The Palmer Lake Historical Society
FOX21 Local News visited our museum last week and aired a nice video on March 20, 2023 about our Lucretia Vaile Museum. The series was all about the “Tri-Lakes” area including Woodmoor, Monument and Palmer Lake.
Rhea Jha, FOX21 interviewed our museum director Roger Davis. Thank you everyone who participated that day. It was fun hearing Roger tell about the history of the Tri-Lakes area.
The Palmer Lake Historical Society
In 1956, a group of residents recommended that a manuscript detailing the founding of Palmer Lake, Monument and the surrounding “Tri-Lakes” region be published. To accomplish this, they also recommended that a historical society be formed to continue the preservation of the area’s history.
Today the society maintains the Lucretia Vaile Museum in Palmer Lake to preserve the records and artifacts of the Palmer Divide. The society also organizes free events for the community and supports the publication materials on local history.
The Palmer Lake Historical Society
New Exhibits
Featured Publications
Palmer Lake a Historical Narrative
This edition is truly “The Best Book About the Remarkable History of the Town of Palmer Lake.”
This 148 page book tells the story of the Town of Palmer Lake, Colorado, from before its beginning until about 1989 which was the centennial of the incorporation of the Town. Sabin did extensive research, and her work is well documented with cross-references. The history of Palmer Lake closely parallels the early development of the Denver & Rio Grande and Santa Fe Railroads. The rise and fall of railroad passenger service and the new automobile changed the town in many ways.
The book is extensively illustrated with over seventy-five new or re-scanned photographs and illustrations. The person index now covers all chapters in the book. Where known, facts that were in error have been researched and corrected.
Pine Crest: From Columbine Park to a Methodist Camp, 1897-1973
The Palmer Lake Historical Society presents Occasional Paper No. 5 Pine Crest: From Columbine Park to a Methodist Camp, 1897-1973, written by Daniel W. Edwards and published August 2020.
This 52-page, spiral-bound publication is illustrated throughout with black and white photographs and draws extensively on the historical materials held in the archives of the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. The essay traces the history of the park from its development in 1897 as a small recreational site, through its development and later sale to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and ends with the Methodist church’s sale of the property in 1973.