The Pioneers Museum lives in the old 1903 county courthouse

If you want one place to learn the story of the Pikes Peak region, it is downtown in a building that is itself part of the story. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum sits inside the old El Paso County Courthouse, built in 1903, with its domed clock tower rising over Tejon Street.

The county used that building as its courthouse for about seventy years. After county business moved out, the structure found a second life as the home of the regional history museum, which had grown from a pioneers’ association founded in the 1890s to collect and protect local history.

For a newcomer, two things make this useful. First, the museum is free, which makes it an easy first stop to understand how Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, the mining towns, and the railroads fit together. Second, the building shows how El Paso County reuses its landmarks rather than tearing them down.

Hours and exhibits change, so check before you visit. For the museum’s own account of its history and the courthouse, see the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum site; History Colorado also documents the courthouse building.