Famous hotel near Colorado Springs will celebrate 150 years | Culture & Leisure

American President Theodore Roosevelt stayed there.

Just like Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand, PT Barnum, Thomas Edison and Clark Gable.

Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show came by, as did its star Annie Oakley.

With 150 years of history, The Cliff House at Manitou Springs is a long-standing shrine to the history of the Pikes Peak region and the West – many of its rooms are named after famous guests.

The hotel will celebrate its sesquicentennial from Friday to June 10 with a dinner and dance on Friday; a big gala on Saturday, reminiscent of those organized in the early years of Manitou's history; Kurt Skinner, Roosevelt re-enactor; and historical presentations by Ed Nichols III, the great-grandson of EE Nichols, who purchased the property in 1876. His family operated the hotel for more than seven decades.

“No two rooms are the same,” said general manager Martin Lays. “Celebrity suites are themed around photos of that person. You feel the feeling, you can remember the day. We also feature works by Charles Rockey, who was a local Manitou artist.

At the foot of Pikes Peak, The Inn, as it was first called, opened in 1874, two years before Colorado became a state. Manitou Springs was barely a town, although it had begun to grow in the late 1850s in response to activity around the area's gold mines. Native Americans still lived in the area, and the mineral springs attracted people from the East Coast who believed the waters would cure their ailments, including Nichols, who showed up in the 1870s hoping to cure his tuberculosis.

“The building stood here all by itself; there wasn’t much around,” Lays said. “There were stables. At one time they had a pool hall, a bowling alley and a tennis court.

The inn served as a stop on the famous stagecoach from Colorado Springs to Leadville. The 20-room boarding house, with its lounges and porches, attracted trappers and hunters. And when Leadville's mines proved successful, more affluent people, such as mine owners, miners, and investors, came to join the establishment. The amenities proved so popular that tents were pitched outside the building to accommodate all guests.

But by the mid-1870s, times had changed. With the end of the gold rush, the inn struggled to fill its rooms. Fortunately, Manitou Mineral Springs attracted more attention and visitors. Nichols, who had recovered from his illness, purchased The Inn in 1876 and renamed it The Cliff House. He transformed it into a resort hotel for those drawn to town by the sparkling waters.

California real estate developer Jim Morley purchased the property in 1981 and transformed the building into a 42-unit apartment building. The following year, a tenant fell asleep in bed with a lit cigarette and set fire to the fourth and fifth floors. The building sat vacant for 16 years until Morley spent $10.5 million on restoration and reopened it in 1999. He will also be in town for the sesquicentennial celebration.

At its peak, the hotel had 200 rooms. Today, 55 rooms, a ballroom, a music room, The Dining Room and the Red Mountain Bar and Grill attract approximately 20,000 patrons, restaurant patrons and people who stroll through for a step back in time.

Contact the writer: 636-0270

Contact the writer: 636-0270