What we know
Monument's first garage, built about 1912-13, when the Model T caught on, by W. E. Higby, with J. M. Umberger as its first mechanic (Lavelett, S-0011, p. 110; a photograph of 'The Monument Garage, 1st in Monument - ca 1914', p. 112). The society's walking tour gives the names as J. W. Higby and J. W. Umberger, and adds that the building was Monument's first post office building, from 1960 to 1975 (S-0235). Model T's had 'a hard time pulling up-hill from Denver to Monument', which kept the town's garages busy (p. 110).
Where it was
106 Second Street (PLHS walking tour, S-0235), El Paso County address point (EPCPortalLocator2026, 2026-10-14), on the building at that address in OpenStreetMap. Lavelett: 'located where the Snack House was in 1974' (S-0011, p. 110). Good to about 30 feet.
A street address, located with the county's address points.
Sources
- S-0002: Palmer Lake Historical Society website (palmerdividehistory.org)
- S-0011: Lucille Lavelett, Through the Years at Monument, Colorado: The Story of Monument, Colorado, 5th printing (Palmer Lake: Palmer Lake Historical Society, 2004); first published Colorado Springs: Valliant Press, 1975
- S-0103: OpenStreetMap extracts via the Overpass API (2026-10-05)
- S-0104: El Paso County GIS: address locators and parcels
- S-0235: Palmer Lake Historical Society, "Palmer Lake Walking Tour" and "Monument Walking Tour" web pages (palmerdividehistory.org, about 2020-2023; removed; Internet Archive captures)
Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.