Douglas County Historic Preservation Virtual Museum

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• A View of the Past: Overview: 13,000 Years Before Present to 1950
• Who walked with the Columbian mammoth in Douglas County, Colorado, 13,000 years ago? The Ice Age was coming to an end and the climate was warming. The megafauna (mammoth, ancestral bison, three-toed sloth, sabre-toothed tiger, camel, and ances...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Prehistoric Archaic Stage: 7800 BP – 1800 Years Before Present
• There are three main requirements for human and animal life on the High Plains and Rocky Mountain Piedmont: Water, food, shelter. Following the PaleoIndian Stage of ca.13,000-7800 years Before Present, the Archaic Stage (ca. 7800-1800 years Before Pr...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Late Prehistoric Stage (A.D. 150 – A.D. 1540): A Millennium before European Contact
• The Early Ceramic (A.D.150 - A.D. 1150) and Middle Ceramic Periods (A.D. 1150 - A.D. 1540) subdivide this stage of pre-history, a time when inhabitants developed a pair of significant innovations: The manufacture and use of ceramics and introduction...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• THE BIG DRY CREEK CHEESE RANCH 1879–1943: The Success Story of an Early Douglas County Pioneer Family
• In 1879, pioneers John Welte and Plaziduo Gassner, Austrian immigrants purchased for $700.00 the land upon which the Big Dry Creek Cheese Ranch would be built. In 1985 Mission Viejo commissioned Dr. Richard Carrillo and his staff of historical archae...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Gold Rush to Settlement: 1858–1950
• The Protohistoric Period, A.D. 1540-1860, begins with European contact and ends with settlement by EuroAmerican people who wrote down their observations of the native peoples. The discovery of gold in Douglas County in 1858 by the Green Russell par...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Agriculture, Commerce, Government: 1860–1950: Cattle, Lumber, Potatoes and Dynamite
• When the gold mining waned, sawmills, cattle ranching, dairying and farming became the economic mainstays.
  
  Sawmills were the first of the industries the settlers built. The sawmills furnished lumber for the burgeoning communities of Aura...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Guns and Ammunition – Military and Civilian: 1860–1950
• Once again the trail system brought Douglas County into history. Military groups formed for protection from the Indians traveled the Cherokee Trail and camped in the Russellville Gulch area. All ranchers and farmers had weapons for protection and for...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• THE KENT AND MARY LOU BRANDEBERY COLLECTION: Music and Instruments 1860s–1900s
• Kent Brandebery was the band director for Douglas County High School for thirty-two years. In addition to his vocal and instrumental career in public schools, he is an avid collector of historic artifacts. One of these collections, musical instrument...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Ivan's Blacksmith Shop: The Smithy, A Pioneer's Best Friend
• What is one the most recognizable businesses found in pioneer towns? The blacksmith shop, of course. It was an indispensable trade for a community that needed metal fittings of all kinds. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Castle Rock, Colorado had th...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• PREHISTORIC OCCUPATION OF CHERRY CREEK: 9000 Years on the Creek
• Douglas County has many beautiful areas that are ideal for occupation by animals and humans. One such area is in the east-central part of the County where East Cherry Creek and West Cherry Creek merge and flow through rolling hills and meadows to ste...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• LARKSPUR BOTTLE COLLECTION: Larkspur History through the Eyes of its Bottles
• Bill Fischer, of Fischer Construction, uncovered and donated twelve bottles to the Larkspur Historical Society in 2013. The collection includes six clear, four colored and two unique clay bottles, ranging in age from the late 19th century through the...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• ALLIS RANCH: GREENLAND, COLORADO: A Pioneer Ranch on the Palmer Divide
• Douglas County's historic Allis Ranch lies in a valley of a unique geographic feature named the Palmer Divide. This rare west/east running watershed separates several tributaries of the South Platte and Arkansas River Systems. The seven thousand foo...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• The Fish on the Floor: Memories of the Upper South Platte River
• This exhibit displays 'The Fish on the Floor'. It is a piece of Colorado history from the Deckers community, an area located in the western portion of Douglas County that was the spot of a popular mineral springs and health resort during in the late...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Hidden Mesa Open Space:
  
  : The History of the William Converse Ranch
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  Hidden Mesa Open Space stands out as a modern remnant of Douglas County's proud western heritage. Today Parker Road (State Highway 83) runs along the eastern boundary and is a heavily used modern route, as in the 19th century, when wagons...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Louviers, Colorado:: A Model for a Company Town
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  In 1906 the E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Company purchased land in Douglas County for a dynamite factory. The local manufacture of dynamite was important with the extent of the use of dynamite in mines and quarries in the area. Railroads and pl...  View Exhibit Page
  
  
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• Roxborough Park School: A One–Room School
• This is the Roxborough Park School. The school was established in 1896, originally in Douglas County School District Number 19. The school district was also known as the Platte Canyon District and by 1920 two schools were consolidated. The photograph...  View Exhibit Page