COBWEB CORNERS: A quiz on local history

By Mel McFarland

       Ever wonder how well you know the area? Some of us know spots that others are oblivious to, and that is this week's subject. I have a little quiz, only 10 questions, for you, but you will have to wait a week for the answers, because that is next week's topic!
       1. There are locations around that have interesting names. I will start with an easy one, since I have already done a story on it, Where is Adam's Crossing? 2. Here's another one I have talked about: What were two uses of the building at 2902 W. Colorado Avenue? 3. How about the original purpose of the fire station across the street? 4. A hospital that was started by a railroad? 5. What local industry had its own airport? 6. Whose statue was in the center of the street at Nevada and Vermijo? Where is it now? 7. Can you name two coal mining towns that are now inside Colorado Springs? 8. What road was called the "Ribbon of Death" in the 1940s and '50s? 9. Can you name a road that was built to be a railroad, but failed before it was constructed? 10. What local landmark once had a fence around it to keep people from getting close enough to take its picture?
       None of these things are really obscure. If you can answer all of them as you read them, you are pretty good. A couple of the questions are there to make you wonder. If you can figure out half of them in a day or two, without help, you are still pretty good. If you do not have a clue, you need to learn more about our town! I really did not get to the tough questions. Want some of them?
       How about: Where was the first restaurant in Colorado Springs? Where was the first school in Colorado Springs? Who was one of the first teachers? What was one of the biggest businesses in Manitou in the 1890s? Where was the area's amusement park? oh yes we had a nice, big one once. How about the Fair Grounds? No, not Calhan!
       That ought to make you want to see the answers! I have given a similar quiz to various civic groups around town over the last 20 years and always enjoy the blank looks on faces as I show certain pictures of things as they were a 100 years ago and, in some cases, much less.