties, which you are. So if these museum walls could talk, what's the juiciest piece of old Colorado Springs lore that they'd spill? Well, that is such a difficult question.
Leah Davis Witherow: But if we think back about what this building used to be, the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse, this building was controversial from the outset. Where to put this courthouse was a lawsuit. Who would be the architect was a problem. So there are 3 county commissioners in 18 99. They wanted to build a courthouse that would send a message to the entire state of Colorado that Colorado Springs and El Paso County was really important, so they wanted to build a jewel.
Each county commissioner had their own favorite architect. So how did they decide? They chose someone that no one liked.
Lauren Ferrara: Oh, I was gonna guess a duel. Because you say rock, paper, scissors. So that's how we decide things.
Leah Davis Witherow: His name was AJ Smith. He had formerly built the poor house, El Paso County Poor House, and a couple of homes, but this was his really opus, grand opus project. But everything about this building was contentious, and we look at it today, and it's so beautiful. It's our number one artifact. But in 1903, people were arguing with each other about what it should look like and where it should be.
There was a lawsuit. Should it be in the north end of the town? That was Acacia Park. Should it be on the south end of town? That was Alamo Park.
And they decided where it should be, and the lawsuit had to essentially be, abandoned when they just started digging. They started digging in a city park, and the the county courthouse went up over a period of 4 years, but there were strikes. And there were there was a actual column in the Colorado Springs Gazette criticizing the architecture throughout the building process. This building was really fraught with contention and and adversity. So one of the things that I would love to have been in the room when it was decided, There are 2 murals in the major courtroom.
So we call it the division 1 courtroom where all the big trials took place. It's the restored courtroom. It looks almost just like it did in 1903. So in the front of the room, there is an Egyptian goddess called lady gold, and in the back of the room, there is a Syrian a Syrian goddess called lady silver, and they were having an argument about which of these minerals, gold or silver, should back the US dollar, and they did so through artwork so they made lady gold look vicious she has a dress made of snakeskin and then if you don't get the messaging that that is dangerous enough she has a snake wrapped around her chest still more danger and then she has a naked miner hanging from the snake so they're send I know vicious so they're sending a message that gold is a stone cold killer, and then if you look at the other mural, a Syrian goddess, lady silver, she is diaphanous. She has a flowing gown.
She represents democracy and the people, and if you look at her abdomen, she looks pregnant. Silver is life giving. So we don't know the artist. We don't know who was in favor or who was against, but they were having their argument out on the walls of this courthouse, and that argument is still up for the public to
Lauren Ferrara: see. Wow.
Carly Ries: That is gosh. There's just so much in here, and that's, like, a pretty interesting artifact that you have. And when you gave us the tour, I mean, we were just mesmerized by the things that we were saying. And I'm curious, what is the most unexpected artifact museum has, and what's a little bit of the backstory? You know, I that is also a tough question to answer
Leah Davis Witherow: because historians love everything. Curators love everything. It's kind of like asking me what my who my favorite child is. So 2 come to mind. 1 is we have a cast of an ankylosaurus dinosaur that was removed.
The cast was made in Red Rock Canyon. So if you're a hiker there, if you go to Red Rock Canyon and you're hiking around, you need to be looking for dinosaurs dinosaur footprints. The tip is don't look on the ground because of geologic uplift, look on the walls.
Lauren Ferrara: What? Woah.
Carly Ries: Yes. We hike there all the time.
Leah Davis Witherow: And now you'll look for different things, right? The other object is much more sentimental. It is a half knitted sock. Does that surprise you?
Lauren Ferrara: Yes.
Leah Davis Witherow: Yes. Why would we have a half knit sock? So on April 25, 1967, Helene Knapp, who was married to colonel Herm Knapp, he was a, a pilot, and he was sent over to Vietnam. On that day, she was cleaning her kitchen. She looked out her front window.
She lived in the Skyway neighborhood, and she saw her neighbor, who happened to be her best friend, walk out to the mailbox and then freeze. She stopped in her tracks. Helene looked a little closer out the window, and she saw a blue air force vehicle, and she knew exactly what that meant. So a knock on the door, she opened the door, and it was an air force chaplain and an officer who had come to tell her that her husband, colonel Harmon Knapp, had gone missing in Vietnam. At the time, Helene was knitting her husband a pair of socks, and she was knitting into the sock a jet with a beautiful white contrail coming out the back of Angora.
And she stopped that moment. She never picked up those knitting needles again because colonel Knapp never came home. She's kept that artifact all this time because she was raising 2 children. She spent the next decade advocating for POWs and MIAs in Colorado Springs. And in Washington, DC, she took on a national role in an organization that was pushing the government to determine how many MIAs and POWs there were in Vietnam, and she did it all from initially from her home here in Colorado Springs.
It's always an example to me of everyone has a story, and everyone has the power to make change, and she did. She took her personal loss because he was MIA, never came home, and she worked to benefit other families to make sure American soldiers and airmen came back from Vietnam. And it is profound.
Lauren Ferrara: And even to this day, I go to a lot of military balls and banquets and things, and I love how they set a table for the MIA and POWs. And it's just such a important, solemn moment that I love that is recognized. But, gosh, I I don't know that I could even look at the sock.
Leah Davis Witherow: It is beautiful. And she wants us to look at it. She wants us to know her story and she wants to know she wants us to know about how you can affect change. And I I interviewed Helene and and we did an exhibit about her in her sarcasm exhibit right now in a different exhibit. She really wants us to remember that we all of us have the power to advocate for ourselves, but also for others, try to make the world a better place.
And she's she did that beautifully, and she taught her children to do that as well.
Lauren Ferrara: Oh, that is so true. And, gosh, walking through this museum, I I got goosebumps so many times.
Carly Ries: I was gonna say, yeah, this is I nobody can see me right now, but this is the 3rd time I've gotten teary eyed in the past hour and a half I've spent with Leah because of these stories that you just don't hear about walking around the streets. Like, coming in here, you really have to take it all in. And I it just, I mean, I've been really emotional this afternoon.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Well, that's what I love. Your attitude towards museums are not things on walls, but it's more of the stories that everyone has a story
Leah Davis Witherow: and how powerful it is to tell your story, to have your story heard. And I think if we think of history in terms of stories and people, it's much more meaningful than if we try to memorize names and dates. If we break it down and tell people stories, we connect them and we make them feel something. I think that's really important.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Well, so around town, we'll see, you know, statues of Palmer, Portales, but, you know, we know that women had a huge impact on Colorado Springs history. So tell us about one fierce woman from the city's past who deserves a little more credit.
Leah Davis Witherow: How long do we have?
Lauren Ferrara: This might be multi episodes.
Leah Davis Witherow: Okay. I I will there's so, so many, but I'll tell you about mama Susie Perkins because most folks in Colorado Springs have heard about Fannie Mae Duncan, and she does have a statue and that's wonderful, but we need more. We need to tell more women's stories. So mama Susie Perkins was born and raised in Mississippi. She is the daughter and granddaughter of sharecroppers.
So they never owned a home, and she always wanted to own a home. She wanted to give her mother a home. She had just this really deep connection to place. Her mother had asthma, so they moved out to Colorado Springs because we were healthful. We're a healthful climate.
And Susie Perkins got to work. She worked in a restaurant. She worked as a nurse, but, boy, she was entrepreneurial. She wanted to own her own business. She wanted to make money.
She wanted to help her family. So she bought a garbage truck, and she drove that garbage truck around Colorado Springs 12, 14 hours a day. And she said she would drive that truck as long as it took to buy her mom a home and buy herself a home and help her family. Well, she soon had a fleet of garbage trucks, and she never stopped driving. And as she was driving so she had an empire, a garbage empire.
And as she was driving around town, she noticed all of these rundown houses that were abandoned. So she began to buy them and flip them, although they didn't have HGTV back then. Right? So they didn't call it flipping. But with the help of her family, they would renovate the house and then they would rent it to folks that other landlords would not rent to.
So single mothers back in the fifties sixties, mixed race couples, soldiers from Fort Carson. She rented I think, you know, this woman who always wanted to own a home ended up extending, a welcome to thousands of families over decades. She owned a 100 homes at the end of her life. Wow. She was also a quiet philanthropist.
She gave money to West Elementary School, which was one of the poorest schools at the time. She gave money to that school so kids would not go hungry they would get lunches she was their secret siena she made sure they had backpacks and school clothes and she did it all quietly she is really can I say it? A badass.
Carly Ries: Yes. A badass. Wow.
Lauren Ferrara: Oh, I love that story. Thank you.
Carly Ries: Well, and Leah, you know so much about so many different people. And earlier, we were joking that we would have you to our cocktail party in a heartbeat, which will absolutely happen. But if you were to throw a historically themed dinner party with 3 people, just 3 from the springs is past, who would you invite?
Leah Davis Witherow: I would invite general Palmer k. Because it was his vision. He saw something in this place. He wanted to make it his own home. He fell in love with the mountains and the scenery, and he wanted to build a town that would be his own home but would also welcome other people so he saw something in this place and I would invite doctor Caroline Spencer who was a physician who moved to Colorado Springs for her own health and became a women's suffrage suffrage advocate who traveled to Washington DC and was among, 2,000 women who protested outside of president Woodrow Wilson's White House.
Colorado women gained the right right to vote in 18/93, and they didn't just sit on that right. Then they went out across the country to help their mothers and sisters and cousins and friends gain the right to vote. So Caroline's doctor Caroline Spencer, along with 2 other women from Colorado Springs, went to Washington DC and they stood on the sidewalk outside the White House. They're called the silent sentinels. They never spoke.
They just held signs. We were, engaged in World War 1 and their sign said, why fight democrat for democracy abroad when women do not enjoy democracy at home? And for this, they were arrested, they were imprisoned, sometimes they were beaten and tortured, and when they got back out of jail, they went right back out to protest. So, I would love to ask her a lot of questions.
Carly Ries: Yeah. Absolutely.
Lauren Ferrara: How do you think those 2 would get along real quick, Palmer in?
Leah Davis Witherow: You know, Palmer so I wrote my graduate, thesis on general Palmer. So I've read his diaries and his letters. And, you never a 100% know someone, but you really do get a sense of them. Mhmm. He believed that every he was a Quaker, a Hixite Quaker.
He believed everyone was equal in the eyes of God. So even though he's a a Quaker, he he decided he volunteered to fight in the civil war because he said slavery was a greater evil than war. So he really saw everyone as equals. I think they would have had a lot to talk about.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. I bet.
Leah Davis Witherow: And then the third person would be do I have time for one more person?
Lauren Ferrara: Oh, yes. Yeah. You get 3 guests.
Leah Davis Witherow: I it's another person that is not as well known as she should be, and that is Joyce Gilmore. Joyce Gilmore was a military wife and mother, raised in Missouri, traveled around the country and went, to Italy with her husband who's in the army. She loved Italy. She loved Italy. She loved to cook Italian food.
They lived in, Montana. Then they came to Colorado Springs. A couple divorced and she raised her 3 children in Colorado Springs. She stayed because she loved this. She fell in love with Colorado Springs.
And so she raised her 3 children here and she needed a job that was really flexible because she wanted her kids to have every single advantage. So they were Youth Symphony, Bemis Art School. They did all the activities, so she needed a really flexible job. So she thought, what can I do? She became the 1st African American real estate agent in Colorado Springs and owned her own company called Joyce Realty in 1976.
And the first house she sold was one that she was actually renting. So when she sold that house, she had to find a new home to live. But she specialized in renting to military families. She also was an amazing hostess. We have her cookbook in the 50% of the story gallery because her artistry was hospitality and food.
And I wouldn't want her to have to cook the meal because I'd wanna talk to her the whole time. But I think just having her as part of the conversation, she was a woman with really, really broad ambitions and deep drive, and she was a wonderful, wonderful human being, really incredibly generous. And I would just wanna know more about why she stayed in Colorado Springs.
Carly Ries: Yeah. No. Absolutely. So so let me ask you this. Would since you're the host of this dinner party Yes.
Would you have made something from her cookbook? I absolutely would. Too intimidating with her being a guest at the party?
Leah Davis Witherow: So some of the recipes that's a really good question. I'd probably hire someone to cook a recipe.
Lauren Ferrara: So what's, what's the biggest historical myth about Colorado Springs that you just love to debunk for people?
Leah Davis Witherow: Oh, that we were a dry town because Palmer was a Quaker. So we were a dry town, but the reason is much more complex. In 18/96, Palmer wrote his history, or remembrance of 25 years of Colorado Springs and since its founding in 18/71. And he said, it was for no moral purpose that Colorado Springs was dry. Instead, it was meant it was dry, meaning alcohol was illegal here because they wanted to it to be a sustainable community.
They wanted to attract families and schools and churches and colleges, and they wanted it to be a different kind of town than than you might find in the west that was a little rough around the edges with gunfights and violence and saloons and that sort of thing. He wanted a town where people could really build a home and a business and a life. And we have always known that he was not a teetotaler. We have known that because we have his journals. And his journals indicate, when he purchased alcohol, he took a group of friends on a camping trip down to Wagon.
And when I say camping trip, it's really more of a glamping trip because they took horses with them so they could go out on rides, these big canvas tents. They took a chef. They took, oh my gosh. They took orders. They took, servers.
They took, I mean, they had musical instruments. It was an amazing trip. And he described what they would drink at the meals. So we've always known that he did not abstain from alcohol. We, and then there was an archeological excavation as a result of flooding that happened in Camp Creek Valley, just to the north of present day Garden of the Gods and south of the Glen Eyrie, Navigators Glen Eyrie property, we found unearthed, the city archaeologist, Anna Cordova, began to find artifacts that had been washed up in the creek bed.
She found intact light bulbs, and she found bricks that had some very specific manufacturer information. She did research, and she found out this was general Palmer's trash dump. And so they excavated it. And there were 3 trash dumps over successive periods of time. So we know what cuts of meat they ate at Glenurey.
We know what types of fish they ate. We know what types of lotions they use. We know they use a lot of salad dressing and a lot of Worcestershire sauce. So think about how bland food might have been. And we know what alcohol they drank.
So there were multiple kinds of beer, there were wines from France and Germany. So we've always known but now we have the the archival, the paper evidence, and we have the archaeological evidence. So we have hundreds of bottles proving that he likes some really nice wines and liquors from time to time.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. And, no, you can't find that at Glenure. That's right now.
Leah Davis Witherow: No. You cannot.
Carly Ries: Oh, the irony. Well, so this has been such a quirky place to live throughout the the decades. What is the weirdest law that used to be taken really seriously here?
Leah Davis Witherow: No spitting on the sidewalks.
Carly Ries: Really? Can they keep that
Leah Davis Witherow: law? It's a really good question. I don't know whether it's on the books any longer. But if you think about why that law was put into place, we were we called ourselves America's greatest sanatorium. We advertised ourselves as a helpful place for people with tuberculosis to come.
And tuberculosis, typically in the lungs, but can spread to all different parts of the body, people would expectorate, gunk, if you will, from their lungs. And they would spit it out because they would cough and it, it's really unhelpful, but that's it's called sputum, is the technical term for it, would be literally filled with germs. And so spitting on the sidewalk was seen to be incredibly unhelpful because it, TB is a communicable disease and other people could get it. There is a an oral history from a local woman whose father was a physician in old Colorado City, and he forbid her to ever go barefoot ever because he was so afraid she would step in something that someone expectorated on the sidewalk. So that's why in the late 19th, early 20th century, when you look at historic photographs, there are, vessels that people would spit into, and we had them in the courthouse.
So spitting was a thing, but they outlined outlawed it on the sidewalk. Gosh.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, that was gross. That's not what I thought you were gonna say.
Carly Ries: No. I don't know what I thought you were gonna say. I didn't have anything in mind, but that would have not have been on my bingo card for guesses.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, I love this question. So if you were to create a time capsule to represent today's Colorado Springs, what three items would you include and why?
Leah Davis Witherow: And I'm sorry I grossed you out. So I'm I'll go in
Lauren Ferrara: a different direction. Thank you.
Leah Davis Witherow: And the you know, sometimes the real story is kind of gross. That's okay. What three items? You know, I'm not going to say anything tremendously original. I'm gonna say what historians want the most, and those are firsthand accounts.
Historians want the most, and those are firsthand accounts. So when I talk to young people, I ask them who if I go out to speak to a classroom, I say, who keeps a diary or journal? And a few hands go up, and I say, but that's what historians use to tell stories about the past. Would you like to read someone else's diary in journal? Now everyone's hand shoots up because everybody wants to read someone else's diary.
And so I talked to them about why these firsthand accounts are so essential. Nearly all the stories we tell in this museum, we learn about these stories from people. So oral histories, photographs, believe it or not, one of the rarest items, that we would love to be able to document 2024 are photographs of your house inside and outside your neighborhood. What do you wear on a day to day basis? Not your fanciest clothes, but what are, what is it that you wear when you feel most comfortable?
All of the kind of mundane everyday objects or the everyday details of life are what we really desire the most. So I'll tell you a story. We opened up our cornerstone here in 2,000 and it was filled with newspapers and coins. And while that may sound interesting, we have those newspapers and we have other examples of those coins. Oh, yeah.
So it didn't tell us anything unique about the people at that time. So when we think about time capsules, it's really about the individual stories, photographs, diaries, those personal things that we really desire and we need the most to tell history.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, I have 21 versions of the same exact turtleneck. I love it so much that I bought I have 21. I have it in every week. Is that weird? Absolutely.
Yeah. Not kidding. And
Leah Davis Witherow: That's fantastic. That's
Lauren Ferrara: another opportunity for my shirt for the 2024 capsule. But do you
Leah Davis Witherow: know everyday objects are quite rare. People donate fancy things to museums. Mhmm. So we have so many wedding dresses. We don't collect wedding dresses anymore.
We have so many baptismal gowns. You need yoga pants. We need yoga pants and your turtlenecks.
Carly Ries: Maybe like half of them.
Leah Davis Witherow: Maybe just one of each.
Carly Ries: Get them out of your closet. So Leah, I feel like it's every day here that we hear of a new business opening up and new cool spots to try. And everybody's like, oh my gosh. Have you tried this new restaurant? And, oh, these are so great.
What was the it spot a 100 years ago? The Broadmoor Hotel.
Leah Davis Witherow: Yeah. So built in 1917, opening in 1918 by Spencer Penrose. The Broadmoor Hotel was the fanciest, tonyest, swankiest place. It attracted the jet set before there really was a jet set. It was the place where you could go and hear, live music from orchestras brought in from Europe, and it had a Turkish shower room.
And it had I mean, it was literally almost, Spencer Penrose and his wife, Julie, spent years traveling the globe, and they brought back artifacts from all over the world. And they paid attention to every detail of that hotel. And starting in actually a 100 years ago, color not just Colorado Springs, Colorado and the entire nation went dry because of pro prohibition enacted in 1920 and lasting till 1933. And it the Broadmoor, Spencer Penrose thought ahead and he ordered train loads of liquor brought from Philadelphia, and he stored it. He cashed it underneath the Broadmoor swimming pool and in various places.
So even though it was illegal, word was that you could go and get a drink at the Broadmoor. So not only could you listen to great music and be in this just I mean, the architecture and the the interior design was exquisite. You could also probably get a drink.
Carly Ries: Oh, look at you. Good job, Roger. Scene, dancing. Yes.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. So let's talk about 50% of the story. When we walked into that gallery, what struck me the most was that there aren't little plaques next to every piece of art. You're just invited to take it in. Right?
What was your intention behind that and 50% of the story?
Leah Davis Witherow: Oh, the intention we've been dreaming up this exhibit for years, and we were closed for a year for a $6,000,000 HVAC project and, and building restoration project. And that allowed us the opportunity to clear out that gallery and re imagine it as the first permanent exhibition in Colorado history, featuring solely the work of women artists. We always knew we wanted it to be salon style. So it hangs almost to the floor, almost to the ceiling. There's a 150 pieces in the gallery.
It's vibrant and vital and complex. We are arguing in this gallery that women have always been artists, but museums just haven't collected their work. Museums have been gatekeepers. They've determined who is an artist. Are you formally trained?
Did you go to the right school? When in reality, it's just about the story that's being told and the creative expression. So we're showing how across time women have always been artistic, always been creative. And we, for this gallery, we went out and purchased almost 70 contemporary works of art. And you might say, what?
Why is the pioneers museum buying artwork? Well, art is culture. Culture is stories. Stories are people. All of these works tell a story about a woman and her time and place.
And all the artists in the gallery, by the way, have a connection to the Pikes Peak region. So we what we feel that we've done is create, an engaging complex conversation in the gallery. And we didn't we purposely chose not to put wall labels next to the artwork Because I don't know about you, but when I go to a museum, if I see a wall label, I crave information. I go and read the label, and sometimes I just barely glance at the object.
Lauren Ferrara: 100%. I do the exact same thing.
Leah Davis Witherow: And we want people to actually engage with the work, and we want them to be drawn to so there are all different types of works in the gallery. So there's everything from spoken word poetry to quilting to oil painting to watercolor to assemblage, photography, embroidery, you name it.
Lauren Ferrara: And the crown. You have to tell us a little bit about the crown.
Leah Davis Witherow: The the hair wreath. Yes. That hair wreath was created in 18/40, and it is a an incredibly intricate work of art. So it is a reminder of how people commemorated their loved ones pre photography. So if your loved one passed away and you don't have a formal portrait, you're not a wealthy person and photography doesn't exist.
How would you remember them? Well, you might cut a lock of their hair and you would save it and when you had enough you would, a woman, typically an artist would would wind the hair carefully around very thin wire and shape it and form it into some sort of pattern. And, we have a hair wreath from 18/40 and it is remarkable. It's made up of the hair of multiple loved ones of the artists who created it. And, we don't know who created it.
Well, there are lots of challenges. We wanna challenge people to think of art in new ways and not to be more open minded about it. I would argue that that hair wreath is extraordinarily beautiful, and I would love to talk to anyone who thinks it's not a work of art.
Lauren Ferrara: Yeah. Yeah. So just all
Carly Ries: the artwork in there. And, I mean, I know I said earlier in the episode that this was that was the 3rd time I had gotten teary eyed since spending this afternoon with you. And one of the pieces in there and I'm I like you guys, I used to go around and read the the description and then kinda go on. But there was a painting in there that just got to my core, and I'm not typically a person to respond that way to a piece of artwork as bad as that sounds. But I I was really taken back, and I think this exhibit, it like, I feel like that's just an example of what this exhibit can do for people.
Leah Davis Witherow: Oh, I'm so glad. I'm sorry that it made you cry, but I'm also really glad that it made you cry because that's what we're hoping to do. I feel like it's a gallery where there is something for everyone. There's something that you connect to. And and it really goes back to who we try to who we are as a museum, our values.
We see ourselves as a mirror to our community that everybody who comes in sees a bit of their story reflected back to them. And in this gallery alone, right, we have a 150 voices, a 150 women who have different stories, different backgrounds. They've lived here different time periods. They're sharing a bit of themselves with us and for you to connect to that painting in such a visceral way, that's magic and it is working.
Carly Ries: It is. I cannot recommend this exhibit enough. And I actually can't recommend the museum enough. Truth be told, I haven't been back in here since it reopened. And I don't know why.
We were so fortunate to have that brief tour with you, but I could spend all day in here and our kids would love it. Yeah.
Lauren Ferrara: And there's that new little kids room. So the muse the pioneers museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 5, and 50% of the story is a permanent exhibit. Right?
Leah Davis Witherow: Yes. Which in the museum world means 5 years.
Lauren Ferrara: Oh. 100 years from now, you can log in to come the next 5 years or soon.
Carly Ries: Yeah. Come now. It is great. I I am just so grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you today. And, shout out to our mutual friend for, bringing us together, and I can't wait to do more episodes with you.
I really do feel like this is the first of many to come.
Lauren Ferrara: Yes. And cocktail parties as well.
Carly Ries: Yes. That too. But thank you so much.
Leah Davis Witherow: Thank you.
Carly Ries: Well, sure do love Leah. And another interview, I thought that was all amazing.
Lauren Ferrara: It was such a good day. It was so nice to see the Pioneers Museum with fresh eyes and with somebody like her.
Carly Ries: Oh my gosh. She just brought everything to life. I just I feel like she's just perfect for her job, connecting people, connecting people to the history of the springs. I don't think there could be a better person in her role. What what a treat that was.
Lauren Ferrara: I think we need to take her to Pilates. Core Collective is our wonderful sponsor. It's a Pilates reformer studio downtown. And, Carly, you've been coming for a while now. Do you love it as much as I do now?
Carly Ries: I actually brought some friends this morning and I felt like I was a total regular at this point. Super sore. Super, super sore. One that I brought had never been, and she was obsessed with it. And the other had been a while.
It was funny because we could, like, hear each other grunting, breathing heavily. It was so fun.
Lauren Ferrara: It is hardcore. Like, there's there there's something for everybody at Core Collective. There's the core reset classes. There's core strength. There's core balance.
And I just feel amazing every time I leave that studio. So they have a special deal for springs and things listeners, and that is if you put in the code springs and things, you can get 3 classes for $30 through the end of the year, and that's an insane deal. Okay. Well, Carly, let's get into our picks of the week. This weekend was bonkers.
It was like really hard to pick 1. I think I started off with 7, but mine ties in very well with this episode. And that's the Festival of Lights Family Fun Day over at the Pioneers Museum. So they'll have it's this free holiday celebration. If you're already going to the parade downtown, you can stop by before, but they have music.
They have crafts. They have face painting, all kinds of activities. And it's been going on for, like, 40 years.
Carly Ries: Oh, well, that's awesome. So, just pausing here so I can put it on my calendar. Nice. That is amazing. I I will have definitely have to check that out.
So mine is actually, UCCS. Have you been to a show at UCCS?
Lauren Ferrara: Go to a lot of the shows there. I love
Carly Ries: them. They are amazing. And I I honestly I've only started going within the past couple of years. But right now, they are showing Sense and Sensibility. It is Thursdays through Sundays now through December 22nd at n center for the arts at UCCS, and tickets are selling out so, so fast.
So go get them. I, went on, and there are they have different price levels and everything, and some of those price levels are going quick. So be sure to get those tickets. If you are not familiar with Sense and Sensibility, the only way I can really do this justice is by kinda giving the blurb that they have, which is sisterhood and scandal, romance and rumors, high society, and horses. This is the story of Jane Austen's Dashwood family, which bubbles with wit and warmth in this family friendly adaptation of the classic novel.
So the one thing I will say family friendly, they say it is for all ages, but that is up for the family's discretion. So I'm gonna leave that there. So be sure to check it out. Again, it is Thursdays through Sundays now through December 22nd. And, Lauren, that's my jam for today.
I think that's all I got.
Lauren Ferrara: Well, there's there's a million fun things. So whatever you do this weekend, you will have an awesome time. But if you like this episode of Springs and Things, I hope you'll share it with a friend. We hope you'll write a review, and we hope you'll listen next week.
Carly Ries: Yes. We'll see you soon.