It's back: The quirky tower in Colorado that's been stopping travelers cold since the Roaring 20s

A century-old roadside landmark on Colorado's Eastern Plains is welcoming visitors again this weekend, capping a decade of restoration work on one of the state's most quirky and beloved attractions.

The World's Wonder View Tower in Genoa, a six-story concrete structure that has beckoned travelers along what is now Interstate 70 for nearly 100 years, is reopening after a 10-year renovation. It's a milestone that comes as Colorado marks its 150th year of statehood.

"The Genoa Wonder View Tower has always been an iconic venue that we all know where it is," said Troy McCue, executive director of Lincoln County Economic Development. "Of course, as a little boy of 6 or 7 years old, climbing to the top of the tower was the end-all, be-all."

The tower traces its roots to the Roaring '20s, when entrepreneur Charles Gregory — known as Colorado's P.T. Barnum — opened a gas station and café along Highway 24 in 1926. By 1930, he had grander ambitions. Workers boxed together two-by-twelves as forms and poured concrete, raising a tower 65 feet above the flat Eastern Plains. Ripley's Believe It or Not certified in 1933 that visitors at the top could see six states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico and South Dakota.

The tower became a beloved curiosity under the stewardship of Jerry Chubbuck, who took ownership in the 1960s and transformed it into a museum packed with oddities, including a world-class arrowhead collection, taxidermied animals, and a two-headed calf. When Chubbuck died in 2013, the collections were auctioned off, and the tower's future grew uncertain.

Denver artist Reed Weimer and a group of like-minded friends stepped in, purchasing the property in 2016. By their own admission, they were figuring it out as they went.

"We had a lot of plans, but we didn't have a plan," Weimer said. "We knew we were buying a building and would have to fix it up. That meant saving its stories. That meant saving the physical building, that meant saving the culture of this environment."

The renovation brought the structure up to modern building codes - wider doorways, new insulation, fresh drywall - while preserving its original character, including the antique doors. The group's artistic sensibility shaped every decision.

"This is built with an artist's eye, and that's how we're approaching it now," Weimer said.

One of the most meaningful moments came near the end of the project, when painters restored the original Ripley's "See Six States" script on the tower's west-facing wall.

"All of a sudden it just clicked, and all of a sudden it's like we are coming back," Weimer said.

This weekend's reopening marks the completion of the first phase of the restoration. A second phase, focused on the rock room and the old museum space, is already underway. For the group, the project has always been about more than a building.

"People out here appreciate that we're saving the tower because it's their landmark," Weimer said.

Ceramic artist Chandler Romeo has been putting the finishing touches on miniature replicas of the tower ahead of the reopening.

"The Wonder View Tower in and of itself is this magnetic place that's really about the visitor as much as it is the place," said David Thomas with Immersive Denver. "You just have to go see it."

The World's Wonder View Tower is located off I-70 at exit 371 near Genoa, approximately 100 miles east of Denver. See more information online.