Roswell, Colorado facts for kids

Roswell, now annexed into the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a coal mine settlement near the northern bluffs of Colorado Springs and a 19th-century railroad junction. The town was located at roughly the present intersection of Fillmore Street and North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs.

History

The town of Roswell, built 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Colorado Springs in 1889, was named for a man from New York, Governor Roswell P. Flower, who felt that Colorado Springs' climate was only second to Saranac, New York for its curative benefits for tuberculosis patients. (See Tuberculosis treatment in Colorado Springs).

By 1899, he was an investor in mining and the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway. The town was located on Monument Creek at the junction of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RG) and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads (CRI&P). The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad had reached the area about 1875 and in 1889, Roswell had a Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P) yard. Roswell had a stone Rock Island Round House and an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway bridge over the CRI&P railway.

There were 448 residents in 1900. In 1902, Roswell was a "considerable settlement". Its streets included: Brewster, Cable, Elm (a northern city boundary), Holly, Laurel, Low, Myrtle, Parker, Poplar, Rock Island, Roswell, Sage, and part of Cedar. Roswell had a school, Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Roswell Hotel by 1903. That year, the 26.04-acre (10.54 ha) Roswell Park had an equestrian race track and a ballpark.

According to the 1910 United States Federal census, there were 426 residents in Roswell (El Paso County precinct 22). By 1911, the population had reduced to 250 people. By 1919, Roswell was a transfer station for coal loads from the Pikeview mine to the north and the Keystone mine 4.5 mi (7.2 km) to the east. In the 1940s, the Roswell race track was used as an automobile speedway.