26 Facts About Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of El Paso County, Colorado, United States.

Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city and the most extensive city in the state of Colorado, and the 40th-most populous city in the United States.

Colorado Springs is 69 miles or one hour and five minutes south of Denver by car using I-25.

Colorado Springs has the greatest total area of any municipality in Colorado.

Colorado Springs has many features of a modern urban area such as parks, bike trails, and open spaces.

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Colorado Springs has a cooler, dry-winter semi-arid climate, and its location just east of the Rocky Mountains affords it the rapid warming influence from chinook winds during winter but subjects it to drastic day-to-day variability in weather conditions.

Colorado Springs is one of the most active lightning strike areas in the United States.

Colorado Springs's economy is driven primarily by the military, the high-tech industry, and tourism, in that order.

Colorado Springs is home to the Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, U S Space Command, and Space Operations Command— the largest contingent of space service military installations.

Large percentage of Colorado Springs's economy is still based on manufacturing high-tech and complex electronic equipment.

The high-tech sector in the Colorado Springs area has decreased its overall presence from 2000 to 2006, with notable reductions in information technology and complex electronic equipment.

Colorado Springs is home to the annual Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off, a hot air balloon festival that takes place over Labor Day weekend at the city's Memorial Park.

At one time Colorado Springs was the national headquarters for 81 different religious organizations, earning the city the tongue-in-cheek nicknames "the Evangelical Vatican" and "The Christian Mecca.

Colorado Springs has been the subject of or setting for many books, movies and television shows, and is a frequent backdrop for political thrillers and military-themed stories because of its many military installations and vital importance to the United States' continental defense.

Colorado Springs, dubbed Olympic City USA, is home to the United States Olympic Training Center and the headquarters of the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Colorado Springs was the original headquarters of the Professional Bull Riders from its founding in 1992 until 2005, when the organization was moved to Pueblo.

Colorado Springs has several major city parks, such as Palmer Park, America the Beautiful Park in downtown Colorado Springs, Memorial Park, which includes many sports fields, an indoor swimming pool and skating rink, a skateboard bowl and two half-pipes, and Monument Valley Park, which has walking and biking paths, an outdoor swimming pool and pickleball courts.

On November 2, 2010, Colorado Springs voters adopted a council-strong mayor form of government.

The City of Colorado Springs transitioned to the new system of government in 2011.

In 2017 Caleb Hannan wrote in Politico that Colorado Springs was "staunchly Republican", "a right-wing counterweight to liberal Boulder", and that a study ranked it "the fourth most conservative city in America".

That year Hannan wrote that downtown Colorado Springs had a different political vibe from the overall area's and that there were "superficial signs of changing demographics".

State institutions offering bachelors and graduate degree programs in Colorado Springs include University of Colorado Colorado Springs with more than 12, 000 students, and, Pikes Peak State College which offers mostly two-year degree associate degrees.

Private non-profit institutions include Colorado Springs College established in 1874 with about 2, 000 undergraduates.

In November 2015, voters in Colorado Springs overwhelmingly passed ballot measure 2C, dedicating funds from a temporary sales tax increase to much needed road and infrastructure improvements over five years.

In early 2010, the city of Colorado Springs approved an expansion of the northernmost part of Powers Boulevard in order to create an Interstate 25 bypass commonly referred to as the Copper Ridge Expansion.

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The torii gate, crisscrossed bridge and shrine, in the median between Platte and Bijou Streets downtown, were a gift to Colorado Springs, erected in 1966 by the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs to celebrate the friendship between the two communities.