Pike’s Tower
Forty-foot-tall Pike’s Tower is located in the eastern section of Willow Creek Park and was developed in 1933 as Colorado’s first Works Progress Administration (WPA) depression-era work project in Lamar.
The tower was the idea of Lamar resident R.L. Christy, an amateur historian who prepared the initial plans for the park. Christy had studied Zebulon Pike’s trip across Colorado and designed the tower to commemorate Pike’s expedition.
On November 13, 1806, Pike and his men camped on Willow Creek near the location of present-day Lamar. Christy placed the tower on what he believed was Pike’s campsite. However, no definitive proof of this claim has been found.
The rustic style structure is constructed of quarry-faced, randomly-sized ashlar blocks. The stone is regularly coursed, though the courses vary in height. The tower has a more finished or “dressed” appearance than the rest of the masonry work in Willow Creek Park.
