The Ute, Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples were the first recorded inhabiting the area which would become Colorado Springs. Part of the territory included in the United States' 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the current city area was designated part of the 1854 Kansas Territory. In 1859, after the first local settlement was established, it became part of the Jefferson Territory on October 24 and of El Paso County on November 28. Colorado City at the Front Range confluence of Fountain and Camp creeks was "formally organized on August 13, 1859" during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. It served as the capital of the Colorado Territory from November 5, 1861, until August 14, 1862, when the capital was moved to Golden, before it was finally moved to Denver in 1867. So many immigrants from England had settled in Colorado Springs by the early 1870s that Colorado Springs was locally referred to as "Little London." In 1871 the Colorado Springs Company laid out the towns of La Font (later called Manitou Springs) and Fountain Colony, upstream and downstream respectively, of Colorado City. Within a year, Fountain Colony was renamed Colorado Springs and officially incorporated. The El Paso County seat shifted from Colorado City in 1873 to the Town of Colorado Springs. On December 1, 1880, Colorado Springs expanded northward with two annexations.
Almost immediately following the arrival of railroads beginning in 1871, the city's location at the base of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains made it a popular tourism destination. Tourism is the third largest employer in the Pikes Peak region, accounting for more than 16,000 jobs. In 2018, 23 million day and overnight visitors came to the area, contributing $2.4 billion in revenue.
In addition the state of Colorado runs the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, a residential school for people up to age 21 and established in 1874, in the city.
Private non-profit institutions include Colorado College established in 1874 with about 2,000 undergraduates. Colorado Christian University has its Colorado Springs Center in the city.
The second period of annexations was during 1889–90, and included Seavey's Addition, West Colorado Springs, East End, and another North End addition. In 1891 the Broadmoor Land Company built the Broadmoor suburb, which included the Broadmoor Casino, and by December 12, 1895, the city had "four Mining Exchanges and 275 mining brokers." By 1898, the city was designated into quadrants by the north-south Cascade Avenue and the east-west Washington/Pikes Peak avenues.
From 1899 to 1901 Tesla Experimental Station operated on Knob Hill, and aircraft flights to the Broadmoor's neighboring fields began in 1919. Alexander Airport north of the city opened in 1925, and in 1927 the original Colorado Springs Municipal Airport land was purchased east of the city.
The first autumn freeze and the last freeze in the spring, on average, occur on October 2 and May 6, respectively; the average window for measurable snowfall (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) is October 21 through April 25. Extreme temperatures range from 101 °F (38 °C) on June 26, 2012 and most recently on June 21, 2016, down to −27 °F (−33 °C) on February 1, 1951, and December 9, 1919.
The city's military presence began during World War II, beginning with Camp Carson (now the 135,000-acre Fort Carson base) that was established in 1941. During the war, the United States Army Air Forces leased land adjacent to the municipal airfield, naming it Peterson Field in December 1942.
In November 1950, Ent Air Force Base was selected as the Cold War headquarters for Air Defense Command (ADC). The former WWII Army Air Base, Peterson Field, which had been inactivated at the end of the war, was re-opened in 1951 as a U.S. Air Force base. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was established as a hardened command and control center within the Cheyenne Mountain Complex during the Cold War.
Colorado Springs's sister city organization began when it became partners with Fujiyoshida. The torii gate erected to commemorate the relationship stands at the corner of Bijou Street and Nevada Avenue, and is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. 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. A plaque near the torii gate states that "the purpose of the sister city relationship is to promote understanding between the people of our two countries and cities". The Fujiyoshida Student exchange program has become an annual event.
As of the April 2010 census, 78.8% of the population of the city was White (non-Hispanic Whites were 70.7% of the population, compared with 86.6% in 1970 ), 16.1% Hispanic or Latino of any race (compared with 7.4% in 1970), 6.3% Black or African American, 3.0% Asian, 1.0% descended from indigenous peoples of the Americas, 0.3% descended from indigenous Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders, 5.5% of some other race, and 5.1% of two or more races. Mexican Americans made up 14.6% of the city's population, compared with 9.1% in 1990. The median age in the city was 35 years.
Currently there is no intercity passenger service; the last remaining services connecting the Front Range cities ceased with the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Front Range Passenger Rail is a current proposal (as of 2023) to link the cities from Pueblo in the south, north to Fort Collins and possibly Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Between 1965 and 1968, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak State College and Colorado Technical University were established in or near the city. In 1977 most of the former Ent AFB became a US Olympic training center. The Libertarian Party was founded within the city in the 1970s.
On October 1, 1981, the Broadmoor Addition, Cheyenne Canon, Ivywild, Skyway, and Stratton Meadows were annexed after the Colorado Supreme Court "overturned a district court decision that voided the annexation". Further annexations expanding the city include the Nielson Addition and Vineyard Commerce Park Annexation in September 2008.
Colorado Springs was the original headquarters of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) from its founding in 1992 until 2005, when the organization was moved to Pueblo.
High-tech corporations offering fibre-optics to the premises connections within the city include: Lumen Technologies, Comcast and other providers as of 2023. Hewlett-Packard still has some sales, support, and SAN storage engineering center for the computer industry. Storage Networking Industry Association is the home of the SNIA Technology Center. Keysight Technologies, spun off in 2014 from Agilent, which was itself spun off from HP in 1999 as an independent, publicly traded company, has its oscilloscope research and development division based in Colorado Springs. Intel had 250 employees in 2009. The Intel facility is now used for the centralized unemployment offices, social services, El Paso county offices, and a bitcoin mining facility. Microchip Technology (formerly Atmel), is a chip fabrication organization. The Apple Inc. facility was sold to Sanmina-SCI in 1996.
Colorado Springs has a cooler, dry-winter semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), and its location just east of the Rocky Mountains affords it the rapid warming influence from chinook winds during winter but also subjects it to drastic day-to-day variability in weather conditions. The city has abundant sunshine year-round, averaging 243 sunny days per year, and receives approximately 16.5 inches (419 mm) of annual precipitation. Due to unusually low precipitation for several years after flooding in 1999, Colorado Springs enacted lawn water restrictions in 2002. These were lifted in 2005 but permanently reinstated in December 2019.
In 2004, the voters of Colorado Springs and El Paso County established the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority.
In 2006 and 2010, the Bankstown TAP (Talent Advancement Program) performed with the Youth Symphony and the Colorado Springs Children's Chorale as part of the annual "In Harmony" program. A notable similarity between Colorado Springs and its sister cities is their geographic positions: three of the seven cities are near the foot of a major mountain or mountain range, as is Colorado Springs.
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. Under the council-strong mayor system of government, the mayor is the chief executive and the city council is the legislative branch. The mayor is a full-time elected position and not a member of the council. The council has nine members, six of whom represent one of six equally populated districts each. The remaining three members are elected at-large.
Although Colorado voters approved Colorado Amendment 64, a constitutional amendment in 2012 legalizing retail sales of marijuana for recreational purposes, the Colorado Springs city council voted not to permit retail shops in the city, as was allowed in the amendment. Medical marijuana outlets continue to operate in Colorado Springs. In 2015, there were 91 medical marijuana clinics in the city, which reported sales of $59.6 million in 2014, up 11 percent from the previous year but without recreational marijuana shops. On April 26, 2016, Colorado Springs city council decided to extend the current six-month moratorium to eighteen months with no new licenses to be granted until May 2017. A scholarly paper suggested the city would give up $25.4 million in tax revenue and fees if the city continued to thwart the industry from opening within the city limits. As of March 1, 2018, there were 131 medical marijuana centers and no recreational cannabis stores. As of 2019 Colorado Springs is still one of seven towns that have only allowed for medical marijuana.
On June 23, 2012, the Waldo Canyon fire began 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of the city. The fire ended up destroying 346 homes and killing two people in the city. In total, over 32,000 residents had to be evacuated. At the time the fire was the most destructive in state history until it was surpassed by the Black Forest Fire the following year.
In a North Korean propaganda video released in April 2013, Colorado Springs was inexplicably singled out as one of four targets for a missile strike. The video failed to pinpoint Colorado Springs on the map, instead showing a spot somewhere in Louisiana.
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. This temporary increase is estimated to bring in approximately $50 million annually, which will be used solely to improve roads and infrastructure. The ballot measure passed by a margin of approximately 65–35%.
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". In 2016 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". Since 2020, Colorado Springs has continued to shift towards the political center. In 2022, Governor Jared Polis won the city in his bid for reelection. In the 2023 mayoral election, independent candidate Yemi Mobolade handily won the race and became the first elected non-Republican mayor of the city.
In April 2018, the Colorado Springs City Council approved a Bike Master Plan. The vision of the city's Bike Master Plan is "a healthy and vibrant Colorado Springs where bicycling is one of many transportation options for a large portion of the population, and where a well-connected and well-maintained network of urban trails, single-track, and on-street infrastructure offers a bicycling experience for present and future generations that is safe, convenient, and fun for getting around, getting in shape, or getting away." Bike lanes in Colorado Springs have not been deployed without controversy. According to The Gazette, their readers "have mixed feelings for new bike lanes." In December 2016, the City removed a bike lane along Research Parkway due to overwhelming opposition; an online survey found that 80.5% of respondents opposed the bike lane. The Gazette has stated that since the Bike Master Plan was adopted by city council, "no issue has elicited more argument in The Gazette pages," and due to this immense public interest, on February 25, 2019, The Gazette hosted a town hall meeting called "Battle of the Bike Lanes."
In 2017, Colorado had the third-most craft breweries at 348. Breweries and microbreweries have become popular in Colorado Springs, which hosts over 30 of them.
Colorado Springs's economy is driven primarily by the military, the high-tech industry, and tourism, in that order. The city is experiencing growth in the service sectors. In June 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.3%. The state's unemployment rate in June 2022 was 3.4% compared to 3.6% for the nation.
Colorado Springs has more than 55 attractions and activities in the area, including Garden of the Gods park, United States Air Force Academy, the ANA Money Museum, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, Old Colorado City, The National Museum of World War II Aviation, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center. In 2020, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum opened; the Flying W Ranch Chuckwagon Dinner & Western Show reopened in 2020. A new Pikes Peak Summit Complex opened at the 14,115-foot summit in 2021. The Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway also reopened in 2021.
Mountain Metropolitan Transit (MMT) is testing Battery Electric Buses (BEB), and if the buses perform well, the agency plans to acquire its first three BEBs in 2021 using funds from the Volkswagen emissions scandal and resulting lawsuit and settlement. On April 22, 2022, Mountain Metro unveiled four new all-electric Proterra ZX5 buses to be added to their fleet. The new buses join their current fleet of 67 clean diesel buses. They are funded by the Colorado Department of Transportation Division of Transit and Rail Settlement Transit Bus Replacement Program, Volkswagen Diesel Emission Settlement trust, and Federal transit Administration 5339(b) Buses and Bus Facilities Program grant. The Proterra ZX5 buses run 220 to 330 miles on a single charge, and cost $1.2 million per bus.
Schriever Space Force Base is responsible for Joint Task Force-Space Defense and Space Deltas 6, 8, and 9. The NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center is located at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Within the mountain complex, the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station has been operated by Space Operations Command. On January 13, 2021, the Air Force announced a new permanent home for Space Command, moving it from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama in 2026, but the decision could be reversed by Congress.
Colorado Springs Airport (COS; ICAO: KCOS) has been in operation since 1925. It is the second-largest commercial airport in the state, after Denver International Airport (DEN; ICAO: KDEN). It covers 7,200 acres (2,900 ha) of land at an elevation of approximately 6,200 feet (1,900 m). COS is considered to be a joint-use civilian and military airport, as Peterson Space Force Base is a tenant of the airport. It has three paved runways: 17L/35R is 13,501 by 150 feet (4,115 by 46 m), the runway 17R/35L is 11,022 by 150 feet (3,360 by 46 m) and the runway 13/31 is 8,270 by 150 feet (2,521 by 46 m). The airport handled 2,134,618 passengers in 2022, and is served by American, Avelo, Delta, Southwest, Sun Country, and United.
In early 2010, the city of Colorado Springs approved an expansion of the northernmost part of Powers Boulevard to create an Interstate 25 bypass commonly referred to as the Copper Ridge Expansion.