El Paso Building (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

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Historic office building. Originally the El Paso Bank Building, built in the early 1890s to house the El Paso County Bank (later the "El Paso National Bank").

Later it became the Golden Cycle Building, then the "old" Holly Sugar Building. (Not to be confused with the "new" Holly Sugar Building, which is now the "FirstBank Building".)

Now known as the "El Paso Building".

The El Paso County Bank originated in 1873 as the result of a reorganization by William Sharpless Jackson of an earlier bank called the "William B. Young and Company" bank, which had failed in the Panic of 1873. Before this building was built, it was based in a much smaller building located just to the south at 13 South Tejon Street.

In the 1870s this was the site of a complex of buildings built by David A. Cowell to house various businesses he owned. At the corner stood a building, built in 1873, that originally housed "Johnnie's Billiard Parlor" (which was also a saloon, cigar lounge, and bowling alley), operated by Cowell in partnership with John McDowell.

Cowell and McDowell were prosecuted almost immediately for selling liquor in violation of a town ordinance. By 1874 they were forced to stop (or at least forced to stop doing so openly); however Cowell continued to operate Johnnie's, ostensibly on a "temperance basis".

In addition to violating a town ordinance, Cowell's operation of a saloon violated a covenant on the property, subjecting it to forfeiture back to the Colorado Springs Company. Cowell contested this in the courts, and as the case worked its way through the appeals process he erected additional buildings on the property to house new businesses including a bath house, a barber shop, a butcher shop, and a fruit stand.

In 1875 Cowell leased out the old saloon. The new proprietor installed a device called the "Wheel of Spirituality", which consisted of a turntable built into a wall, that allowed money to be exchanged for liquor without any face-to-face interaction. By this means he hoped to conceal his identity and thus avoid prosecution. (Cowell himself was shielded by the fact that he technically no longer owned the property due to the forfeiture.) The new proprietor was eventually revealed to be Jesse B. Newman, formerly of the Globe saloon at 24 South Tejon Street.

Cowell's appeals went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally upheld the forfeiture in an 1879 decision.

Historic photos:

cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330co...
cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15981co...
cdm15981.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15981co...