Knob Hill, Colorado

Knob Hill (38°50′24″N 104°46′58″W / 38.84000°N 104.78278°W / 38.84000; -104.78278^[1]) is a landform and associated neighborhood of Colorado Springs established with 11 annexations from June 6, 1952 (e.g., "Grandview-Knob Hill" tracts in 1955-6 and "Union Printers Addition" in 1962) until 2 final tracts were incorporated on November 1, 1967.^{[ 1]} The hill is within an area bounded on the west by Shooks Run,^{[ 1]} on the north by tbd, on the east by Sand Creek, and on the south by Prospect Lake and its tributary.

History

William Jackson Palmer donated a c. 1874 tract of Knob Hill land for a medical school^[2]--the St. Francis Hospital was built on Institute Heights at the east end of Pike's Peak Avenue, near the Knob Hill street car line^{[ 1]} (cf. the 1890-1902 Bellevue/National Deaconess Sanitarium to the east-southeast). In addition to the 1892 Childs-Drexel Home--the Union Printers' Infirmery^[3] (Childs-Drexel home for Union Printers with more than 55 residents by 1898^{[ 1]}) on Knob Hill,^[4] by 1898 the Pikes Peak Gun Club was on Knob Hill near the city limit^{[ 1]} (cf. the current Pikes Peak Gun Club east of the city near Schriever Air Force Base.)

The city's streetcar line stopped "just at the edge of the Knob Hill prairie" when the 1899 Tesla Experimental Station was built on an empty Knob Hill site between the 1876 Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind and the Union Printers' Home.^[5] "Nob Hill" streets in 1903 included First, Second, Lake, Locust, Main, Maple, Pikes Peak, etc.^{[ 1]} and by 1906 the east side of the city extended beyond Hancock Avenue to "Main Street, Nob Hill"^{[ 1]} (now Union Boulevard) between Yampa and Huerfano.^{[ 1]} Additional medical facilities and the "Knob Hill Auction Co." were on the hill,^[6] as was the WWII tent camp and Cold War Ent AFB--by 1956 Knob Hill had a population of 3,612.^[7] In 1983, the city conducted a survey of Knob Hill residents,^[8] and a 1984 Knob Hill redevelopment plan was prepared^[9] (Google maps label "Knob Hill" at the corner of St Vrain St & Hills Rd.)^[10]

References