Ivywild, Colorado

Before Europeans settled in the area, Cheyenne set up tepees at the confluence of the Fountain and Cheyenne Creeks when they traveled through the area. About 1859, Irving Howbert and his family settled near the creeks.{{cite news|url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/Index/ArticleOrders/2015/03/852806.pdf |title=Ivywild comes alive thanks to two women |date=January 11, 2015 |page=23 |author=Bill Vogrin |newspaper=The Gazette |via=Pikes Peak Library District |access-date=January 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071729/http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/Index/ArticleOrders/2015/03/852806.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2016 }} The following year, John Wolfe settled along Cheyenne Creek.{{cite news|url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialCollections/Index/ArticleOrders/2012/437891.pdf |title=John Wolfe, Early Settler, Is Dead |date=August 10, 1909 |page=5:5 |newspaper=The Gazette |via=Pikes Peak Library District |access-date=January 25, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305064408/http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialCollections/Index/ArticleOrders/2012/437891.pdf |archive-date=March 5, 2016 }} The area was called Ivywild by 1879.{{cite news|title=Wildcat killed in Ivywild|date=November 15, 1879|newspaper=The Gazette|location=Colorado Springs, Colorado}}

Ivywild was established in 1888 and platted by William B. Jenkins, a rancher and miner, who created 43 lots when he subdivided his ranch. His wife Annie named the town.{{r|History comes alive}}{{cite book|author=William Bright|title=Colorado Place Names|year=2004|publisher=Big Earth Publishing|isbn=978-1-55566-333-9|page=93}} She was a large stockholder of Ramona Mining Company. Her father, William Iles, was the Manager of Manitou Springs' first hotel, La Font.{{cite news | url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollectins/Index/ArticleOrders/239488.pdf | title=Mrs. Annie H. Jenkins, Widow of Founder of Ivywild, Dies in Westcliffe; Funeral Here | newspaper=The Gazette | location=Colorado Springs | via=Pikes Peak Library District | date=July 24, 1940 | page=1:6 | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Ivywild had a post office by January 1892.{{cite book|title=United States Official Postal Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZkiAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA509|date=January 1892|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=509}}

The Ivywild Improvement Society held annual meetings by 1898, when they discussed the high water rates and taxes.{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/320633.pdf | title=Ivywild Improvement | date=March 15, 1898 | newspaper=The Weekly Gazette |page=3-2| via=Pikes Peak Library District | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}{{efn|In 1914, The Gazette reported that an improvement society was to be created for Ivywild to be properly prepared to manage a fire.{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/320446.pdf | title=Ivywild Citizens Seek Projection Against Fire | date=March 1, 1914 | newspaper=The Weekly Gazette |page=5-2| via=Pikes Peak Library District | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} The Gazette reported in 2007 that the Ivywild Improvement Society was founded in 1915.{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3702741.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329154738/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3702741.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 29, 2015 |title=Archivist hopes to document modern Springs for the future |author=Bill Vogrin| newspaper=The Gazette |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | date=January 4, 2007 |url-access= | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}}} The organization filed suits in 1917 regarding public utility service to the community.{{cite book|author=Colorado Public Utilities Commission|title=Annual Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exwtAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA49|year=1917|pages=33, 49}} Dorchester Park was named for Joseph Dorr, a water rights attorney, who established water rights for Cheyenne Canon and Ivywild. The Iowa native operated a hay farm after having settled in the area in 1874. The park is located across the creek from the site of Dorr's farm.{{r|History comes alive}}

John H. Bacon, a mayor of Colorado Springs in 1880, lived in Ivywild by 1900.{{cite web | url=http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/16348/rec/2 | title=Col. Bacon's residence, Cheyenne Canon, Colorado Springs | publisher=Denver Public Library | access-date=January 25, 2015 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064641/http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/16348/rec/2 | url-status=dead }}{{cite book|author1=Colorado Springs City Council|author2=John R. Robinson|title=Town incorporation, city organization and reorganization, also classification as city of the first class. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ9LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185|year=1902|publisher=City Council|page=185}}{{efn|Bacon committed suicide at his Ivywild house in January 1904 at 70 years of age. He had been suffering from poor physical and mental health.{{cite news | url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201904/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201904%20-%200524.pdf | title=John H. Bacon A Suicide: Wealthy Resident of Colorado Springs Takes His Own Life | newspaper=The New York Herald | date=January 18, 1904 |page=7| access-date=January 25, 2015 }}}}

The Ivywild Elementary School was founded in 1901 with two bungalow buildings until 1916 when a brick building was constructed. The two bungalows were moved, one became the Edelweiss Restaurant and the other the Ivywild Presbyterian Church.{{r|Mixed Use Center}}

In 1902, Winfield Scott Stratton (1848-1902) and Thomas F. Burns purchased 10 acres along Cheyenne Boulevard from William B. Jenkins for $16,000 ({{inflation|US|16,000|1902|fmt=eq}}). The equal partners purchased the land for the construction of baseball park called Boulevard Park,{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6282671/the-weekly-gazette/ | title=Stratton and Burns - Buy Boulevard Park | newspaper=The Weekly Gazette | location=Colorado Springs | date=March 13, 1902 | page=11 | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} just west of Jenkins Pond (now Tejon Street and Cheyenne Boulevard).{{cite book|author=Dennis Pajot|title=Baseball's Heartland War, 1902-1903: The Western League and American Association Vie for Turf, Players and Profits|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0x1WZ4iMkooC&pg=PA63|date=29 August 2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8904-6|pages=63–64}}

The base ball park was built by Statton,{{Cite book |last=Hadix |first=Roger P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tI9hpz55fhIC&pg=PA29 |title=Baseball in Colorado Springs |date=2013 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-9954-0 |page=29 |language=en}} but not completed until after his death. The Burns brothers (James and Thomas Burns) bought The Millionaires baseball club, and Thomas F. Burns was president of the club.{{Cite book |last=Hadix |first=Roger P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tI9hpz55fhIC&pg=PA29 |title=Baseball in Colorado Springs |date=2013 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-9954-0 |pages=29, 38 |language=en}} The Colorado Springs Millionaires baseball team played at the park, often known as Base Ball Park, that sat 3,500 people. Boulevard Park, on the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway's electric trolley route,{{cite book|author=Allan C. Lewis|title=Railroads of the Pike's Peak Region, 1900-1930|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VleXC9xbKr4C&pg=PA95|year=2006|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-3125-0|page=95}} was about a 5-minute trolley ride from the center of town.

Residents of Ivywild met at Jenkins' house on South Nevada Avenue to discuss the creation of a local government in 1902, when the community was governed by El Paso County, Colorado. It was reported that the time was right because "the growth of the pretty suburb has been steady."{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57532640/ | title=A Town Government is Proposed for Ivywild | newspaper=The Weekly Gazette | location=Colorado Springs | date=March 20, 1902 | page=11 | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} Plans were made later that year to begin to incorporate the town.{{cite news | url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/320623.pdf | title=Will Incorporate Town of Ivywild | newspaper=The Weekly Gazette | location=Colorado Springs | date=November 20, 1902 | page=5:1 | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}

John Coughlin, a ward boss from Chicago, bought property in 1903 to invest in Ivywild development.{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/2007/283006.pdf | title=Johnson Tract in Ivywild Will Become New Chicago | date=January 4, 1903 | newspaper=The Gazette |pages=1–5| via=Pikes Peak Library District | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} He donated a carriage with fire equipment to the town in 1904.{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/320624.pdf | title=Ivywild Gets Fire Apparatus | date=July 24, 1904 | newspaper=The Gazette |page=5-2| via=Pikes Peak Library District | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} Coughlin built an amusement park, Cheyenne Springs Park and Zoo, at Alsace Way and 8th Street in 1906 at the cost of $75,000 ({{inflation|US|75,000|1906|fmt=eq}}).{{r|History comes alive}}{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialCollections/Index/ArticleOrders/283018.pdf |title=Coney Island Resort in Ivywild to Cost $75,000 | date=January 5, 1906 | newspaper=The Gazette |page=1-1| via=Pikes Peak Library District | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} A play entitled, Ivywild: The True Story of John "Bathhouse" Coughlin has been written about the man.{{r|History comes alive}}

Charles Maddocks, who built houses in Ivywild from wood salvaged from Nikola Tesla's laboratory, bought Boulevard Park in 1904 when the Millionaires dissolved. He built bungalows, including Sears and other mail order homes.{{r|History comes alive}} The Ivywild Pharmacy and Ivywild Grocery and Market were both doing business by 1916.{{cite book|author=Colorado. Bureau of Labor Statistics|title=Biennial Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQ0VAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA62|year=1916|publisher=The Bureau|page=112|chapter=El Paso County - Mercantile Lists}}

In 1960, Ivywild had 10,608 residents and was part of the 17,713 population of Cheyenne Mountain Division, was a census county division in El Paso County, Colorado.{{ cite web | url=http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/17598731v1p7ch2.pdf | title=Number of Inhabitants - Colorado | work=Table 7. Population of Counties, By Census County Divisions: 1960 | page=7-1, 7-16 (map) | publisher=US Census Bureau, US Government Printing Office | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} In 1977, residents voted not to create a village called Cheyenne Mountain by consolidating the towns of Broadmoor, Skyway, Cheyenne Canon, and Ivywild.{{cite web | url=http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll27/id/38001/rec/8 | title=Consolidation of four suburbs | date=November 16, 1977 | publisher=Denver Public Library | work=Western History | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}

A General Assembly bill in 1978 proposed consolidation of the suburbs into Colorado Springs.{{cite web | url=http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll27/id/38001/rec/8 | title=Consolidation of four suburbs: Analysis of General Assembly Bill | date=January 22, 1978 | publisher=Denver Public Library | work=Western History | access-date=January 25, 2015 }} Ivywild was one of five Colorado Springs suburbs annexed into Colorado Springs in 1980. The others were Broadmoor, Skyway, Cheyenne Canon, and Stratton Meadows. The annexation added {{convert|6.5|sqmi|sqkm}} and 20,000 people to the city's total area and population. The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the annexation in 1982.{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7447027.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924195946/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7447027.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 24, 2015 |author=Bill Vogrin | newspaper=The Gazette | title=Annexation -- an issue that doesn't go away | location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | date=May 20, 2007|url-access= | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}

The Ivywild Elementary School and Ivywild Community Church closed in 2009.{{r|Gentler Ivywild}} The former elementary school was made into a multi-use commercial and community center called Ivywild School in 2013. The remodeled {{convert|20,000|sqft|sqm}} building has a delicatessen, brewery, pub, bakery, coffee shop, gift shop, and architectural office. The project was partially funded by the city under an urban renewal project.{{cite news | url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P2-35135190 |author=Rich Laden | newspaper=The Gazette | title=Colorado Springs' Ivywild School Celebrates New Life as a Mixed-Use Commercial Center | location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | date=August 16, 2013 | via= |url-access= | access-date= }}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}

Ivywild Park, located at Navajo and Dorchester, was dedicated in 2005. The funding for the only neighborhood park in Ivywild was provided by a federal grant.{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2764375.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409211801/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2764375.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 9, 2016 |title=After struggle, Ivywild gets place to play Community park is ready to build after 11 years |author=Ed Sealover| newspaper=The Gazette |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | date=December 26, 2004 |url-access= | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2773097.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117054652/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-2773097.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 17, 2018 |title=Briefly Metro | newspaper=The Gazette |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | date=October 14, 2005 |url-access= | access-date=January 25, 2015 }}

• Jean Stafford, short story writer and novelist{{cite book|author=David Roberts|title=Jean Stafford|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWD1SCO_OAEC&pg=PA22|date=31 December 2003|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-30217-7|page=23}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|author1=Community Renewal Associates|author2=El Paso County Land Use Department|title=Ivywild Redevelopment Plan: Ivywild, El Paso County, Colorado|year=1978}}
• {{cite book|author1=James R. Fennell|author2=Lola S. Scobey|title=Build Ivywild: How Awakening an Old School Is Sustaining Our World: Fennell Group's Proposal to Redesign Cities from the Neighborhood Up|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AinVmgEACAAJ|date=10 April 2013|publisher=Itasca Books|isbn=978-0-9888655-2-5}}

{{External images

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|image1=[http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Bacon,%20John%20H.--Homes%20&%20Haunts--1890-1900./mode/exact Images of Colonel John H. Bacon's Ivywild property (1890-1900)], Denver Public Library

|image2=[http://cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15981coll57/id/1354/rec/1 Colorado Midland Railway engine and cars through Ivywild], Pikes Peak Library District

|image3=[http://cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15981coll57/id/871/rec/4 Ivywild after the May 1935 flood], Pikes Peak Library District

|image4=[http://cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15981coll50/id/2088/rec/26 South entrance to Colorado Springs, Ivywild sign in lower left (1965)], Pikes Peak Library District

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{{GNIS|193515}}

{{Colorado Springs}}

{{El Paso County, Colorado}}

Category:Neighborhoods in El Paso County, Colorado

Category:History of Colorado Springs, Colorado

Category:Geography of Colorado Springs, Colorado