Colorado Springs is near the base of Pikes Peak, which rises 14,115 feet (4,302.31 m) above sea level on the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Colorado City at the Front Range confluence of Fountain and Camp creeks was "formally organized on August 13, 1859"[15] during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.

[26] During the war, the United States Army Air Forces leased land adjacent to the municipal airfield, naming it Peterson Field in December 1942.

[39] The city has abundant sunshine year-round, averaging 243 sunny days per year,[40][41] and receives approximately 16.5 inches (419 mm) of annual precipitation.

[36] This natural phenomenon led Nikola Tesla to select Colorado Springs as the preferred location to build his lab and study electricity.

[45] Dry weather generally prevails, but brief afternoon thunderstorms are common, especially in July and August when the city receives the majority of its annual rainfall, due to the North American monsoon.

[64] Located at Peterson is the 302nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit, that transports passengers and cargo and fights wildfires.

[30] On January 13, 2021, the Air Force announced a new permanent home for Space Command, moving it from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama in 2026, but the decision could be reversed by Congress.

The United States Air Force Academy was established after World War II, on land donated by the City of Colorado Springs.

Significant defense corporations in the city include Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, SAIC, ITT, Lockheed Martin, and Bluestaq.

The high-tech sector in the Colorado Springs area has decreased its overall presence from 2000 to 2006 (from around 21,000 to around 8,000), with notable reductions in information technology and complex electronic equipment.

[76][77][78][79][needs update] High-tech corporations offering fibre-optics to the premises connections within the city include: Lumen Technologies, Comcast and other providers as of 2023.

[90] Almost immediately following the arrival of railroads beginning in 1871, the city's location at the base of [[Pikes Pea k]] and the Rocky Mountains made it a popular tourism destination.

[94] In 2020, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum opened;[95] the Flying W Ranch Chuckwagon Dinner & Western Show reopened in 2020.

At one time Colorado Springs was the national headquarters for 81 different religious organizations, earning the city the tongue-in-cheek nicknames "the Evangelical Vatican"[114] and "The Christian Mecca".

[136] On April 26, 2016, Colorado Springs city council decided to extend the current six-month moratorium to eighteen months with no new licenses to be granted until May 2017.

[140] Colorado Springs has been the subject of or setting for many books, films and television shows, and is a frequent backdrop for political thrillers and military-themed stories because of its many military installations and vital importance to the United States' continental defense.

[145] Colorado Springs is home to a professional baseball team, The Rocky Mountain Vibes who are a member of the Pioneer League an MLB Partner League The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual invitational automobile and motorcycle hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak, every year on the last Sunday of June.

[151] Colorado Springs was the original headquarters of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) from its founding in 1992 until 2005, when the organization was moved to Pueblo.

This park is free to the public and offers many recreational opportunities, such as hiking, rock climbing, cycling, horseback riding and tours.

[155] It offers a variety of annual events, one of the most popular of which is the Starlight Spectacular, a recreational bike ride held every summer to benefit the Trails and Open Space Coalition of Colorado Springs.

[172] In 2017 Caleb Hannan wrote in Politico that Colorado Springs was "staunchly Republican", "a right-wing counterweight to liberal Boulder", and that a study ranked it "the fourth most conservative city in America".

[173] In 2016 Hannan wrote that downtown Colorado Springs had a different political vibe from the overall area's and that there were "superficial signs of changing demographics".

State Highway 21 is a major east side semi-expressway from Black Forest to Fountain, known locally and co-signed as Powers Boulevard.

US 24 is a major route through the city and county, providing access to Woodland Park via Ute Pass to the west and downtown, Nob Hill and numerous suburbs to the east.

In November 2015, voters in Colorado Springs overwhelmingly passed ballot measure 2C, dedicating funds from a temporary sales tax increase to much needed road and infrastructure improvements over five years.

Once an important hub, the city was once served by four Class 1 railroads, as well as a number of smaller operators, some of which were narrow gauge,[204] and an extensive streetcar system, the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway.

[g] Front Range Passenger Rail is a current proposal (as of 2023) to link the cities from Pueblo in the south, north to Fort Collins and possibly Cheyenne, Wyoming.

[207] The vision of the city's Bike Master Plan is "a healthy and vibrant Colorado Springs where bicycling is one of many transportation options for a large portion of the population, and where a well-connected and well-maintained network of urban trails, single-track, and on-street infrastructure offers a bicycling experience for present and future generations that is safe, convenient, and fun for getting around, getting in shape, or getting away."

The torii gate erected to commemorate the relationship stands at the corner of Bijou Street and Nevada Avenue, and is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.