1909 Antlers Hotel (Now Demolished) 5.25" Souvenir Spoon Sterling Silver 12 Gr

Description

This 5.25" souvenir spoon features a long-gone building, engraved date of 1909, and Colorado Springs attractions.  Featured are The Antlers Hotel (see history below), Pike’s Peak, Gateway to Garden of the Gods, Canon of the Grand, Tunnel #1 (see history below), the Loop, Royal Gorge, and Mount of the Holy Cross.  Clearly marked with word “Sterling” and manufacturer’s mark, which I can’t decipher. Silver weight = 12 grams.
Condition: Excellent giftable condition.  No mentionable issues.  No pings, dings, bends, scratches, monograms, decoration erosion, carbon spots, or any notable blemish. Bowl engraved with year on underside.
Courtesy of the Antlers Hotel web site: Colorado Springs was founded in August 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer and his vision of a first-class hotel came to life; The Antlers, A Wyndham Hotel opened in June of 1883. At that time the population of Colorado Springs was approximately 5,000 people. General Palmer named the hotel “The Antlers” as it housed his large collection of deer and elk trophies which was the envy of many.
The original hotel had modern conveniences such as a hydraulic elevator, central steam heat and gas lights. In addition, the property had a billiards room, music room, barber shop, Turkish Bath and children’s playroom. The hotel had 75 large guestrooms, some with balconies, and no two rooms were alike. The hotel welcomed many travelers from around the world and in fact was nicknamed “Little London” because of the many English tourists who came to visit. The city attracted health-savvy individuals seeking the high-altitude dry climate, nearby Pikes Peak and the amazing natural rock formations known as Garden of the Gods.
Although being very successful, disaster struck on October 1, 1898 when a fire started at the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Depot located near the Antlers and it burned to the ground. The hotel was evacuated in time, with no injuries reported from the guests and staff; however, the building could not be saved. Palmer rebuilt the hotel in 1901 with Italian Renaissance architecture, designed by the Varian and Sterner architectural firm. The new hotel had 200 elegant guestrooms, a restaurant, and the Rose Ballroom. Palmer included fireproof walls, tapestries and mosaic floors. Over the years many influential presidents visited the hotel, including Warren G. Harding, William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, who gave a speech off a hotel balcony in 1901. After William Jackson Palmer passed in 1909, Spencer Penrose attempted to buy the hotel but could not reach an agreement, so he built the Broadmoor. The second building remained in operation until 1964, with the last guest checking out on September 20th.
The hotel was then torn down and re-built, eventually re-opening on March 20, 1967. The third hotel was situated in its original location downtown Colorado Springs, however it was the first building to face the city center rather than the railroad tracks. In 1975, the Broadmoor Management Company took over the operation of the Antlers. For several years, a large double-decker London-styled bus shuttled guests between the Antlers and the Broadmoor; the route being named the “A to B”.
History of Tunnel #1:
The Tunnels on Gold Camp Road are located on a spectacular drive that carves its way through North Cheyenne Canyon.
There are 3 tunnels in total, one of which is sealed off by huge gates and located past where cars can easily drive.
The tunnels lie along the old railbed of the Short Line Railroad, a twisting 31-mile rail line that ran between the two cities from 1901 to 1920. After the tracks were torn up in 1929, it was turned into a scenic dirt road that passed through seven tunnels, their ceilings still black with locomotive soot. In the 1980s, an eight-mile road section was closed because of the imminent collapse of Tunnel 3 above Silver Cascade Falls.
Many of the locals in the Colorado Springs area are familiar with the legends surrounding the arched Gold Camp rail tunnels. Originally there were nine of the passageways dug into the hills, but as railroad travel in the area dwindled, three of the tunnels succumbed to age and vandalism and collapsed.
These tunnels above Colorado Springs are the site that’s gained the most traction among ghost hunters in the last 25 years