Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum — Attraction in Colorado Springs

Oh my goodness, I LOVED this museum!!! Such a beautiful building - your experience begins right when you walk through the doors. The architecture, the lighting, the marble and paintings - all so beautiful. And what an amazing treat that it was FREE!!! I donated, of course, because this gem is worthy of a high admission price if that was required, but it is free to share with everyone. A fantastic experience: I enjoyed the patriotic exhibits with beautiful posters and info about WWI, a humbling, sad, well put-together exhibit on the POWs of the Vietnam War. There was a fun movie theatre with wonderful history on Colorado Springs. And the Story of Us - so brilliant and eclectic. The displays were all interesting and informative. Honestly, I haven't enjoyed a museum so thoroughly in as many years as I can remember. The Native American exhibit was beautiful and the pieces were so gorgeous. The court room was neat, the pottery display was so nice and really brought the artist to life. My nieces liked the old silent films being played in honor of Lon Chaney. The little photo booth with costumes was just wonderful - so fun!!! This is a museum that teens and adults could spend hours in; make sure that you have thoroughly paid your meter because you won't want to leave. The museum made quite an impression on me and my family visiting from out of town. I am planning a date night with my husband to revisit and see the things that I didn't get a chance to spend enough time at. Even the elevator is great!!! I would recommend renovating and upgrading the museum store - there is money to be made if there were more items of interest to visitors. I was hoping to see pottery, maybe replicas of the art pieces on display. Native American beadwork would be neat, and I was hoping to see posters and art pieces for sale based on the displays. It would be wonderful to be able to get a copy of the WWI posters!! All in all, a perfect museum experience and I will...

This place is wonderful!!! I hadn't been since I was in 3rd grade and wasn't sure what to expect. The museum is free, they just ask for donation. The exhibits are themed around the history of Colorado springs and surrounding areas. That includes Van Briggle pottery, the civil rights local history wise, tuberculosis, Colorado's native American tribes, Helen Hunt Jackson, etc. The first exhibit I went into I spent about 45 minutes in it was just so engaging this was one of the museum's rotating exhibits. So I was happy to find out the exhibits were not mostly geared towards children. There were some children specific exhibits, and some parts of exhibits that were specifically for children. And the museum is free so I feel like it would be a good place to bring kids on a day off. We didn't have enough time to see everything before getting hungry and running out of time on the meter, we had 2 hours. They don't sell food and you are not allowed to bring in food or drink. But it's a short walk from tons of food downtown. My husband and I plan on going back for another day their. It also was not different to find packing right around the building. The elevator is really exciting and make sure to read the directions on the wall! I definitely recommend people end up going their to learn more about local history.

Also really cool the museum was in a scene from blackkklansman. Because they actually ended up shooting some scenes in...

The Pioneer Museum is clean, educational, and offers a well-curated look into local history. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by a gentleman whose customer service was excellent and set a positive tone for our visit. Unfortunately, that experience was overshadowed by the conduct of the female security guard on duty.

While observing a white woman with her child using the birdcage elevator (meant for wheelchairs and strollers), the security guard engaged them kindly, asking if they enjoyed the museum and offering the child a sticker. However, when the male associate I was with asked on behalf of my grandchildren if they could ride the same elevator, she firmly declined, citing the rules. While policy is understandable, the inconsistent enforcement and clear difference in tone were troubling.

To make matters worse, when the associate later asked if the children could have stickers, she responded curtly with “How many?” and handed them over, despite our kids being ready and instructed to approach politely and say thank you themselves. For a museum that aims to preserve and represent African American and Native American history, it is incredibly disheartening to witness behavior that reflects exclusion and subtle bias. It’s a beautiful museum, but based on this experience, I’m not sure we’ll return. I hope this feedback leads to improved staff training and more inclusive, equitable treatment for...