Monument Valley Park

About this property

Monument Valley Park is a historic, recreational park in Colorado Springs, Colorado through which Monument Creek flows. It is a National Register of Historic Places listing and is on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties. The park is located in the center of Colorado Springs. It is about two miles (3.2 km) long, with Monument Creek, a tributary of Fountain Creek running through the center of the park from West Monroe south to West Bijou. It defines the western edge of the downtown area. The park is bounded on the west by Interstate 25 and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. At the east is residential housing. Monument Creek flows north to south and falls about 72 feet (22 m) in elevation. It is 5,988 feet (1,825 m) in elevation at its lowest point at the southwestern corner of the park; it is 6,060 feet (1,850 m) in elevation at the northern edge of the park, north of Boddington Field. The narrow Mesa Creek intersects with Monument Creek at the northwestern edge of the park. General William Jackson Palmer donated the land for Monument Valley Park to Colorado Springs to be a "park for the people". The park was developed between 1904 and 1907 and included "elegant gardens, winding walks, bridged ponds, a tennis court, playgrounds and an arboretum displaying Colorado tree and shrub species and Palmer's Colorado Wildflower Garden." Every species of wildflower in Colorado was in Palmer's garden. The intention was to create a mixture of formal gardens and natural settings, like natural English gardens. Palmer was eager to find the mineral springs for which the city had been named, since these had been covered by sands during recent floods; he wished to feature a mineral spring as a gathering place in the park. Palmer found the spring in 1904 and directed engineers to install a concrete vault to maintain the water's purity and a hand pump to bring water to the surface. Palmer announced his intention to build a pavilion and to name the spring after Zebulon Pike's Indian guide, "Rising Moose," who was known as "Tahama" and other names in his native language. Spencer Penrose donated the swimming pool in 1914. Years after Palmer's death in 1909 a pavilion was planned in his honor as a memorial. Completed in 1926 the pavilion fulfilled Palmer's wishes to create a public gathering place at the city's original spring and to name the spring "Tahama Spring" after Zebulon Pike's Indian guide. The park was damaged following a significant flood on Memorial Day, 1935. Monument Creek overflowed from constant heavy rains over the 30th and 31 May. Within the park, three bridges were lost, the swimming pool filled with mud, trees were uprooted, and meadows and walkways were covered with silt and debris. Shadow Lake was made into a puddle. The streets were filled with water. The 3 natural springs were capped over with silt and debris as a result of the flood. Lakes in the park were washed away and pavilions were destroyed. The bridges alone resulted in damages of US$1,769,000 (equivalent to about $41,541,000 in 2025). As a result, the park today looks very different than it did before the flood.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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