America the Beautiful - Switchbacks on Pikes Peak Highway, CO
Posted by: 
ArmyFamily4
N 38° 52.064 W 105° 03.940
13S E 494303 N 4302100
In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates took a train trip to Colorado Springs, CO. Several of the sights on her trip inspired her including the majestic view of the Great Plains from high atop Zebulon's Pikes Peak.
Waymark Code: WMB5DN
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 04/07/2011
Views: 32
In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates, an English teacher at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, agreed to take a summer teaching position at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. During her 2,000 mile train trip through Chicago, Kansas and into Colorado, the 34-year old Bates became quite impressed with the beauty and vastness of the United States.
One of her perks of being a visiting professor was a carriage ride up Pikes Peak. The horse-drawn carriage could go no further than the Halfway House (Glen Cove), so they switched to burros for the remaining six miles of the trip.
After reveling in the views after only a half hour on the summit of Pikes Peak, they descended again. On the way down, she wrote in her diary:
...we stood at last on that Gate-of-Heaven summit….and gazed in wordless rapture over the far expanse of mountain ranges and the sea-like sweep of plain.
After she returned to her room in the Antler's Hotel that night, she remarked to friends that countries such as England had failed because, while they may have been "great", they had not been "good" and that "unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way."
Based on her experiences on that trip, she later wrote a poem which has now become our classic anthem "America The Beautiful."
The original four stanzas were printed on July 4, 1895 in an issue of The Congregationalist newspaper. After several revisions, the final poem was published in the Boston Evening Transcript nine years later.
Samual Ward's hymn, "Materna" was selected as the music behind the lyrics. However, Ward died in 1903 and never knew how popular Bates' lyrics and his music would become.
A strong push was made to adopt the hymn as the national anthem in 1926. However, the "Star-Spangled Banner" was chosen by President Hoover instead.
In 1993, 100 years after Bates ascended Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs' businessman Costas Rombocos donated an "America the Beautiful" monument that was placed atop Pikes Peak. The monument can be seen on the observation platform to the south of the Summit House.
While Bates retained the copyright on her poem to protect it, she never sought any payment of royalties. It was her personal gift to the country.
Lyrics to America the Beautiful
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
Physical Address:
Pikes Peak HighwayCO United States
Related Web Site: [Web Link]
Description of Postcard Location:
The switchbacks are mostly found close to the summit of Pikes Peak near 12,600 feet up the Pikes Peak highway.
Parking Coordinates: N 38° 51.912 W 105° 04.098
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