First, in 1858, there was the Lawrence Party, with Julia Holmes, the "Bloomer Girl" which came out to in response to the "Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush" fever.
The party camped first on 'Camp Creek' which runs up through Pleasant Valley from Fountain Creek. As happens all the time even today, a gully washer came down the creek, and the party retreated up into a cave on the western side of the northern huge red rock we call "Garden of the Gods."

During the time they were in the area, they found no gold, but Julia Holmes became the first woman to climb Pikes Peak.

When they went back to Kansas at the end of the summer, one young man in their party - Anthony Bott - stayed behind. He tried to stake out and homestead a fledgling town called "El Dorado." Only one cabin got built, and the town did not grow.

So Bott trudged to Denver City, which was growing. He got a bunch of men together in the summer of 1859 and they formed and registered a Land Company . They named it - Colorado being a Spanish Name referring to 'red' - Colorado City.

Then two of their number came quickly down from Denver City the 10th of August, 1859 to stake out their town claim before others did. They had a stand off with other seekers on 'their' land, but persuaded them to move on.

Melancathon Beach drove the first stake on August 12th, 1859 , the northwest corner, just up Camp Creek aways, of the town plat that would be two miles long, and one mile wide, astride Fountain Creek.

So 'Colorado City' was born. And retained the name as a separate city from that date until it dissolved itself in 1917 and was annexed by Colorado Springs.

Anthony Bott stayed, took up land - with water rights - on the far side of Fountain Creek and was the one pioneer who stayed with Colorado City until he died in 1916. He donated the land to Colorado City that is today Fairview Cemetery.

Oh yeah. The day after the town was staked out, Melancathon Beach - a man after my own heart -and Rufus Cable, an effete Easterner, rode up Camp Creek to return to Denver. But they stopped inside the gateway of the huge red rocks to gaze at the scene.

Melanconthon said "This will make a hell of a beer garden." But Rufus pressed his palms together, gazed upward, and said "Oh no. This is a garden fit for the gods!"

And so Colorado City and the Garden of the Gods, got their names.

And where did the "Old' come from? When Colorado City dissolved itself by vote in 1917, that name was up for grabs. In the 1950s, a Johnny-come-lately real estate development south of Pueblo grabbed the name "Colorado City" for itself.

In 1976 when I started the Revitalization of the west side of Colorado Springs, knowing its original history, I just added the three letters. So today it's "Old Colorado City."