Broadmoor Hotel

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A view from the main building of the hotel facing west

The Broadmoor Hotel is a 5-star/5-diamond luxury hotel and resort located in southwestern Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the United States. Built in the early 20th century as the "Grand Dame of the Rockies", it was one of the finest resort destinations along the Rocky Mountains during the age of railroads.^{[citation needed]} It continues to be a popular conference destination for businessmen and government officials.^{[citation needed]} It also offers a tennis facility rated #3 by Tennis Magazine.^[1]

1 History
- 1.1 Raised letter 'A'
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The resort dates from 1891, when it began as a small hotel and casino. The current resort was built in 1918 by Spencer Penrose, a Philadelphia entrepreneur whose brother was Senator Boies Penrose. Nicknamed "Spec" for skill at speculation, Spencer Penrose amassed a fortune from mining claims at nearby Cripple Creek, and after a grand tour through Europe's finest hostelries, decided to build one. With no expense spared, he succeeded. The hotel attracted a wealthy clientele in the early 20th century drawn to the beauty of Pikes Peak, as well as to the mountain air which aided recuperation from tuberculosis. Penrose was so pleased with the Broadmoor that in 1937 he completed nearby a monument to its creator — his tomb, taking the rather novel form of an 80-foot hilltop observation tower which overlooks the resort. Persuaded not to name the structure after himself, it is instead called the "Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun," honoring Penrose's friend who died in a plane crash in 1935, during construction of the tomb.

The Broadmoor resort was formerly the site of the Broadmoor World Arena, a historic ice arena which hosted the World Figure Skating Championships five times between 1957 and 1975. The original home to the Broadmoor Skating Club, for many years the rink was an important international training center for the sport, employing such notable coaches as Carlo Fassi. The rink was demolished in 1994 to make way for a new wing of the hotel. On the hotel grounds, there remains a memorial to the Broadmoor skaters who were members of the United States team killed in a 1961 plane crash. From the 1940s to the 1980s, a small ski area below Cheyenne Mountain, called "Polomar" or "Ski Broadmoor", operated but shut down due to lack of snowfall and insufficient funds to keep it running. The mountain was mostly beginner-oriented.

The Broadmoor is able to serve many guests, as it has over 700 rooms, and 15 restaurants and cafes. It also has 3 golf courses, and includes a world class spa.^[2] The Penrose Room, named after Spencer Penrose, is the pinnacle of fine dining at the Broadmoor.

[edit] Raised letter 'A'

The hotel's name and logo is always officially presented as all uppercase with a small letter A raised higher than the other letters: BRO^ADMOOR. The reasoning behind this is surrounded by legend and rumor. One story claims the alteration was necessary to obtain a copyright due to other uses of the Scottish word Broadmoor, such as the nearby Broodmoor Dairy (since closed). The hotel's official website says "The raised "^A" in The BRO^ADMOOR name came about in order to render the name unique, since it has been in use since the late 1800's and therefore could not be copyrighted."^[3]

Another story claims that Spencer Penrose and William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, were locked in a friendly albeit competitive rivalry. Palmer owned the nearby Antlers Hotel, and for that reason, Penrose required the "A" in "Broadmoor" to always be smaller than the other letters. In some tellings, the small 'A' in this story was a sporting claim that Penrose would eventually own Palmer's Antlers Hotel, which he eventually would accomplish.