Spa Building (Manitou Bath House) 1920

This notable building houses the city's namesake--the Manitou Soda Spring. The Manitou Spa Building is a large Mission on Revival style stucco building that was the last attempt in Manitou to sell mineral baths as a medicinal commercial venture. Originally, this was the site of the Soda Springs pavilion built in 1883. The pavilion was enclosed in 1903 for mineral water bathing, when the practice was at its height. After being threatened with demolition in 2000, the Spa Building was rehabilitated to house shops, restaurants, and condominiums.

In 1920, the Spa was built over the pool and took the place of the Manitou Bath House, considered an out-of-date facility. This Spa building included third floor private rooms, complete with hospital beds to authenticate the mineral bath medical facility. The second floor had several white tiled bathrooms, separate for men and women. Folks would come to get sprayed, soaked, massaged, and generally cured from whatever ailed them. The Mineral Springs Museum is located here.

A park view of the Spa may be experienced from the west side, near some fine greenstone stairs. This side walkway is vintage 1920s Manitou, leading around the corner of the Spa to the arcade atmosphere introduced by Yount in the 1930s. In the front of the Spa building are some magnificent greenstone bridges, using cut stone arch construction. These preceded the Spa building.

Originally, this entire northern bank of the Fountain Creek was intended by the founders as a city-length park. It began to give way to buildings however as early as 1885. The red stone Cheyenne Spring House near the street follows the original design of wooden huts over the springs, two built around 1872. A similar stone building house the Navajo Spring, not below Patsy's Popcorn stand near the Arcade.

The red rocks, cut circular by the stonemasons, were quarried from the Snyder Quarry a few miles east of Manitou, an area to the south of the Garden of the Gods. In front of the Spa across the bridge is a boulder, marking the Ute Trail used by Indians for hundreds of years.

The giant stone was placed here in 1912 by the El Paso County Pioneer's Association. They picked this Soda Springs' area because it was considered an Indian ceremonial spring. An early explorer named George Ruxton reportedly found beads and leather markers hanging from bushes around the spring. He assumed this was in reverence, although today's historians admit that the practice was as much to claim the area in the face of competing Indian tribes as it was to pay homage.

Chief Buckskin Charley and his Ute tribesmen participated in the marker ceremony of 1912, placing a box of historic mementos underneath the stone.

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.

Wikimedia Commons. File:The Spa, Manitou Springs.JPG, May 6th 2013. Accessed January 6th 2022. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Spa,_Manitou_Springs.JPG.

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