Completed by Penrose in 1937, the shrine is a 100 feet (30 m), five story observation tower that overlooks The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, and Garden of the Gods.

[5][4]: 123 The five-story commemorative monument and an adjoining one-story building with the chapel was designed by local architect, Charles E. Thomas, who was hired by Julie and Spencer Penrose, the philanthropist and developer[5][3]: 7:1  who built The Broadmoor resort[6] and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

[7] The monument is made of Romanesque Revival architecture with buttresses, an ornately decorated iron and brass door, and narrow leaded windows.

Will Rogers, who died in 1935 in an airplane crash, is memorialized in images of his life displayed throughout the interior of the monument and in the name of the shrine.

The Pikes Peak Region's history is depicted in a 340 square feet (32 m2) mural by Randall Davey, an artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The grounds are encircled by a stone wall[3]: 7:1  made from the same single block of pink granite quarried from Cheyenne Mountain used to make the tower.

Randall Davey painted murals on the first floor of the monument and the first two levels of the stairway depicting the area's historical people and events.

The murals, restored in 1994 by Eric Bransby,[3]: 3, 8:8  illustrate scenes of Native Americans; Zebulon Pike's travels; Cripple Creek Mining; William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs; and Spencer Penrose.