This Colorado carousel still runs over 100 years later

DENVER ( KDVR ) — A more than 100-year-old carousel in Colorado still runs with its original animals, motor and paint.

The Kit Carson County Carousel wasn’t even supposed to be in Kit Carson County. According to the carousel’s website, it was originally crafted for Elitch Gardens.

The Philadelphia Toboggan Company built the sixth carousel in 1905 for the amusement park, until the park decided it wanted a more modern carousel where the animals moved up and down.

In 1927, the carousel’s website said the Kit Carson County commissioners approved the purchase of the No. 6 for $1,200, totaling over $21,000 in 2024 .

At the time, the carousel owners said the commissioners were criticized for the expensive purchase, and all three either lost the following elections or chose not to run for re-election.

25 years of restoring the relic

By the time Jo Downey, a former council government worker, started working on restoring the carousel, she said the criticism for the purchase was long gone.

“I think the thing that really helped turn people around was the music. After the commissioners of 1928, by the time we started working on it in 1975, the fact that it had been purchased and people thought they wasted their money was long gone. Whole new generation,” said Downey.

When Downey started working on grants to restore the carousel in the mid-1970s, it needed a lot of work as it was about 70 years old.

The entire restoration process took about 25 years, according to the website. The oil paintings and animals were repainted, over a thousand hours of work went into restoring the band organ and original features like the lighting were brought back to the carousel.

“We (Downey and her husband) had no idea what we were getting into. I mean, it’s like you go buy a new lamp for your living room and before you know it, you redid the whole living room,” said Downey.

The restoration project finished in 2001 after some hold-ups, like getting enough money to restore the relic along with thieves who stole a few wooden antique animals in 1981. The website said the police helped get the figures back a few months later after a multi-state antique heist bust.

According to the website, it’s the only antique carousel in America that still has original paint on the scenery panels and the animals. Out of almost 2,500 wooden carousels made in the U.S. between 1885 and the 1930s, this is one of less than 150 that are still left.

It was named a National Historic Site and a National Landmark in Colorado.

It’s still running

Now, the 119-year-old carousel runs with the same 45 hand-carved animals, ranging from zebras to goats to even a horse with a mermaid tail. Some of the animals have real antlers and horse tails, according to the website.

Even the eyes of the animals are “a color and expression suitable to the temperament of their animals,” the website said.

The original band organ, which came at a retail price of $3,250 in 1909, which is over $100,000 in 2024 , still plays the same tune.

The carousel even runs on the same motor, according to Downey. It moves at 12 miles an hour, faster than many carousels nowadays.

While this landmark holds over 100 years of history, it doesn’t cost much to ride. Downey said the carousel only charges 25 cents, so children can ride it every day if they want to.

The carousel opened on May 25, and it will close for the season on Sept. 2.

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