Experience Our  
History
Click though the timeline below to learn more about the different living history sites at Rock Ledge Ranch
1775-1835
American Indians
Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site’s story begins with the American Indians.
The Utes have no migration story; their oral tradition says that Colorado is their homeland and they have always been here. Archeological evidence within Garden of the Gods shows human occupation for more than 5,000 years.
After acquiring horses from the Spanish around 1630, the Utes became skilled horsemen. Camp Creek Valley, which today includes Rock Ledge Ranch, provided a seasonal base camp with abundant water and diverse plant life.
In the mid-19th century, gold discoveries and further westward expansion and settlement brought the U.S. government into conflict with the Ute. As a result, the Ute people were removed from this area to reservations in southwestern Colorado and Utah in the 1870s.
At the American Indian Interpretive Area, we interpret the period between 1775-1835. These were good years for the Ute; they had horses with which to travel and hunt, and little competition for the use of their land. As a result of the abundant natural resources in Colorado and the extensive trade networks that they developed, the American Indian peoples of this area could obtain a wide variety of foods, hides, building materials and manufactured goods. They used these resources to support their families and to honor their cultural traditions.
Although forty-nine Native American tribes have ties to Colorado, we primarily tell the Ute story. Today many American Indians live, work, and go to school in the Pikes Peak Region.
1867-1874
Galloway Homestead Cabin
The Homestead Act was signed into law by President Lincoln in 1862 and is one of the most impactful laws in American history. It allowed the federal government to sell land to individuals, assisting farmers in acquiring good land at low prices.
Before the arrival of the railroad to the Pikes Peak Region in 1871, settling and farming out West was challenging because supplies, equipment, and crops were difficult and expensive to transport.
Walter Galloway, an immigrant from Scotland, arrived in Colorado Springs in 1867 at the age of 37. He built the original homestead cabin but could not file for his 160-acre homestead until the land was surveyed, which did not happen until 1871. He was a day laborer in Colorado City and lived on the property for another three years after filing his homestead claim.
In November 1874, he travelled to the Pueblo County Land Office and purchased the 160 acres outright for $200 ($1.25/acre). He sold the land to Robert Chambers the next day for $1,400.
At the Galloway Homestead, we interpret what the daily routine would have been like for pre-railroad settlers. Families constructed homes with the resources they could find, cooked food over an open fire because stoves were too heavy to transport in a wagon and gardened without the assistance of large farm equipment.
Every member of the family was responsible for completing essential work around the homestead. Children would have spent their little free time learning school lessons and playing with simple handmade toys.
1874-1900
The Chambers Family
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.
1890s
Blacksmith Shop
Located south of the Rock Ledge House is the reproduction 1890s Blacksmith Shop. Although there was never a blacksmith shop at Rock Ledge Ranch, this gives us the opportunity to interpret what the Ranch’s interactions with businesses in Colorado City would have been like.
During this time in history, blacksmiths spent most of their time repairing commercially manufactured tools and implements. You may see an apprentice hard at work with the master blacksmith. Apprentices typically lived with the family and were compensated with room, board, and an invaluable education in a trade.
You may also see the journeyman blacksmith honing his skills at the forge. The journeyman blacksmith would travel or journey to the shops of master smiths were he would perfect his trade under their guidance, thus giving him the name journeyman.
You can stop by the General Store and purchase an item hand-forged here at the Ranch.
1907-1909
The Sclater Family – Orchard House
In 1900, Colorado Springs’s founder General Palmer purchased Rock Ledge Ranch and made it part of the Glen Eyrie Estate, located just north of the Chambers property in the Camp Creek Valley.
He paid the Chambers $17,000 for their 160-acre farm for the purpose of acquiring the water rights tied to the property. Palmer rebuilt and expanded the Chambers’ irrigation system that diverted Camp Creek’s water.
In 1906, General Palmer, invited his sister-in-law, Charlotte, and her husband, William, to move to Colorado Springs from their home in Cape Town, South Africa. Charlotte Sclater had previously lived in Colorado Springs at Glen Eyrie as a young woman, while her half-sister Queen was alive. After General Palmer’s riding accident in 1906, which left him paralyzed, Charlotte Sclater assisted in his care. She was an avid horsewoman and enjoyed lacemaking, candy-making, and photography.
William Sclater was a well-known British ornithologist. During his brief stay in Colorado Springs, Sclater wrote a book on the birds of Colorado, while creating and curating the natural history museum at Colorado College, as well as teaching there as a professor.
In 1907, Palmer commissioned the construction of a country estate, called Orchard House, on the Rock Ledge Ranch property expressly for the Sclaters. The house was designed by architect Thomas MacLaren, who was at the height of his career crafting villas and resort homes for the wealthy new residents of the city.
The Orchard House was a modern country home in the Cape Dutch or South African Colonial style valued at $20,000. The interiors were uncluttered and tastefully decorated in Mission and American Colonial Revival styles. The home had the most modern conveniences such as electricity, plumbing, a whole house heating system, running water, and an electromagnetic call bell system.
Mr. & Mrs. Sclater lived in the home until Palmer’s death in 1909, when they returned to England.
Rock Ledge Ranch Today
After the death of General Palmer in 1909, Rock Ledge Ranch’s historic homes passed through private hands for over half a century. In the 1950s, the Vrooman family acquired the property and lived in the Orchard House. The renovations of the buildings around the Ranch included a white coat of paint with green trim, giving the surrounding area the moniker “White House Ranch.”
It wasn’t until 1968, when the historic homes were at risk of demolition and the property was going to be subdivided, that the El Pomar and Bemis Taylor Foundations joined forces to assist the City of Colorado Springs in the purchase of the Ranch. By 1995, the Ranch name was changed back to “Rock Ledge Ranch,” which was the name that the Chambers family had used to describe their land in the 1880s. The Ranch is continually undergoing restoration efforts to honor its mission to steward a diverse outdoor museum by engaging, inspiring, and educating guests with the cultural and agricultural stories of the Pikes Peak Region.
As a living history museum, the Ranch provides a safe, educational, and experiential program that interprets the social, agricultural, and economic development of the Pikes Peak region. Visitors can escape back in time from their modern day lives and make memories for a lifetime.