10 Fun Facts

10

1Guests could waterski on the lake

For a time during the 1960s, water-skiing was allowed on Cheyenne Lake. The resort would host demonstrations, and guests could also strap on a pair of skis and take a lap around the lake.

Fun Facts

About The Broadmoor

The resort has had its fair share of interesting tales to tell over its 100-plus-year history. Here are a few of our favorites.

2Flamingos once frolicked in the fountains

Topped by a glass roof and decorated with live plants and trees, La Taverne’s Garden Room opened in 1953 and featured a large fountain that, for a time, included a pair of resident flamingos. While most diners found them amusing, the flamingos were quickly relocated to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

INDOOR POOL

3The Broadmoor’s first pool made a splash

The Broadmoor’s 35-by-80-foot indoor swimming pool was the largest in the West when the resort opened in 1918. Lined with blue-and-white ceramic tiles, the pool was filled with mountain spring water and purified by filters and a powerful violet-ray machine. The indoor pool was closed in 1961 and transformed into the Drugstore, which is now Café Julie’s.

4There’s an out-of-step dancer on the ceiling

The Broadmoor’s main mezzanine, fronting the lake, is painted with an elaborate fresco that depicts two dancing cherubs. A closer look reveals that the male figure has two left feet. Artist Giovanni “John” Smeraldi included a similar intentional mistake when he painted a Grand Central Station ceiling. It’s believed that the artist included these purposeful errors to symbolize that, while all human creations are flawed, only God can achieve perfection.

5The Little Theater hosted some big acts

Originally used for staging plays and musical performances— including by Igor Stravinsky, Vladimir Horowitz and Sergei Rachmaninoff—The Little Theater became a movie theater on July 4, 1948. Today, hotel guests can enjoy complimentary daily screenings.

6Spencer Penrose largely ignored Prohibition

In anticipation of Prohibition, Penrose stockpiled more than 300 cases of assorted liquor for the hotel. When Prohibition ended in 1933, he shipped an additional cache of liquor to the resort. Some of these bottles are memorialized in Bottle Alley, outside La Taverne restaurant. The oldest in the more than 1,000-bottle collection dates from 1801.

7There was a ski area on Cheyenne Mountain

Ski Broadmoor opened in 1959 on the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain. Ahead of its time, the facility included lights for night skiing and a $200,000 snowmaking machine known as the “Phenomenal Snowman,” the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River. A double chair lift carried 600 people an hour. The area closed permanently in 1991.

8Guests ride on the highest cog railway in the world

The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway is the highest cog railway in the world and the highest railway in America. Zalmon Simmons built the railway in 1891, and sold it to Spencer Penrose in 1926.

9The story of the Wonder Road ends with a twist

Mr. Penrose constructed the 7-mile-long Cheyenne Mountain Highway, nicknamed the Wonder Road, in 1925 as a means to reach his Cheyenne Mountain Lodge, atop Cheyenne Mountain. The road cost more than $1 million to build, and rises more than 3,000 feet in elevation over slightly more than a square mile. It was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” as the most-crooked highway.

10 A bear stole the show during the 2008 U.S. Senior Open

During televised coverage of the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, held at The Broadmoor, a black bear wandered onto the course during the second round of the tournament. The bear crossed the tee box on hole No. 14 soon after Mark McNulty hit his drive. Tom Watson’s backswing was interrupted by shouts of “Bear!” and an NBC commentator was seen running the opposite direction down the fairway.

COG RAILWAY

.ESSENTIALS. BROADMOOR HISTORY TOURS

Join The Broadmoor Concierge and learn more about The Broadmoor’s past, including legends, lore, and other interesting stories. Regularly scheduled tours take place throughout the week. Private tours for small groups may also be arranged. Contact the Concierge at (855) 4987558 for information.

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