By Joanna Zaremba
The open-air dance hall is visible in the center foreground of this vintage photo.
Fans of music, history and a good story with interesting characters and plot twists will find something to relish in historian Deborah Harrison’s upcoming free presentation “Hiawatha Gardens —The Soul of Manitou Music.”
Ever since it opened in 1890, Hiawatha Gardens has had many iterations, both legal and illegal, including serving as a gentlemen’s club, beer garden, casino, opera house, dance hall, concert venue, roller skating rink, basketball court and restaurant.
In her talk, Harrison, a Manitou Springs resident and historic preservationist, will share Hiawatha Gardens’ varied history with a focus on the building’s musical history, which spanned from 1897 to 1974.
“(Hiawatha Gardens) was the place to be back then,” Harrison said. “It is the only place in Manitou that has a huge musical heritage.”
During its time as a dance hall and entertainment venue, Hiawatha Gardens hosted many well-known Big Band musicians, including Duke Ellington, Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Whiteman. It also hosted movie heartthrob Rudolph Valentino during his dance tour in 1923.
Later, when it was known as the Sundown Lounge, it hosted top country-western musicians.
Harrison spent two years researching Hiawatha Gardens and F.L.M. Smith, the flim-flam man who built the original building and opened it as a gentlemen’s club that was actually an illegal gambling establishment. While researching, she read historical newspapers and local history books and did title searches, amassing 132 pages of documents about the building, its owners and its many roles in the community.
In addition to sharing her deep knowledge of the building and its owners — many of whom had skirmishes with the
police for illegally serving alcohol — Harrison will play some of the music that people came to Hiawatha Gardens to hear. She’ll also share photos and vintage postcards of Hiawatha Gardens from her own collection.
After moving to Manitou Springs in 1986, Harrison purchased a house built in 1899 and began restoring it while learning about the area’s history. She was hooked, and went on to help found the Manitou Springs Heritage Center, where she currently sits on the board of directors.
Harrison also previously served on the Manitou Springs Historic Preservation Commission and is an author of two books for Arcadia Publishing — “Images of America: Manitou Springs” and “Then and Now: Manitou Springs.”
The city of Manitou Springs purchased the former Tajine Alami restaurant in 2016 for $1.05 million with Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority funds to use the site for parking. Currently, the city uses the paved area around Hiawatha Gardens as a paid parking lot for visitors.
In 2016 and 2018, architectural evaluations of the existing building found that later additions built around the structure’s perimeter were not structurally sound and should be demolished. Those additions were demolished this summer.
The city’s website states the original dance hall pavilion building has been deemed to be structurally sound, and the Hiawatha Gardens Task Force III hosted tours of the pavilion Sept. 11 and 13.
The city’s website states, “In an October 2020 resolution, the Manitou Springs City Council directed the Task Force to investigate and implement the restoration of historic aspects of Hiawatha Gardens with the goal to establish it for community use including but not limited to a multimodal transportation hub.”
Harrison believes it’s important to share the building’s significant musical history while its fate is being decided. She was against the city’s initial plans to tear down Hiawatha Gardens and replace it with a parking lot.
“They wanted to tear the whole thing down for 40 parking spaces,” Harrison said. “I thought that was a rather poor use of a historic asset because part of what makes Manitou different from a lot of other places is our history — our mineral springs, the history of all the buildings, the fact that our history is based upon tourism.
“We’ve got history on display. It’s ironic that they would tear down a piece of history to put in parking for the other history.”
IF YOU GO
“Hiawatha Gardens —The Soul of Manitou Music” starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25 at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center, 517 Manitou Ave. Pre-registration for free tickets is required; the link can be found on the MSHC website, www.manitouspringsheritagecenter.org. Masks required. Information: 685-1454 or ManitouHeritage@gmail.com.