Spring announces itself in Monument with the first Art Hop. Beginning in May, the Art Hop takes place on the third Thursday of each month from May until September. During Art Hop the downtown galleries and boutiques stay open until 8:00 pm while locals and visitors enjoy an evening downtown. Many of the shops provide refreshments and many galleries invite local artists to paint or sculpt on premise during Art Hop hours. Summer Soulstice will be celebrated in downtown Monument on Saturday, June 18th. The longest day of the year will take advantage of this abundance of sunlight with outdoor music, dancing, food, and flowers. July 4th is celebrated all over the Tri-Lakes region beginning with one of Colorado's oldest and longest July 4th Parade. The Children’s parade begins in Monument at 9:30am and is directly followed by the Independence Day Parade. Keep your eyes open for the elephants and camels of the nearby Renaissance Festival. When the Parade has ended, the entertainment continues in downtown Monument with street vendors and live music in Limbach Park. At night, the party shifts to Palmer Lake where the 20th annual fireworks display takes place at Palmer Lake. The fireworks are choreographed to music which can be heard at the lake or on your car radio. June 8th kicks off Free Concerts in the Park. Mt. Herman serves as the backdrop as music is performed in the Limbach Park performance shell. This year’s lineup includes blues, jazz, bluegrass and rock. Bring a blanket or a chair and join us at 7:00pm every Wednesday night from June until JUly for a free concert. Concert schedules are available at www.monumentmerchants.com. The Monument Chili Cook-off is the hottest place to be on September 17th, as the best chili chef’s the Tri-Lakes region has to offer compete for the top pepper award. The cook-off is on Front Street and begins at 10:00am. In September local schools provide hand painted banners illustrating all the things we love about autumn. Historic downtown Monument is wrapped in changing leaves, scarecrows, cornucopias, and harvest moons while shops populate their sidewalks and storefronts with handmade scarecrows. Safe Trick or Treat has become one of downtown’s favorite events showing off a long line of small ghosts, pirates, princesses, frogs, and furry things on October 31st. Parents get into the fun as well and shops stay open until 6:00 to hand out treats and welcome each costumed visitor. After Thanksgiving, the fall banners come down and the Christmas Banners go on display. Banner Christmas features original Christmas art banners, hand painted by renowned local artists. Winter scenes, Christmas scenes and Holiday themes dress the historic downtown. Small Town Christmas begins Friday evening December 3rd from 10:00am to 2:00pm in Limbach Park with carols and the lighting of the Town Christmas Tree. On Saturday the fun begins with holiday happenings of every kind. Carolers, Santa Claus, live reindeer, hayrides, shopping, and even cookie baking are all part of downtown Monument’s Small Town Christmas. Visit Discover Monument for more details on these events.

The first settlers of Monument were men from the state of Iowa who with their wagon trains had started out for California and the gold rush. When they arrived here the meadowlands grass was as high as the horses backs, there were many springs of good soft water and good rich virgin farming soil. So they stayed here and homesteaded land and began to make improvements. Many of the pioneers didn't get to Iowa for their families for three years. They had many trials and troubles with the Indians. A fort was built on the McShane Ranch for protection. It was a circular stone fort, twelve feet in diameter with stone walls two feet thick and a roof of logs. Earth covered the logs to prevent Indians from setting the roof on fire. There were five port holes of which four had sliding blocks of stone to close them. Monument was first named "Henry" Station after Henry Limbach, one of the early settlers and the first mayor. When the D&RG railroad was built in 1870s, General Palmer and Mr. Limbach had the towns name changed to Monument because of the beautiful rock formations to the west of the town. Monument has been an incorporated town since June 2, 1879. The first town meeting was held July 3, 1879. In the 1880s the town of Monument was supported by the farmers. The Divide potatoes were known as the best potatoes in the country. This was the chief industry. In 1877 the greatest number of potatoes raised to the acre was 25,000 pounds. In 1889 Monument shipped out 380 CARS (RAILROAD) OF POTATOES TO Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Other crops raised to sell were rye, oats and corn. In 1878 it was estimated that there were 75,000 to 100,000 bushels of grain to be ground in the Monument vicinity. In 1890 Monument was the main shipping point on the D&RG Railroad. One year Monument shipped 380 cars of potatoes, 100 cars of lumber, 75 cars of cord wood and 16 cars filled with grain. At harvest time the farmers always hired extra help to pick potatoes and threshing grain. In the winter it was always ice harvest time which usually began the last of December. Forty to fifty men were employed for 25 to 30 days to pack ice in the ice houses and then to be used to refrigerate the railroad cars for shipping fruit and vegetables in the summer. In 1943 a terrific west wind swept over the mountains and blew the ice houses down. The town also had a cheese factory and creamery. Dairy farmers sold their milk to the Carlson and Frink Creamery Company. The cheese made here was known as Black Diamond cheese and shipped all over the United States. Just about 3 miles west of Monument was the Monument Nursery. It was started in 1907. In 1938 the nursery required 60 men to operate. The Monument nursery was established primarily to provide new trees for reforestation of 15,000 acres of timber land left barren by the disastrous Mt. Herman forest fire in the 1880s. The Mt. Herman burn was completely reforested by 1926. The nursery closed in 1965 and moved to Basalt, CO where more water could be obtained for irrigation and it could operate cheaper. Monument has grown since June of 1954 when it was made known that the Air Force Academy would be built approximately six miles south of Monument. Many homes have been built in Monument and lots that were bought for $5 and $10 now sold for $3,000 to $6,500. Very little farming or cattle raising in now done. All have been sub-divided and new homes built. Many people commute to Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver each day to work. Beautiful houses have been built in the timber known now as Woodmoor. Many retired military have liked the area and have bought or built homes here. The past fifty years have brought many changes perhaps the next fifty years will too. As published in El Paso County Heritage © 1985 Curtis Media Corp.

• Limbach Park
• Dirty Woman Creek Park
• Limbach Park
• Dirty Woman Creek Park
• New Santa Fe Regional Trail

What sets education in D-38 apart from other districts? Small Town School District - Big Time Learning! D-38 is a premiere PRE-K-12 school district with the philosophy that each individual student should have an educational experience customized to meet specific needs. Our schools are among the top in Colorado and we are Accredited with Distinction by the State. Our students score higher on standardized testing than neighboring districts, place in the overall top 10% for ACT college entrance exams, and beat the average on advanced placement tests by 20%. Lewis-Palmer School District is in the top 2% in the nation on the College Board Advanced Placement Achievement list. We are proud to offer acclaimed music, art, sports, and activity programs. Among our 353 licensed teachers, 100% are rated as highly-qualified in their subject areas, more than 60% have earned a master's degree, and 1.4% have doctorates. Click on the links below for more. Scroll down for answers to additional questions.

• St Peter Catholic School
• Life Academy
• Monument Charter Academy
• Lewis-Palmer School District 38
• Schools Public Mntnc & Oper
• Advanced Hair Tech
• Sarah Groh Music Studio
• Tri-Lakes Community Preschool
• Lazzaro, Tom - Performance Solutions, Incorporated
• Johnsons Piano and Tutoring