Rock Ledge House

Seeking to improve his wife’s health, Robert Chambers traveled with Elsie W. Chambers and their children, Ben and Eleanor, from Pennsylvania to Denver in 1874 by train.

Robert was persuaded by a friend to visit the new community of Colorado Springs along the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He loved the area and moved his family to the growing town as he searched for property to buy. In November he purchased Walter Galloway’s 160-acre homestead, nestled between Camp Creek and the Garden of the Gods.

The Chambers built a house from stone, constructed a reservoir, and dug irrigation ditches to carry water to their crops. Mrs. Chambers named their new home “Rock Ledge Ranch.”

Between 1874 and 1900, Robert and Elsie Chambers raised their children Ben, Eleanor, and Mary at Rock Ledge Ranch.

They were also active members of the growing Colorado Springs community. Mr. Chambers served as school board president. Mrs. Chambers started a school in the Rock Ledge House and was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

The Chambers also found creative ways to increase the output of their farm. They built a steam-heated greenhouse adjacent to the house in which they grew vegetables and flowers to sell. Because of their extensive irrigation system and reservoir, the Chambers developed quite a prosperous fruit orchard and vegetable farm. The Chambers also earned money by boarding tourists and tuberculosis patients on the second floor of their house. In 1900, Robert and Elsie decided to retire to California and sold their property to their neighbor, General William J. Palmer, for $17,000.

Our interpretation of the Chambers farm and Rock Ledge House focuses on the changes and progress that were seen both in Colorado Springs and at Rock Ledge Ranch at the end of the 19th century.