Photo by Rhonda Van Pelt
It’s taken a while to reveal the gem hidden under the tacked-on detritus of decades. But the community can finally see the possibility that Hiawatha Gardens could return to something resembling its former glory.
It may never again be the place where “dancing is entrancing” or host nationally known performers, but the building on Old Man’s Trail has a chance to be a vital part of Manitou Springs for generations to come.
The core structure, with its intact dance floor and sturdy beams, was constructed in the late 1890s. As City Engineer Dole Grebenik explained to the 95 people who toured it Sept. 11 and 13, it was built to last.
Since the city purchased the property in 2016, the process has moved along in incremental steps, many leading to a Plan A and a Plan B. For instance, the outlying structures, which were more recent and poorly built, were demolished this summer.
If experts deemed that what remained was not worth saving, the demolition would have continued. The dance hall would have disappeared to make more space for parking.
But that didn’t happen.
“We had a structural engineer and an architect come in and evaluate the building, and they looked at the foundation elements and the queen rod trusses,” Grebenik said, pointing to the beams overhead.
“One of the things that makes this building significant and valuable is these queen rod trusses. They were very cutting-edge at the time.”
As he explained, they allowed the building to have a much larger span — more space for dancing — than was standard at that time. The queen rod trusses sit on columns and, according to the structural engineer who inspected them, they have not budged in the 120-plus years since they were installed.
“It was really unique to actually use 10-inch wooden beams as a structural element for the building. But they are actually in excellent shape,” Grebenik said.
The foundation, which includes Manitou greenstone, is equally intact. The architect saw no settling or cracking, despite much of the building being in the flood plain.
Grebenik believes that’s why the foundation was built the way it was, to elevate and protect the building.
The engineer is one of the city’s representatives on the current Hiawatha Gardens Task Force. It includes Alan Delwiche, who also spoke during the tour.
He reminded guests that, in October 2020, City Council passed a resolution that empowered a task force to carry on the work of two previous task forces. Their tasks included:
To consider starting the process to bring Hiawatha Gardens back into the Manitou Springs Historic District;
To find a project manager;
To interact with the Cog Railway to discover how management could help Manitou with the $500,000 mentioned in the 2018 tax-incentive agreement to support the development of mobility; and
To develop a strategy to make Hiawatha Gardens self-
sustaining.
Through it all, the task force has endeavored to increase community engagement, study past community feedback and understand what people originally envisioned for the property.
Those efforts have been supported with a page on the city’s website (www.manitouspringsgov.com/412/_Hiawatha-Gardens), which includes the task force’s reports and requests for input.
The task force has also coordinated with Manitou’s Transportation and Parking Board to devise ways to use the site as a transportation hub.
Delwiche also spoke about the poorly built additions to the core structure.
“It would be easier to build from scratch rather than trying to salvage it. So that informed our decision to essentially get rid of that part,” he said.
Task force member Ann Nichols talked about the strategies that should happen soon.
“We need to protect the historic dance hall for the winter while we work through the other steps to figure out what’s going to become of Hiawatha Gardens,” she said.
The greenstone portion of the north end’s foundation will be replaced and reclaimed for another use, and areas around the foundation will be filled in to protect it.
The soil filled in after the demolition will be compacted, leveled and surfaced in some way.
“While we work through the other steps on what’s going to happen with the building, we can get parking in that area. It will create probably 20 to 30 or more parking spaces,” Nichols said.
She also explained that a secondary project will undertake designing restrooms and, potentially, a mobility hub on the building’s north end or east side. Those ancillary structures will support the dance hall and provide community services.
The current task force has worked with the Manitou Arts, Cultural, and Heritage board to secure funding, approximately $40,000, for the next steps.
The members have issued a request for proposals for architectural services to create a design for the restored building. They will interview the two “very qualified” architectural firms that have submitted proposals, make a selection and present it to City Council, tentatively on Oct. 5.
Members are applying for a grant to help fund the design process and the effort to protect the building, and City Council will receive the required 90-day updates.
“We will have a lot more community engagement, a lot more opportunities for people to ask questions and give their perspective on what this space should be,” Delwiche said.