Remember walking into the Manitou Springs Heritage Center on a sunny day, when the old garage door was open? Remember feeling a little claustrophobic while moving through the space crammed with display cases and dividers, all under dim lights dangling from the ceiling?
Well, not any more. After months of work, the tired old building at 517 Manitou Ave. has been rejuvenated.
The garage door with its peeling, faded red paint is gone. The oversized display cases are, too. The walls have been covered with drywall and painted.
The aging electrical and plumbing systems have been replaced, and the ventilation system has been upgraded to protect the aging objects and to make it a cleaner environment for people.
“It was pretty sad when we started out,” volunteer Lynn Beckner said.
“It was in bad need of repair, mostly structurally, and that’s what forced the issue. Or it would have literally fallen down.”
One major accomplishment: hiring Rampart Construction as the general contractor.
The building was constructed in 1900 and had been used as an automotive garage, with a lumberyard operating out of the back. A structural engineer was hired to install posts and beams to support the sagging ceiling.
“Once you make a decision like that, you’re thinking, ‘Well, geez, if I’ve got to do that, I might as well do the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and the electrical and the plumbing,’” said Beckner, who has been volunteering at the MSHC for about five years.
Years of experience with displaying her jewelry at craft shows has made her a natural for organizing MSHC exhibits.
“When you set up a craft booth, it has to be just so for the right height, and level of content and presentation and grabbing people’s attention. What it’s really about when you put together exhibits is trying to grab those eyeballs for as many seconds as they’ll stay there,” Beckner said.
When it came time to dig into renovating the building, she took on the role of the exhibit project manager.
“I thought we were going to talk about exhibits. Well, I was wrong. We started around Jan. 5 (2024), and now here it is, end of May. And we spent a good amount of time in the first couple of months just talking about the logistics of it all.
“We got involved in a lot of construction-related tasks and planning that I didn’t expect. But it’s going to be so great.”
She led a committee that included local historian Deborah Harrison (also the building’s former owner) and former city planner Michelle Anthony — both gurus, in Beckner’s opinion.
“They’ve been around the exhibit business for years. So I don’t pretend to be the expert,” she said.
Also on that committee: Michael Maio, who moved to Manitou in 2005. The retired real estate attorney began volunteering at the MSHC in 2015 and was recently re-elected as board of directors president.
He started his volunteer work by assisting Anthony, who he calls a “tremendous mentor.”
“Between maybe the four of us, Lynn, Michelle, Deborah and myself, we probably have close to 67 years of experience under our belts,” Maio said.
They, along with fellow stalwart volunteer Neale Minch, formed the backbone of the renovation effort. According to Minch, the project cost totals $430,000.
Funding came mostly from History Colorado, plus support from the Manitou Arts, Culture, and Heritage fund and other sources.
“Since we’re a nonprofit, there’s just never enough money to do everything that we need to do,” Beckner said.
“You’ve got it down to the guts, it was just a pile of rubble in there. You can’t just stop the construction and say, ‘Sorry, we ran out of money.’”
Let’s not forget the hours and hours of that priceless volunteer work, much of it spent moving displays and items to be stored safely off-site.
Beckner estimates she spent at least five to eight hours a day on the project, along with working on two exhibits herself and helping others with their exhibits. Maio said he spent 40 to 50 hours a month in meetings and other activities since renovation planning began.
“Manitou has been very nice to us. I think the support we’re receiving from the community and these different funders are helping to bolster our credibility as a major museum source in this region. We’ve come a long way,” Maio said.
The building is in Manitou’s historic district, so the exterior has to be historically accurate. An archaeology company was brought in to oversee the excavation to install a footer for the front entrance. That yielded old horseshoes and shards of glass that may end up on display.
“Since we’re going to all this work to do a major building renovation, we might as well celebrate with an exhibit about the building’s history,” Beckner said.
To that end, she’s been gathering information and items that will compare and contrast the Manitou of 1924 and the one we know today.
Exhibits like that help enlighten people who may take for granted the historic buildings that have been lovingly preserved here.
“We serve two different visitor audiences, we have our tourists, visitors, who are primarily during the summer months, starting now and through September. And then we’ve got our locals,” Beckner said.
“The locals who come in during the winter months, sometimes they know more than we do. And then we learn from them.”
They’re likely to love the other exhibit she’s working on, an update of the MSHC’s long-running display of school memorabilia, including a prom dress from 1956 and class photos from nearly every Manitou Springs High School graduating class.
It’s a tradition in Manitou that anyone clearing out a parent’s garage or attic takes unwanted items to the heritage center. And they’re gladly accepted and catalogued so that future generations will know where they came from and, more importantly, what they mean.
How can they be displayed in a way that will intrigue and enlighten visitors?
“Even though you have this in-depth knowledge, you’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of the average visitor. Think about the average visitor experience, and what do they want to get out of their time spent there?” Beckner said.
That’s key to what she’s teaching local college students about researching, organizing and installing museum displays. And locals are always welcome to volunteer with the museum space or the archives upstairs, where longtime resident and volunteer Shirley Wade leads the preservation and organization efforts.
It would have literally fallen down. – Lynn Beckner
“This is hands-on experience right here. Anybody who wants to volunteer for this organization can do so in any capacity. We have a whole array of departments or responsibilities that are involved with this museum,” Maio said.
He’s formed relationships with his fellow volunteers, who all enjoy spending time in the place they love like a family member.
“Museums don’t have to be boring. They can be fun places where the public can come in and enjoy the entertainment, as well as the history of the museum,” Maio said.
“I believe that, in running a museum, the showmanship is just as important as the history itself.”
That showmanship will be evident during the grand opening, when Maio will lead an “underbelly of the museum” tour. It’s fully booked for that evening, but more will be offered.
“We got away from looking like a garage and we look more like a museum now,” Maio said. “We’re just so pleased with it.”
IF YOU GO
Celebrate the refurbished Manitou Springs Heritage Center, 517 Manitou Ave., 4:30-8 p.m. Friday, June 7. Reservations are requested so there will be enough hors d’oeuvres and beverages. RSVP/information: manitouspringsheritagecenter.org or 719-685-1454.