by world war ii, this part of her history was coming to an end. what had been our major industry in the community was going away. to recover from that is we attracted the military. so today, colorado springs is affiliated with the military with five major installation to colorado springs, including the u.s. air force academy. so that part of our history -- this idea of colorado springs as a military town -- is simply evolution from colorado springs the health resort. >> all weekend long, "american history tv" is featuring colorado springs, colorado.

pike's peak lies west of colorado springs. trip to the summit inspired, "america the beautiful". learn more about colorado springs all weekend here on "american history tv". who o best understand spencer penn was, i thought i quote from his obituary in december 15, 1939. a says, he was more than community builder. he was of being such as the pikes peak region has never seen before, will never see again. he was a scholar and a gentleman. a man apart. as vigorous and a sturdy as the great pioneering west he loved. he knew his own mind and he experienced it.

in my own words, who is spencer penrose? i think of him more in terms of his legacy towards the community. one of the most obvious was that he built the broadmoor colorado springs in 1918, one of the finest resorts in the world right here at the foot of pike's peak. created the el e pomar foundation. and that foundation he started years before his death, with $21 million. today it has grown to $580 million. over those years, el pomar foundation has given away over $500 million in grants. is almost 13,000 grants to charities in the state of colorado. was born in ose 1865 in philadelphia, pennsylvania. seven boys born

to richard penrose and sarah boise. of the seven boys, four of them live to adulthood. all four of them were very and their adulthood -- in their adulthood. one of his brothers followed in being at the -- followed his father in being a doctor. what are the other boys was actually a senator for almost 30 years. the third brother was actually a well-known geologist who traveled around the world. spencer penrose was the youngest of the brothers. all ent to harvard, like penrose is dead at the time -- did at the time. he had no interest in the business, staying at philadelphia, so he traveled out west. worked at n texas, he up at a mine and ended

fruit and vegetable stand in new mexico. then, fortunately for him, what he he had no idea was doing, he got contacted by his brother dick penrose -- was in 1892 -- dick penrose was in denver and told about his childhood friend is in colorado springs. he, himself coming in 1884. month later, penrose arrived in colorado springs and that started a lifelong partnership. when dick penrose reintroduced to his lifelong friend, that was just the beginning of cripple creek and the gold it was perfect timing

in 1892 for penrose to come out to colorado springs. when he so that arrived, they had just found to cash on delivery goldmine. the same gold line from cripple creek. so, my great-grandfather actually sold mr. penrose the mine for $500. that is what began their interest in cripple creek mining. foundation of the penrose, pencer was ting about 1909 -- he getting dividends himself of over $1 million every year. that was not only a lot of money today, but it was significant back then. the life rted to enjoy of newly founded wealth.

he bought a place in paris, he a place in hawaii, but he had a vision for bringing, basically, the east coast and his friends out to colorado springs, colorado. them to come vince out -- could not convince them duty of out into the the region, so he envisioned an idea of building resort. and so in 1916, he envisioned the broadmoor hotel. it opened in december 1918. so that he could convince his friends to come out. familiar to have a background for them. he chose architect, a firm that just finished building grand station in new york -- he had these to paint the ceilings of the broadmoor hotel. grounds to be

beautiful and feel like a glorious estate on the east hired a o we landscaping firm who, six years earlier, just finished central park in new york. so he wanted to give them the they were back east, but have it in the setting of the pikes peak region. his sense of humor -- i gather he had a very dry sense of humor. during prohibition time, he tried to bring attention to the fact that it was terrible. he got this idea and so, one his friend showed up and said it was a gift. yes, he had been to india and there were pictures and photos of him riding elephants. in this man gave him this elephant. penrose paraded around

cars. to his friend, he nicknamed it testy. testy was a bar girl in the mining of cripple creek and it out that this elephant was not from india. it was actually a discarded elephant from a circus in arkansas. and he bought it promoted it to bring more attention to the pikes peak region. actually, itin the barns where he would fix and repair cars. he even had the elephant try to on his golf course until the superintending got mad because it smashing greens. so we had to find a place to keep the elephant. he found the zoo right above the broadmoor hotel.

turns out he also had seals in the lake he built behind the broadmoor hotel. unfortunately, health codes and the fact that the seals would food food from the gas

-- and they do not appreciate it -- and a child actually got bit by one of the seals. he had to get rid of the seals. so in 1926 he formed the cheyenne zoo. it is now a community-based do, but it is one of the -- zoo, but it is one of the finest zoos in the country. while spencer penrose is known as a flamboyant character, he was actually very shy and reserved. so much so that the colorado springs evening gazette used to talk to him all the time about the things going on at broadmoor. in the late 1920's he bought a newspaper and said keep doing what you're doing, but you can report on me -- the amount that has been given to the state of in colorado means that we have a downtown civic center courtesy of him. we have world arenas -- the broadmoor world arena -- courtesy of his money. the visitor center is busy of his resources. so the legacy of spencer penrose really is a higher

quality of life for all the the pikes peak region and the state of colorado. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> throughout the weekend, "american history tv" is featuring colorado springs, colorado. our city to her staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more about colorado springs and other stops on c-span.org. you are watching "american history tv". all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. night on the communicators, author and former chief technical officer under president obama. >> if there's one message in the book to take away, it is the notion that an iindividual state is characterized by a handshake and a handoff. this speaks to your question as to who should do what.

the handshakes are what washington has been doing lately. baby behind the curtain and not well reported the media, which is shaking hands and some of the key principles -- opening up the data, issuing challenges, and so forth. that the opportunity to have a more open government starts with a bipartisan foundation. the key is you are handing off to the american people, entrepreneurs, the public, private, local parts of government, to take that data and build products and services. >> monday night at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators." video 2015 student cam competition is underway. it's an opportunity to create a documentary on the theme "the three branches and you."