History of High Prairie Library
Although many Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) facilities are tied in some way to the historic rail lines that shaped the region, High Prairie Library is the only one built directly on top of a former railroad line.
If the Rock Island Railroad, a Chicago-based line that reached Colorado Springs in 1888, still operated today, its route would pass straight through what is now the Library’s southeast corner, beneath the present-day employee breakroom. Falcon itself originated as a small settlement dating to the establishment of the Rock Island depot at the junction with the north–south Denver & New Orleans Railroad, a location that served as a key transportation intersection on the eastern plains of El Paso County.
Falcon today is a busy and growing community, but for most of PPLD’s service history it remained a sparsely populated point on the plains east of Colorado Springs. By the time the District launched its county bookmobile in 1964, service along the Denver & New Orleans Railroad had long since ended, and Rock Island’s dwindling passenger line was only two years from ceasing entirely. Until the 1990s, Falcon’s bookmobile stop functioned as a hub along a roughly dozen-stop route serving “eastern plain communities,” many of which were convenient gathering points for residents spread across the rural landscape.
That dynamic shifted at the end of the 1980s as development pressure moved eastward. Falcon sat just beyond the newly annexed Banning Lewis Ranch, a vast area whose long-term development was slowed by water-service constraints and regulatory requirements and consequently became the natural outlet for much of the region’s growth. Over the course of the 1990s, its population surged from hundreds to well over 10,000. By the early 2000s, the Falcon bookmobile stop had become one of the busiest in the county, with staff occasionally driving a second library vehicle to handle the volume of holds and returns.
In 2007, PPLD began pursuing the construction of a permanent Library in Falcon. Farmers State Bank donated land along U.S. Highway 24 for the project, including the segment of the former Rock Island Railroad line that would eventually run under the Library’s southeastern corner. The following year, the Board of Trustees worked with several Falcon community organizations to select a name for the new Library location. Four finalists—High Homestead, High Prairie, Pronghorn Prairie, and Redtail Range—were considered, and more than 100 representatives participated in the vote. High Prairie won by a wide margin.
Designed by Humphries Poli Architects—who were simultaneously leading the expansion and remodel of Sand Creek Library—the new facility reflected both community priorities and environmental stewardship. Supported in part by a $784,428 grant from the Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program, the project recognized that a Falcon library would reduce long trips into Colorado Springs and lessen traffic and emissions. The building incorporated geothermal heating and cooling, clerestory windows, and energy-efficient insulation, and its services reflect its connection to the eastern plains, most notably through its Seed Library, which ties the Library directly to the region’s agricultural heritage.
The final bookmobile stop in Falcon took place on Oct. 14, 2010. A member of PPLD’s Board of Trustees described the moment as the “historic last bookmobile stop in Falcon,” recognizing the role the location had played for more than a decade as one of the key points through which the District served the eastern plains. Two days later, High Prairie Library opened to the public.
In both its placement and its purpose, High Prairie Library stands as the culmination of more than a century of change on the eastern plains—rising where the old rail line once ran and marking the corridor’s transformation from a transportation crossroads to a center of community life.