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Who came up with the name, 'Old Colorado City'? Hint: It's no surprise Dave Hughes led the Old Colorado City economic revitalization effort of the 1970s and '80s. In conjunction with a Westside Pioneer article about the original Colorado City being annexed into Colorado Springs 100 years ago (see article at this link), the Pioneer sent Hughes an e-mail to ask him if he knew the background of the unofficial term, "Old Colorado City."This was Hughes' e-mailed reply: "I came up with it for our business association board. Because old-time Westsiders referred to their area as 'Old Town,' it made sense to call the new community we were building 'Old' Colorado City. "I knew from having studied Ralph Taylor's 1963 book 'Colorado South of the Border,' that he gave the name 'Colorado City' to a real estate developer who had asked for suggestions when he was developing a town south of Pueblo. "Taylor, a reporter (and sometime historian) for the Pueblo Chieftain, knew that the original 'Colorado City' had been a frontier town north of the Arkansas River before Colorado Springs existed. So he gave the developer that name as a tip to history. "I knew it would be confusing to duplicate the name for what we were resurrecting on the Westside of Colorado Springs. So I named it 'Old Colorado City.' "It was still confusing. When 'Old Colorado City' got rolling and our publicity included the Pueblo Chieftain, some business wannabees mailed letters to us at 'Colorado City.' So that town's small chamber of commerce had to forward them to 'Old Colorado City' (which irritated them no end)." (Posted 4/10/17, updated 4/11/17; Business: Changes) Would you like to respond to this letter? The Westside Pioneer welcomes letters at editor@westsidepioneer.com. (Click here for letter-writing criteria.) |