12. Spring Valley Cemetery, Spring Valley Road *This cemetery is the resting place of early pioneers and present day members of the community. Settlement in Spring Valley began in July, 1860. The cemetery is a Douglas County landmark.

Question: Standing in the parking lot and looking east at the grave markers in the cemetery,

who are “riding into the sunset”?

13. Franktown MonumentThis petrified wood monument with bronze plaque was dedicated to honor Franktown. It states that J. Frank Gardner settled there in 1859.

Question: Can you name two organizations or people listed on the plaque who helped

erect the Franktown monument?

14. Pikes Peak Grange, Highway 83/Parker RoadFranktown’s strong agricultural roots made it a natural fit for the Grange, a cooperative farmers’ movement that swept rural America in the mid-1870s. Local Grangers es-tablished and built the Pikes Peak Grange No. 163 in 1908, through donated labor. Grangers formally dedicated the hall on March 5, 1909. Looking much like it did when it was new, it is still in use today. The National Park Service listed the Pikes Peak Grange on the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1990.

Question: According to the interpretive sign, what activities held at the Grange helped give local communities a sense of identity?

15. 20-Mile House Historic Park, ParkerLocated at the intersection of the Cherokee and Smoky Hill South trails and 20 miles from Denver, the 20-Mile House was one of the largest of the stage stops for travel-ers to and from Denver. Construction started in the early 1860s and the building complex soon contained a hotel, restaurant and upstairs dance hall as well as a blacksmith shop and wagon repair facility. A Town of Parker landmark on East Main Street, the small building restored and pre-served as the Pine Grove Post Office is all that remains of the 20-Mile House.

Question: Who was Parker’s first rural mail carrier?

Heritage Hunt

www.douglas.co.us/historic

Celebrate Douglas County’s rich history by engaging in a

heritage hunt to 15 historic sites.

Please note: Some heritage locations are only open during certain hours. Services are held at the churches, so please be respectful.* Locations marked with an asterisk are cemeteries, please be respectful.

Heritage Hunt Answers

1. _______________________________________________

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Additional Resources f Douglas County Historic Preservation

www.douglas.co.us/historic f Douglas County Virtual History Museum

www.douglas.co.us/historic/museum f Douglas County Libraries History Research Center

http://douglascountyhistory.org f Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve

www.douglas.co.us/lambspring

Douglas County Community Planning and Sustainable Development Department

Planning Services Division | Historic Preservation100 Third St. | Castle Rock, CO 80104

303-660-7460

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Photo of Greenland SchoolCourtesy of the Larkspur Historical Society

Enjoy Douglas County’s history by participating in a Heri-tage Hunt. Visit the following 15 historic sites to complete the questions. Write your answers on the back of this bro-chure. Answers to the Heritage Hunt can be found online at www.douglas.co.us/historic.

1. Cheese Ranch Historic Park, Highlands RanchAustrian immigrants Johanne Welte and his brother-in-law Placiduo Gassner established the Big Dry Creek Cheese Ranch in the late 1870s. Expanded over the years until it totaled more than 3,300 acres, their dairy ranch soon became known for its production of pungent Limburger cheese and full cream brick cheese. Welte and Gassner hospitality made the ranch a popular place for gatherings and social events enjoyed by Austrian, German, and Swiss immigrant families from Denver and Douglas County.

Question: Read the signs at the windmill.What is Johanne Welte holding in his hand?

2. Fly’n B Park, Highlands RanchThe Fly’n B Park has known several owners over the years: Matthew Plews, a well-known horticulturalist who built greenhouses to grow vegetables and fruit; O. E. Stephens, better known as “Smiling Charlie,” who operated an ille-gal gambling operation; Fred Eberhardt, a talented inven-tor and owner of Eberhardt Denver; and Johnny Bowen, who named his cattle operation the Fly’n B Ranch because of his love of flying. The Fly’n B Park includes the house Matthew Plews built, which is undergoing restoration, and a small apple orchard in addition to a picnic shelter, and a catch and release pond.

Question: Can you name three types of fish that can be found in the catch and release pond?

3. Louviers Village Club, LouviersConstructed in the Craftsman style, the DuPont Company built the Louviers Village Club to bring employees together for entertainment and recreation. Upon its opening, the Club housed an assembly hall - used for a meeting room, dance hall, and moving picture theater - and a billiards room on its main floor. A bowling alley is adjacent to the main building.

Question: How many dormers are on the Louviers Village Club buildings?

4. Sedalia Fire House, SedaliaThe Sedalia Fire Department was established in 1907. Af-ter using a local garage for equipment storage for some

years, in 1933 local volunteers designed and built a brick fire station. This building includes the bell and bell tower from the original firehouse. A time capsule containing the history of the fire department was placed in the corner-stone. The Douglas County Historic Preservation Board landmarked the building in 1999. Currently the local fire department uses the building for office space.

Question: Who launched a vigorous campaign in 1925 to fund the firefighters?

5. Indian Park Schoolhouse, Highway 67Constructed in 1884, the Indian Park Schoolhouse’s first student body consisted of 12 students. Operating from 1884 until 1958, the school was abandoned until 1972, when it was purchased by the Indian Park Schoolhouse Association. The National Park Service listed the school-house on the State and National Register of Historic Places on February 8, 1978. Today the schoolhouse is used for community events, such as the annual 4th of July picnic.

Question: How many outhouses does the school have and how many are functional?

6. Nighthawk, Pike National Forest Highway Located on the South Platte River near the mouth of Pine Creek, the town of Nighthawk was platted in 1896 during the “gold rush” in western Douglas County. Realizing that the gold rush would not last, the town’s newspaper pro-moted tourism and urged visitors, especially fishermen, to come to “Colorado’s most beautiful resort.” Although the businesses are gone, there are still several cabins to provide reminders of what was once a bustling place.

Question: According to the interpretive sign, who platted Nighthawk?

7. Daniels ParkFlorence Martin was a family friend of Cecily Daniels and her husband Major William Daniels, who was a partner in Denver’s Daniels and Fisher Department Store. Miss Mar-tin inherited their ranch, where she lived until the ranch house burned in 1936. Following her donation to Denver, the historic ranch became one of the largest parks in the Denver Mountain Parks system. While most of the prop-erty is a bison preserve and natural area, it is also the site of the Tall Bull Memorial Grounds, set aside for Native American ceremonial use. The stone shelter and picnic areas offer spectacular views of the Front Range.

Question: How many pillars are in the front of the stone picnic shelter at the south end of the park?

8. Saint Philip-in-the-Field Church, Highway 67/Perry Park Road *Built in 1872 from locally harvested wood, this white clap-board building with gothic style windows, has provided a place of worship and reflection for over 100 years.

Question: What is the dedication date on the plaque under the bell?

9. Rhyolite Regional Park, Castle RockIn 1872, Silas Madge opened the Madge Quarry on top of the mesa on his ranch after he discovered that rhyolite, a type of volcanic rock, was a good building stone. At the height of operation, the Madge Quarry employed over 70 people, many were Swedish immigrants who cut the stone by hand and loaded it on railroad cars for shipment throughout Colorado. While the quarries played an important role in Douglas County’s early history, the industry died out in the early 1900s due to the rise of steel-reinforced concrete, which was much cheaper and easier to produce.

Question: According to the sign at the park entrance (near the playground equipment), where else

can rhyolite be found in Douglas County?

10. Crull-Hammond Cabin, I-25 Frontage Road/Bear Dance DriveThis cabin is the last remaining structure of Huntsville, one of our earliest pioneer communities (1859-1890). The town was a lumber center and the first community to have a post office in Douglas County.

Question: Read the signs west of the cabin. What person was responsible for bringing

the sawmill to Huntsville?

11. Greenland Townsite, Greenland SchoolThis is Douglas County’s most recent landmarked property. At the turn of the last century, Greenland boasted two mercantile stores, two blacksmith shops, and two train stations It also included a post office, saloon, wagon mak-ing shop and school.

Question: There is a playground west of the much-altered schoolhouse. In what Colorado city was the merry-go-round manufactured?

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