John's History Corner

I have often pondered the lives of our city founder,

General William Jackson Palmer compared with

Winfield Scott Stratton.

They no doubt knew one another, but probably

had few words to say since their personalities and

backgrounds were quite different.

Palmer’s upbringing as a Quaker influenced his

life, but we are not aware of what, if any religion,

affected Stratton. They both called Colorado

Springs home for thirty years between 1872 and

1902 and probably came into conflict when

Stratton supposedly wanted to build his streetcar

line up Tejon Street and straight through the

Colorado College campus. There is speculation

that Palmer had Palmer Hall built to block the

route! Both men were amongst the city’s earliest

settlers and both were adventurous with vision

and tenacity – Palmer built railroads and Stratton

found gold. Whereas Palmer loved his castle,

threw parties and was comfortable with his wealth,

Stratton was uncomfortable with too much wealth

and possessions and preferred solitude over

socializing.

Both men were generous philanthropists,

particularly in giving away properties they had

acquired. Both were enamored with travel by rail,

Palmer in his railroad construction and Stratton

with his building of the Colorado Springs &

Interurban Railway and support of the Short Line

to Cripple Creek. Stratton had a weakness with

alcohol which likely contributed to his early death

in 1902 at age 54. Palmer, on the other hand, lived

to age 72 – sobriety was important to him. We

owe a great deal to both men – they made

significant contributions to our community that

will be enjoyed for many more generations!

John Haney

June NewsLetter - Singing Wire - is out! Email us to request a copy!

President's message:

Since our March letter, some

significant events have occurred. We have

a new City Council, and our reading is that

a majority of them are sympathetic to a

revival of the bus system for two significant

reasons; the need to provide better

transportation services to the segment of

our population that is not able or willing to

drive to work and shop for various reasons,

and the expressed opinion of many firms

looking to locate here, that a vibrant public

transportation system would be a major

positive factor in their decision process.

Why is this important to our Foundation? It

is because we hope to joint venture with

Mountain Metro Transportation in the

operation of a streetcar system and that

group's sustainability is very important to

us. The Mountain Metro task force that

came up with a roadmap for their future,

gave a compelling presentation to Council

in late May, with the following

recommendations - discussed but not

voted on by Council. That their task force

reconstitute itself as an implementation

group, to further refine the specific

processes that need to occur, to make

MMT a self-sustaining operation, rather

than relying on annual appropriations from

the City's general fund. That that task force

approach the Pikes Peak Rural

Transportation Authority about putting MMT

under PPRTA and when that agency's

sales tax authority comes up for voter

renewal next year, to request a greater

share of the 1% collected be allocated to

transit operations than the 10% present

allocation.

If and when the above comes to fruition,

the bus system will be on a much stronger

footing from an operating standpoint, and

we will be dealing with the capital needs

required to put tracks in the streets,

with the associated power lines,

storage/maintenance facilities, etc.,

which it's now anticipated the City (or

PPRTA) will undertake, and that of

supplying the cars to operate, which

our Foundation expects to do. At this

point, Federal grant monies with a local

match of 20-50% will be the preferred

option for the City, and corporate or

private sponsorships for restoration of

our cars, augmented by a public fundraising

campaign will be the

Foundation's approach. Complicating

and muddying our plans for our capital

funding needs, the City's new mayor

has taken a "no new taxes" pledge and

the US Congress, led by the House of

Representatives, will probably cut

drastically, transit funding in its future

budgets. Both the Streetcar Task

Force and the Foundations are working

on these issues and I hope to have

some positive news to report in our

later editions of The Singing Wire.

Several Sad Notes:

Our long time volunteer and car

operator, Irene Bones, suffered a

debilitating stroke several weeks ago.

In Pittsburgh, during WW2, Irene was

the youngest female streetcar operator

in the nation, and we had hoped she

would be the oldest when our system

was operating here. Our prayers are

with Irene for her complete recovery.

We also note the passing of Neal

McElroth’s wife Ruth. Our prayers go

out to Neal and his family.

Dave Lippincott