Tucked away in the hills of Manitou, Colorado, Miramont Castle is a hidden gem, full of history and beauty. Rounding the corner on Capital Hill, the view of the castle is breathtaking. High windows, intricate stonework, and a blend of architectural styles all come together to make Miramont the magnificent site that it is.
Peggy Yager, the director and treasurer of the castle, has been working at Miramont for 30 years. In her time with the castle, she's witnessed discoveries in its history and seen it evolve. Having spent so many years dedicated to the preservation of this historical site, she is an expert in the twisting, turning history of Miramont Castle.
The castle was built by Father Jean Baptiste Francolon after moving to the United States from France in the late 1800s. He built Miramont in 1895 for him and his mother to live in but was later used by the Sisters of Mercy, a convent in Manitou Springs, as a sanitarium to treat tuberculosis.
Yager noted, “The first home he built was Montcalme… He lived in that house for three years and then gave it to the Sisters of Mercy to run as a Sanitarium in 1895. At that point, he moved down and started building Miramont. It was finished by the end of 96.” Montcalme, the first house that Francolon built on the property (located above where Miramont is now), unfortunately, burned down in 1907, forcing the Sisters to move all of their operations down to Miramont.
Francolon returned to France in 1900, followed by his mother a few months later. Yager noted that they, “do not know for sure why he left. [They] are right now in the process of really doing a real, in-depth research of his life. And [they] cannot find anything about why he left here.” Francolon’s departure remains one of the biggest mysteries in Miramont’s history that is still being investigated.
After Francolon left, “the castle sat vacant from 1900 to 1903, when the Sisters of Mercy were urged to buy it," Yager said. "They reluctantly bought it, [and] they would move the patients out of Montcalme into Miramont.”
The Sisters’ reluctance to buy the building stemmed from the expensive upkeep of Miramont Castle. Due to the castle’s sheer size, they were only able to house patients in the summer due to how much it cost to heat the building during the winter months.
After this, the castle went through many changes. Starting in the 1920s, tuberculosis patients were being moved to hospitals and the need for sanitariums deteriorated. For a time, it was leased to a laboratory, and, “then in 1946, they asked for and received permission to sell it into private land, and it was turned into apartments.”
Kelly, a current employee at Miramont, lived in the neighborhood behind the castle as a child when the apartments were still being rented out. Her childhood friend lived in one, and as Kelly recalls, “it was Vicky's place… I didn't think nothing of it. It was just, you know, she lives in a cool place.”
The history of the castle remained entirely unknown to Kelly until she started working there. When she was younger, the building was run down and unsupervised; it was simply a fun place for kids to play after homework was done for the day. Kelly mentioned how “the boys would ride down here [on their bikes] and through the door down below on the third floor, through the great hall, down the staircase, down all the way out the front door.”
Now working at the castle and having learned its history, Kelly has a new perspective on its importance. “It's a building that needs to be respected.”
In 1976, the castle was bought by the Manitou Springs Historical Society, marking the end of its long saga of being shuffled around. The Historical Society bought the castle to renovate it back to its former glory for the public to see.
“When we bought it in ‘76, it was of course of the condemnation process, so, there was a lot of work to be done before we could even open it for the public to come in. And what they did was they would go into one apartment, and they'd work on that, and they had the other eight or nine apartments that were bringing in money to keep it going. And then once they finished that one, then they would move into the next one.” The process took about three years to complete and has been open to the public ever since.
Along with running the Queen’s Parlour Tea Room, a high tea experience available at Miramont, Yager and her team have been making massive efforts to piece together the castle’s history. “The internet has opened up a lot of things. You know, before you just pretty much had to go by word of mouth…a lot of [it was] oral history…and come to find out, [the Sisters of Mercy] just weren't well informed.”
Modern resources not only mean new information coming to light but also have allowed the team to connect with others who may have evidence to put the story together. “We had been working with Notre Dame trying to figure out [Francolon’s] lineage in France.”
Along with the behind-the-scenes efforts to piece together a broken history, Miramont has opened several exhibits showcasing lesser-known parts of Manitou Spring’s history. The Volunteer Fire Department exhibit displays vintage firehouse equipment; the Spoils of War exhibit has military memorabilia to honor those who have fought in battle; and the Nuremberg exhibit has artifacts from John C. Young, a Colorado Supreme Court Justice who was handpicked to oversee the final Nuremberg trial. Many of the objects on display in the exhibits come from local donations.
“We ended up with a lot of military memorabilia, because when [apartment residents] heard that we were turning [the castle] into a museum then they donated all of this stuff to us," Yager said. "It mostly came from people that were here.”
Today, Miramont Castle offers a reprieve from the fast-paced environment that many have grown accustomed to. Yager notes that she wants guests to “step back into time. We want 'em to know what it was like in a slower time of the United States.”
The love and dedication that Yager and her team have for Miramont is obvious in the meticulous upkeep of the building. Visiting the castle will make it clear why it is so important to keep it alive. Yager remarked how “I've been here for 30 years, and every time I round the corner and I look up, it's like, wow. You never get over that wow factor.”