COLORADO SPRINGS — It is Black History Month and as we take the time to reflect on the significant contributions African Americans have made to our shared history we also wanted to look at how the past has shaped Colorado Springs.
The Abolitionist Behind The Founding of Colorado Springs
Founded in 1871, Colorado Springs was founded as a Victorian Spa Resort town according to Visit Colorado Springs. The man leading the charge to develop another settlement in Colorado Springs was General William Jackson Palmer.
Palmer was a Quaker from Delaware and despite his religious pacifist views, Palmer would go on to fight for the Union Army during the Civil War where he would go on to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions at a battle at Red Hill, Alabama in 1865 according to the Colorado Encyclopedia.
Despite the common belief that Quakers did not join the military, a fundamental tenant of Quakerism was that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. A letter with the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum confirms that despite his religious beliefs Palmer had no regrets when enlisting in the Civil War as he found slavery to be a greater evil than war.
Palmer was also a well-known abolitionist at the time, as a young man in Philadelphia before the advent of the Civil War. According to Colorado College during his time there he helped organize a controversial series of lectures featuring other prominent abolitionists of the time. The response to one of the talks was 600 armed police who were called in to hold pro-slavery mobs at the time.
To learn more about General William Jackson Palmer and who he was and who he wasn't check out Evidence: Finding the Facts About General William Jackson Palmer from the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.
Founding Colorado Springs and Colorado College
After his stint during the Civil War Palmer, an engineer at heart would go on to found the Denver and Rio Grand Railroad and laid out his plan for a new city of Colorado Springs as a town along the new line from Denver. Palmer captivated by the beauty of the Pikes Peak Region founded the town in 1871 with twenty acres of the town site to be dedicated to the town's first college.
In 1874, Colorado College held its first classes. From its very beginnings Colorado College was a coeducational institution, "open to both sexes and all races”, according to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and Colorado College.
Watch Colorado Springs Founder Ensured That All People Regardless of Skin Color Could Attend School Together
A Legacy Of Breaking Barriers
According to Colorado College among that first class of students was a total of 25 in May of 1874. Comprising of 13 men and 12 women. Among the graduates of that first class was Agnes Caldwell who graduated in 1886 making her the first White Female to graduate from the school at a time when education for women was a radical concept.
William S. Braddan is considered the first African-American Alumnus of Colorado College. Braddan attended the Cutler Preparatory Academy a attachment of Colorado College at the time.
Graduating in 1914 Braddan would go on to serve as chaplain for the 370th Infantry Division an African-American unit who fought in World War I. Braddan would go on to publish one of if not the only first-hand accounts of World War I from an African American perspective in his 1928 memoir "Under Fire with the 370th Infantry ".
To learn more about Colorado College's past click here.
___
Jungle Reef ordered to stop work in Colorado Springs
News5 wanted to know what prompted the stop work order and reached out to the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.