Monument, Colorado

Perched atop the Palmer Divide between Colorado Springs and Denver, Monument was first settled in the eighteen sixties and originally called Henry's Station after the man who purchased a hundred and sixty acres and registered the townsite. After the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad arrived in the early eighteen seventies, the settlers renamed the place Monument in eighteen seventy-four, after Monument Creek and the striking rock formation to the west. Henry Limbach, the same man who had registered the town, became its first mayor when Monument incorporated in eighteen seventy-nine. Sitting at seven thousand feet, it was the highest point on the early railroad line between Denver and the Springs, and trains stopped here to take on water and let passengers catch their breath.