First visited September 2000

On Park Avenue and Canon Avenue, near the Post Office.

In 1883 Jerome Wheeler brought his wife, Harriet Macy (of the New York department store Macys), to Manitou in 1883 for her health. 

The Wheelers were very generous to Manitou Springs and their best remembered gift is the town clock on the corner of Canon and Manitou Avenue.  On top of the clock stands  the Greek goddess Hygeia, the personification of health. Hygeia was one of the daughters of the god of medicine, Asklepios, his other daughter was Panacea or "cure all." 
A statue of Hygeia is also found in the 18th century neo-Grecian temple 
over St Bernard's famous mineral well in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Update January 2001

Like several other springs Wheeler had been turned off 
to prevent water flowing on to the the pavement and freezing. 
Orginally drilled in 1920 near the Wheeler family home, Windermere, the spring was donated to the city by Charles Burkhart in 1920.

Wheeler is a soda type spring which erupts every six to eight hours, the water is held in a catch-basin to provide an even flow to the font.  The water is mildly carbonated and pleasant tasting.

The Wheeler Spring was renovated in 1989 by city employees and local artisans using a grant from the Colorado Conservation Trust.

As an avid hunter of 'holy wells' in Scotland and England I have to say that discovering a small, beautiful city full of restored springs in the new world was something of a dream.  This one, flowing into a font in a wall, is the most like a British well so far. 

Seven Minute ~ Twin Link ~  Ute Chief ~  Navajo ~ Stratton ~ Iron Geyser ~  Soda ~ Cheyenne & Shoshone

 

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