Est. 1903 · El Paso County Courthouse 1903–1973 · National Register of Historic Places · 1959 custodian murder on premises · Italianate granite architecture with domed clock tower
El Paso County commissioned the new courthouse in the early 1900s to replace a facility that had outgrown the county's needs. The architects — Archie Gillis, Angus Gillis, and August J. Smith — designed a Romanesque and Second Renaissance Revival building in granite, anchored by a domed clock tower that made it one of the most recognizable structures in downtown Colorado Springs. Construction was completed in 1903.
The building served as the county's seat of judicial and administrative operations for seventy years. One of the more documented incidents from that era occurred on May 29, 1959, when managing custodian Eddie Beals was shot and killed by an employee, Willie Butler, in a dispute over stolen wages. The murder took place in the custodial department, and in the years that followed, security staff began avoiding that section of the building at night.
The courthouse ceased operations in 1973 when El Paso County moved to a modern facility. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, which had been operating elsewhere, relocated to the building in 1979. The museum now holds more than 60,000 objects, among them Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute cultural material, an extensive collection of Van Briggle Pottery, regional artwork, and a nationally significant quilt collection. The Starsmore Center for Local History, also housed here, maintains manuscripts, photographs, and the personal papers of city founder William Jackson Palmer.
The ornate birdcage-style elevator — a surviving feature from the courthouse era — has become the focal point of staff paranormal accounts. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits within Alamo Square Park.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs_Pioneers_Museum
- https://hauntedus.com/colorado/pioneers-museum/
- https://gazette.com/news/residual-residents/article_4ab6373c-1205-549b-ad5d-5c8f61f660e7.html
ApparitionsElevator operating without activationCold spotsLights flickeringSensed presenceDoors opening independently
The paranormal accounts at the Pioneers Museum divide into two distinct categories, centered on two separate deaths connected to the building's history.
The first centers on Eddie Beals, who served as the managing custodian of the courthouse for years before being shot by an employee named Willie Butler on May 29, 1959. The dispute was over stolen wages. In the decades since, security staff have consistently reported an unsettling quality in the basement and former custodial areas where Beals worked — a sensed presence that prompted guards to avoid those sections at night. The birdcage-style antique elevator has drawn repeated reports: it arrives at the main floor and opens its doors without being summoned, and lights in the building flicker without explanation.
The second figure goes by 'The Gray Lady,' identified in local accounts as Laura Mathews, a woman whose death was officially ruled a suicide but whose circumstances were considered suspicious by those who knew her. The figure associated with Mathews appears on the upper floors, seen as a gray, indistinct form moving through the hallways. Unlike the Beals presence, which is characterized as disturbing and avoided, accounts of The Gray Lady describe a sadder, less aggressive energy.
Cold spots appear independently of the building's HVAC activity, and objects have reportedly moved or disappeared and reappeared. Multiple investigators have visited the building over the years, documenting door movements and temperature anomalies consistent with the staff accounts.
Notable Entities
Eddie BealsThe Gray Lady (Laura Mathews)