Meet a Westside Pioneer!
Jim Clamp

What kind of career have you had? I was a voice and piano teacher; a choir director and church musician. I’m now a property owner and manager. Young Jim Clamp, with his gun-totin’ bicycle. Courtesy of Jim Clamp Marriage/ Children? I have two children, a daughter and son (both live in Florence) from a previous marriage and 5 grandchildren. Any of your family members still here? My two sisters, Vicki Clamp and Susan Steward; also four grandchildren still live in Colorado Springs. Can you tell us about your grandparents/parents? My grandparents moved to Colorado Springs from North Dakota in 1918 for Grandma’s health. She died in the great flu epidemic of that year. Grandfather and father moved to 1131 W. Colorado Ave. in the 1930s. My grandfather, C.V. Clamp, owned Clamp’s Apparel store downtown from the 1920s to 1949. My father, George Clamp, owned Clamp Realty from 1947 to 1978. Mary, my mother, moved here by herself from Tennessee in 1936 and moved in with friends of her mother’s. She worked at Woolworth’s across from my grandfather’s store. Both my parents graduated from Colorado Springs High School. Jim’s dad George, when he was a Pikes Peak Hill Climb starter in about 1956. Courtesy of Jim Clamp What are your best memories of growing up on the Westside? Making friends at Washington School; riding my bike to my grandparents’ house; having a motorscooter while attending West Junior High; playing on the City Champion Bruins baseball team. Hobbies? Antique/classic cars; playing piano, reading, movies, exercise. Jim's mom Mary in 1940, wearing one of the early two-piece bathing suits. Courtesy of Jim Clamp What is gone from the Westside now that you wish had stayed? Washington School. What has stayed that you wish had gone? Highway 24 is a necessary unpleasantness because of the expanding size of the town. How about the way things have changed? Things have changed so much that I’m convinced time travel back would leave anyone in a deep state of shock. Our whole world has changed: our attitudes, even our thinking. To me, the Westside is sort of reassuring in that it hasn’t changed so much. Although, I can do without fast food restaurants or all the marijuana dispensaries. Overall, is the Westside better or worse than when you were a kid here? It seems a little better. The renovation of Old Colorado City was a huge improvement. C.V. Clamp's store downtown, 1945. Courtesy of Jim Clamp "Meet a Westside Pioneer" interviews people who have lived all (or nearly all) their lives on the Colorado Springs Westside. If you meet that criteria (or know someone who does), please give us a call at 471-6776.