Manitou Springs Post Office 1940 - Windmere 1882

Location of the Jerome Wheeler Estate now home to the Post Office, Wheeler Spring, and a city park. In 1940, this exquisite Post Office building was dedicated as the permanent home for a traveling Manitou Post Office. The first half dozen postmasters shifted the office from one building to another, depending on where their personal business was located.

The United States post office is built upon the site of Jerome B. Wheeler's Windemere estate. The colonial style building is made of blocks of locally quarried reddish green sandstone. The post office opened in 1940 or 1941. At the time it was the only United States post office to be made with locally quarried stone. The building is a one and a half storied, rectangular structure. Instead of a basement, storage is available in the half story that runs along the west side of the building. One of the town's springs is located just south of the post office.

In 1942, a Works Progress Administration mural title "Hunters, Red and White" was created inside the post office by Archie Musick. A plaque by the mural reads:

Depression-era public art programs coincided with the heyday of Colorado Springs' art school, the Broadmoor Art Academy: Its students and teachers painted murals in federal buildings nationwide. For Manitou’s post office mural competition, my father, Archie Musick, depicted the legend of Manitou’s springs: "the God Manitou in a fit of rage clubbing a quarrelsome chief." His frieze of Indian-trapper life across the bottom of the submitted sketch was so popular with "the brass in Washington…they told me to dump the main design and blow up the frieze to fill the entire space." Painted when many federal murals were nationalistic – just months after Pearl Harbor – this mural’s ambiguity and unusual dry-pigment / glaze technique are distinctive: "Hunters Red and White" embodies some historical suggestions from his friend, author Frank Waters – Manitou’s first cabin, explorers Pike and Fremont – but mostly Archie’s own inspiration from fantasy, pictographs, artist friends (including Japanese-American artists sheltering here), and the beloved local rocky landscape.

The Manitou Springs Post Office is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic Manitou Springs, Inc., is an educational non-profit based in Manitou Springs, Colorado, at the foot of Pikes Peak which operates the Manitou Springs Heritage Center and was formed in 1997 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Our mission is to collect, preserve, research, and interpret the history and culture of Manitou Springs and the Pikes Peak Region.

The intent of the organization is to educate citizens and visitors in order to increase appreciation and understanding of this unique community. Before opening the Center Historic Manitou was operated by a board of three persons–Jean Garrity, Deborah Harrison, and Michelle Anthony. During the initial 10 years, we developed a track record of participating in and supporting community projects and events, such as restoration of the Eastern Gateway Arch, rehabilitation of Mansions Park, installation of over 30 Historic Interpretive Plaques throughout town, and placement of the memorial in Crystal Valley Cemetery for Emma Crawford. We have presented the “Ghost Stories of Old Manitou” haunted walking tours as part of the Annual Emma Crawford Festival (i.e., the events surrounding the Coffin Races) since its inception.

Pearring, John. Pearring, Joanne. The Walking Tour - A Guide to Historic Manitou Springs. Volume Revised Printing. Manitou Springs, CO. TextPros, 1998.

United States Post Office-Manitou Springs Main, Wikipedia. Accessed January 12th 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office-Manitou_Springs_Main.