[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https://rampartroofing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ivy-e1527107380600.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.3.1″ /][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] In the Ivywild Neighborhood, local business owners are dedicated to the community and the environment. There are also unique neighborhoods with a bounty of locally sourced food, hand-crafted items, and beer brewed on the spot! We’re honored to have the chance to help rebuild a community full of history.

Founding the Ivywild Neighborhood

In 1888, miner and rancher William Jenkins subdivided his property into 43 different lots. Chalmers Maddocks, a local builder, salvaged wood from inventor Nikola Tesla’s defunct Colorado Springs laboratory to build homes on those lots. Through a combination of generosity, ingenuity, practical reuse of materials, and hard work, the fiercely independent neighborhood known as Ivywild, was born. In 1902, entertainment came to Ivywild. Winfield Scott Stratton, a wealthy mine owner and philanthropist, developed the busy corner at South Tejon Street and Cheyenne Boulevard. That intersection boasts the Ivywild sign, and originally hosted the Colorado Springs Millionaires, the city’s first professional baseball team.  An amusement park also graced the area.

Ivywild Stays Strong

Ivywild grew to be strong and independent, even in challenging times. When the Ivywild School and the Ivywild Community Church closed in 2009, residents feared the area was dying. Ivywild’s tight-knit feeling had washed away with the ebb and flow of transients and renters. At that time, only a few strong businesses remained to provide the area with an air of respectability, and a real “neighborhood” feeling. That uncertainty started to fade in 2011 when Mike Bristol and Joe Coleman, owners of two major Ivywild businesses, Bristol Brewing and the Blue Star Restaurant, stepped up to the plate. Bristol and Coleman felt they could strengthen the neighborhood’s identity by restoring its historic centerpiece—the Ivywild School. Now home to Bristol Brewing, The Principle’s Office, Old School Bakery, and other endeavors, the once empty school now bustles with energy, seven days a week. The former gymnasium hosts popular concerts and local events and the lower level boasts a bicycle shop and art school. The building itself still shows pride in Ivywild’s history and what it once was—the neighborhood elementary school.  The school maintains its “old school” feel through preserved artwork from the years, kid-inspired graffiti in the bathrooms, and its original floors and doors. The large solar energized brewing rooms add a whole new dimension of both practicality and culture, as does the community garden area out front. Rampart Roofing is excited to be a small part of this revitalization, replacing roofs on several of the buildings near the historic school and working on the building’s roof itself. And, of course, we also enjoy the bakery items provided at our staff meetings, and the great food or beer at Bristol. We were even able to watch our roofing team complete some of the area roofs from the windows of The Principle’s Office over a cup of coffee! At Rampart Roofing, we don’t want to just be roofers. We want to be a vital part of our Colorado Springs and Ivywild community.. We want to help repair and rebuild historic areas to create a new, vital, sustainable place to live and be active! For more information on the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority’s work in Ivywild, you can check out their website. And if you think your Ivywild or Colorado Springs home could use a new roof or roof inspection, contact us today. – The Rampart Roofing Team