National Register of Historic Places

Douglas County has twenty-six historic structures on the National Register of Historic Places. HDC encourages you to visit these historic venues and has depicted their individual locations by large historic areas within Douglas County (See map at right). Below is a listing, by historic area, of each of the Douglas County venues appearing on the National Register of Historic Places. Clicking on the venue name will provide you a link to information about the venue …the source of the links are various, depending upon Internet published information as available. Below each venue you will find the date of registration as well as the registration number and a brief description of the venue. Thanks to History Colorado for descriptive detail.

Castle Rock

Benjamin Hammar House, Location: 203 Cantril Street, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

National Register 2/3/1993, 5DA.645The Italianate building was constructed in 1887 for Benjamin Hammer. One of Castle Rock’s earliest stone houses, the colorful local rhyolite stone was quarried from the Castle Rock district. The house is embellished with dressed segmental arches with keystones, reflecting the skill of the stonemason.

Castle Rock Elementary School (Cantril School), Location: Third and Cantril Streets, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104. Photo courtesy of Douglas County History Research Center (1992.001.0678.0006)

National Register 9/20/1984, 5DA.342Completed in 1897, the two-story building includes a round arched entrance, bell cast roof, bracketed eaves, and tower. It was built of locally quarried rhyolite in colors ranging from pink and tan to gray. Despite several additions, it is the town’s finest example of stone construction and the area’s best illustration of the Italian Villa style.

Castle Rock Depot (Castle Rock Museum), Location: 20 Elbert Street, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

National Register 10/11/1974, 5DA.216The 1875 building is a rare example of a stone depot constructed by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Castle Rock quarries yielded the high quality rhyolite stone used in the depot’s construction. A private owner moved the building to its present location in 1970 to serve as a private residence. The depot now serves as a museum.

First National Bank Building of Douglas County, Location: 300 Wilcox Street, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

National Register 4/14/1995, 5DA.661The 1904 building employs rhyolite, an igneous rock quarried in the Castle Rock area, on its two street-side facades. Similar to granite in appearance and composition, rhyolite was widely used in the Denver area. Denver architect George Bettcher designed the building. It represents the only known example of an architect designed, Romanesque Revival style building in Castle Rock.

Keystone Hotel, Location: 219 & 223 4th Street, Castle Rock, Colorado 80104

National Register 6/20/1997, 5DA.681The 1901 two-story commercial building, along with its 1910 addition served as a social hub of the community. For many years it was the only hotel in town, and a saloon or restaurant continuously occupied the corner location from 1901 until the 1960s. The building is a good example of the use of locally quarried rhyolite.

Franktown

Cherry Creek Bridge, Location: 4 miles south on Highway 83 of the Highways 86/83 intersection at Franktown, Colorado 80116 (Mile post: 46.30)

National Register 10/15/2002

Franktown Cave, Location: Franktown vicinity

National Register 2/1/2006, 5DA.272Restricted information.

Pikes Peak Grange #163, Location: 1 miles north of Franktown, Colorado on Highway 83, Franktown, Colorado 80116, N 39° 24.423 W 104° 45.593 (GPS Way points: 13S E 520672 N 4361976)

National Register 10/1/1990, 5DA.341This one-story clapboard-sided building represents a vernacular style of architecture – a simple, front gabled, wood frame construction that was built throughout the state beginning in 1860. Constructed in 1909, the building reflects the importance of the Grange movement in Douglas County.

Highlands Ranch

Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve, Location: Outskirts of Littleton, Colorado

State Register 11/9/1994, National Register 3/13/1997, 5DA.83

This archaeological site contains evidence of hunting and game processing that may pre-date 9,500 BC, a period before the earliest well accepted archaeological evidence of human activity in the Americas.

Larkspur

American Federation of Human Rights, Location: 9070 Douglas Boulevard, Larkspur, Colorado 80118

National Register 3/19/1998, 5DA.1097The cluster of buildings serves as the headquarters of the corporate arm of a Co-Masonic fraternal order. This organization is associated with early 20th century efforts to facilitate bargaining for better working conditions, and Co-Masonry reflected the trend toward the further emancipation of women. The group purchased the land in 1916 in order to establish a headquarters, a retirement place for coal miners, and a home for orphans and widows. The focal point of the complex is the Administration Building, constructed in 1924.

Ben Quick House, (AKA: Fort Washington) Location: From the intersection of Tomah Road and Highway 105, 1 mile south on Highway 105 (Perry Park Road), Larkspur, Colorado 80118

National Register 10/1/1974, 5DA.215Although there are no visible remains, it is the site of Fort Washington, a log stockade that enclosed a homestead cabin and a large well. Built during the Indian Wars of 1868, it was a strong defense point for the entire West Plum Creek Valley. A later construction, the 1885 1½-story dwelling, was built utilizing locally gathered native stone and is a good representative of Douglas County stone architecture for the period.

Glen Grove School, Location: 7300 Perry Park Road, Larkspur, Colorado 80118

National Register 11/5/1974, 5DA.214This simple 1910 wood frame rural schoolhouse was a third generation building and remained in operation into the early 1950s.

John Kinner Ranch, Location: From the intersection of Tomah Road and Highway 105, 0.4 mile south on Highway 105 (Perry Park Road), Larkspur, Colorado 80118

National Register 10/11/1974, 5DA.213Located on one of the earliest ranches in the West Plum Creek Valley, the 1896 two-story building with its steeply pitched hipped roof was constructed of rubble sandstone that was hand quarried by John Kinner and his sons from a nearby field.

Reginald Sinclaire House, Location: 6154 Perry Park Road, Larkspur, Colorado 80118 39° 16′ 20″ N, 104° 56′ 39″ W (39.272222, -104.944167)

National Register 9/20/1991, 5DA.966The home is a finely crafted example of the Pueblo Revival Style constructed in 1932 during the style’s peak of national popularity. It is one of the few large scale Pueblo Revival style residences in the state. Made to resemble a Native American pueblo, it is built of cinderblocks covered with a earth-colored stucco instead of the traditional adobe.

Spring Valley School, Location: ½ mile west of the junction of state highway 83 and county 82 (Loraine Road), north 0.1 mile on county 61 (Spring Valley Road), Larkspur, Colorado 80118

National Register 12/18/1978, 5DA.219Constructed circa 1874, this simple wood frame rural schoolhouse has an enclosed entry.
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Parker

Ruth Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Location: 19670 East Main Street, Parker, Colorado 80138

National Register 5/1/1989, 5DA.890A variant of the Gothic Revival style, the 1913 clapboard church is a good example of the type of building that was constructed by early pioneers for their worship services. A center of non-sectarian religious activities, it was the first church built in Parker and is the only unaltered church building remaining within the town limits.

Pike National Forest

Devils Head Lookout, Location: Approximately 28 miles north of Woodland Park, Pike National Forest

National Register 4/22/2003, 5DA.960At 9,748 feet, the Devils Head Lookout sits on the highest point of the Rampart Range, the first and eastern most part of the Rocky Mountains. The site is long associated with the conservation efforts of the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado. In continuous use since 1912, the site is the last full-time lookout in Colorado. Devils Head was also the duty station of the first female fire lookout in America. Helen Dowe spent three seasons as the lookout from 1919-1921.

Roxborough

Louviers Village, Location: 1 mile west of Highway 85 at Kellytown (4 miles south of C-470)

National Register 7/2/1999, 5DA.1391The community, begun by the Du Pont Company in 1906, and occupied starting in 1908, provided employee housing and support facilities for the adjacent Louviers Works dynamite plant. Du Pont carefully planned, built, and managed the village. In addition to housing for workers and management, the community included a school, church, hotel, parks and a ball field, and a large community club. The community remained under Du Pont ownership until 1962, when the company sold both the village and the dynamite plant.

Louviers Village Clubhouse, Location: Louviers Boulevard & 1st Street, Louviers, Colorado

National Register 9/22/1995, 5DA.1016Constructed in 1917 by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, the club served as a social and recreational center for the company town of Louviers. Du Pont endeavored to establish a sense of community for its employees. The Craftsman-style club contained an assembly hall, a “women’s talk room,” a grocery store and a post office. It also boasted a two-lane maple-floored bowling alley with hand-loaded pin setters, thought to be the oldest continuously-used bowling alley in Colorado. Du Pont ran the club until 1963, when it leased the facility to the town. The plant closed in the mid-1980s, and the club now belongs to the county.

Roxborough State Park Archaeological District, Location: Waterton area, south of C-470, Littleton, Colorado

National Register 1/27/1983, 5DA.343The district is significant for its diversity and abundance of prehistoric sites dating from the early Archaic period (circa 5000 BC) through the early ceramic period (circa AD 1000).

Sedalia

Bear Cañon Agricultural District, Location: Both sides of Highway 105, from Highway 67 south to Jarre Creek, Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 10/29/1975, 5DA.212In the early 1860s, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad’s first stop south of Denver was at Plum Creek, now known as Sedalia. Settlement in and around Plum Creek eventually spread along the Bear Cañon corridor from Denver to Colorado Springs. Primarily settled by people of English descent, many buildings of a public nature, such as schools and churches remain intact.

Cherokee Ranch and Castle, Location: 6113 Daniels Park Road, Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 10/21/1994, 5DA.708The ranch is a diverse property containing four 19th and 20th century building groups; a 20th century replica of a 15th century Scottish castle; historic roadways, spectacular landforms and views, pastures and corrals, a wildlife preserve; and an important prehistoric archaeological site. The 1924 castle was designed by Burnham Hoyt and constructed by Cornish stonemasons from stone quarried on the site.

Church of St. Philip-in-the-Field & Bear Cañon Cemetery, Location: State highway 105, 5 miles south of Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 4/11/1973, 5DA.217Built in 1872, the white clapboard church is surrounded on the north, east, and south sides by the cemetery. With its steeply pitched roof and pointed arched windows, it is a well preserved example of Gothic Revival architecture executed by local craftsman.

Daniels Park, Location: County highway 67 northeast of Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 6/30/1995, 5DA.1009Daniels Park provides panoramic views of the entire Front Range. Originally a working ranch, several buildings representative of early 20th century rural architecture remain on the site. Denver architect Jules J.B. Benedict designed the early 1920s picnic shelter.

Indian Park School, Location: 1403 Highway 67, Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 2/8/1978, 5DA.211This simple, wood frame rural schoolhouse operated from 1884 to 1959.

Santa Fe Railroad Water Tank, Location: South of Highway 85, west of the junction with Highway 67, Sedalia, Colorado 80135

National Register 4/18/2003, 5DA.1385Constructed in 1906, the 140,000 gallon steel tank measures 24 feet in diameter and 43 feet in height. Around 1900, railroads began using steel tanks to replace the elevated wood tanks that provided water for coal-fired steam locomotives. Utilized by the Santa Fe Railway until 1950, this tank is an early example of the evolving technology and is believed to be one of the last surviving steel railroad water tanks in the state.