America the Beautiful, also called O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, is one of the most familiar and popular American patriotic songs. Katharine Lee Bates, a college professor, wrote the words as a poem during a visit to Colorado in 1893. She was inspired by the view from Pikes Peak. The poem, which describes the wonders of America, was published on July 4, 1895. Sometime after that the words became associated with the hymn tune “Materna” (also called “O Mother Dear, Jerusalem”), written by American composer Samuel Augustus Ward in 1882. The music and text were published together in 1910. See Bates, Katharine Lee.
