The American Association for State and Local History awarded the AASLH Certificate of Commendation in 2002 to Susan Consola Appleby for Fading Past: The Story of Douglas County, Colorado. The AASLH Awards are the most prestigious recognition in the preservation and interpretation of local, state and regional history.

Early pioneers ventured into the vast, mysterious western United States for a myriad of reasons. Some were led by enticing visions of dazzling gold fields; for others, the concept of Manifest Destiny and the promise of a new life inspired and drove them to the western lands. While some sought refuge from the law or the brewing political, social, and economic conflicts that eventually culminated in the American Civil War, others were driven by a simple, yet unyielding curiosity and yearning for adventure. Energized by their individual motives, these early travelers created a westward frontier movement that symbolized freedom, strength, and prosperity for the entire nation.

Colorado represented an important chapter in this westward migration. Beginning in 1858, tantalizing and exaggerated echoes of "Gold!" prompted thousands from the East as well as overseas to travel the desolate, barren plains to reach the rich Colorado mountain ores. As this gold rush initiated white settlement in Colorado, the land's original occupants, Native American tribes, watched the newcomers' approach with understandable ambivalence. Colorado tribes such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute had ties to the land that went back thousands of years, but they eventually paid the price for the white settlers' frenzied avarice for gold and land. Violent clashes between new settlers and the Arapaho and Cheyenne dominated Colorado history throughout the 1860s, and eventually culminated in the removal of natives from land that had been theirs for centuries. One early resident later offered his summary of this era in Colorado history: "Here, as elsewhere, when the Whiteman made his home on the Redman's hunting ground, it was thereafter a manhunt until the Redman with all his savage cunning gave way to the civilized cunning of the Whiteman."¹

Set amid rolling prairies to the east and Rocky Mountain foothills to the west, the Douglas County region of Colorado lacked the gold that spurred growth elsewhere in the state. Intersected by the Cherokee and the Smoky Hill Trails, Douglas County instead served as a highway for travelers en route to other, more promising areas, such as booming Denver City or the mountain mining towns. Nonetheless, when many would-be argonauts recovered from their bouts with gold fever and descended the Rocky Mountain foothills to establish farms, ranches, or small businesses, the fertile land of Douglas County proved especially inviting. During the 1860s, as the wagonrutted pioneer trails funneled families into the area, Douglas County, with its abundant land and resources such as lumber, rhyolite stone, and coal, gained new significance. Sawmills, ranches, farms, and dairy operations prospered, especially after the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads.

The political organization of Douglas County began in 1861. That November, the Territorial Legislature of Colorado established seventeen counties, one of which they named after Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic senator from Illinois and chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories. Nicknamed the "Little Giant," Douglas had played a direct role in the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, key slavery compromises. After participating in a series of debates with Illinois Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860 over slavery and popular sovereignty issues, Douglas ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign and died in June 1861. His notoriety lived on in the Colorado county that received his name.

Newly created Douglas County included a prodigious 5,160 square miles, bordered on the north by Arapahoe County, on the south by El Paso and Teller counties, on the west by Jefferson County and the South Platte River, and on the east by the Kansas state line. Frankstown, as the town was named until 1880, served as the county seat until 1874, when officials trimmed the county down to 843 square miles-creating Elbert County out of the eastern half-and forced an election in which Castle Rock became the new county seat. Today, Castle Rock, which features an unusual rock formation of the same name, continues to host the county's governmental, civic, and public transactions.

For many decades, Douglas County existed as a rural region dominated by farms, ranches, and several small towns. Later, these rural characteristics proved appealing to city dwellers and suburbanites, thousands of whom migrated to the county during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. In the mid-1990s, astonished residents watched as Douglas County became the fastest-growing county in the country; by the end of 1999, the population had grown to more than 170,000-more than double that of just ten years earlier.

Today's residents, faced daily with the crowding and pressures that accompany unprecedented growth, may be surprised by the comments of some county third graders, who in 1977 told the Douglas County News why they enjoy living in the region:

Chris: Because you can climb trees and have pine needle fights.

Doug: Because you can have animals.

Megan: Because it's quiet and there is more grass.

Jina: Because at night there is no traffic.

Tim M.: Because I like to hear the coyotes howl at night.

Erik: Because the houses are farther apart and there is more room to play.

Leif: Because there is more nature and hills to climb.

Dana: Because you can have horses.²

As the country's fastest-growing area, Douglas County struggles to preserve its past. Cookie-cutter residential and commercial developments continue to be carved into old ranchlands, and many historic buildings are being bulldozed to make way for parking lots, shopping centers, and modern homes. Concern for historic preservation, once an unfamiliar concept, has resulted in the formation of several county historical societies and boards, designed to promote the history of the county and oversee the security of regional historic sites.

The Douglas County Historical Society was the oldest such organization. Organized in 1969, long before the surge of modern-day growth, the group met regularly to remember and discover the past through public programs, holiday celebrations, and historic displays at the former county library on Gilbert Street in Castle Rock. In 1981, the society published Our Heritage: People of Douglas County, an informative look at the early history of Douglas County through family and personal histories as well as essays by local authors. Not long after the release of this book, however, financial problems and attrition contributed to the dissolution of the society. The disbanded organization donated its collected archival material to the Douglas Public Library District.

The society's demise played a direct role in the formation of two new institutions: the Local History Collection of the Douglas Public Library District and the Douglas County Historic Preservation Board (DCHPB). Today both organizations tend to the preservation of Douglas County's history, albeit in slightly different ways.

The Local History Collection, Douglas County's first public repository for personal archival material, grew out of the items donated to the Douglas Public Library District when the historical society dissolved. Since 1992, archivist Johanna Harden has watched over the ever-expanding collection, now housed in the Philip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock. Tucked within the box-filled shelves and fireproof file cabinets of the crowded research room are extraordinary vestiges of Douglas County's history, including letters, photographs, diaries, manuscripts, aerial maps, architectural blueprints, and presentday community newsletters. Harden says the role of such materials is to provide essential information for the present and future by furnishing insight into past successes and failures. It is only through the donations of people from all backgrounds that the collection will retain such value, she says:

One of the most frustrating parts of this job is people feel they have to have been rich and famous to be part of history. It saddens me when people say, "I have nothing to give because I didn't finish high school, my family wasn't rich, we didn't do anything special." When in fact, they've been a productive member of the community, raised children, worked. They were part of the fabric of the community. It's not only the rich and famous that make a community. But when you ask people for pieces of their past, their perception is that they somehow have to be larger than life. It will always be an educational process that all of these pieces of the past are important.

The DCHPB began as a volunteer arm of the county government in 1992 to pursue preservation, identification, and documentation of the area's historic resources. Those first volunteers sought to provide a central organization for the many local historical societies that had formed throughout the county. Faced with the daunting task of saving Douglas County's past amid the boom of modern growth, the board's eighteen members from all communities within the county hope to someday create a heritage center in the Cantril School building, with an emphasis on providing education and research facilities for residents. The center would have branch museums throughout the county to provide equal opportunity for historical expression and cultural community pride.

Describing past and present differences in residents' attitudes toward preservation of the county's historical sites, Clyde Jones, who has served as DCHPB chairman since its inception in 1992, suggests a dichotomous relationship between established land rights and modern development:

Back when I first came to this county there was so much open space. I don't think people were as concerned about saving things in the early days as they are now. A lot of the newcomers are responsible for the increased awareness. . . . I think it's a philosophy people develop. Once they're in the neighborhoods they see something and learn a little bit about it and don't want to see it torn down. Some of the old timers probably wanted to keep things, but they sure didn't want their rights tampered with in any way so that they would ever lose their right to sell or do whatever they wanted with their land. You have a real strong sense of that in this county. The people that do own land don't want government to infringe upon their rights. They don't like all of these restrictions that come up every now and then. I guess if I were in their shoes I'd feel the same way. But now I think the good thing that has happened is that these newcomers are coming in and they feel very strongly about keeping what is there. They see things disappearing and all this newness that takes place. It's the "sameness." It's boring. If there's something over there that is in some way different and has been there a long time, why get rid of it and put in a house that looks the same as all the other new ones built nearby? That's the new mentality.

DCHPB member Kent Brandebery, former president of the Douglas County Historical Society, maintains that the society's demise paved the way for the stronger, more effective DCHPB. Brandebery's vision for the future of historic preservation in Douglas County comprises unity, sacrifice, and cooperation among both its leaders and citizenry:

I would hope [historic preservation] goes the same way that open space went; that people see a real need for this and will support any efforts, by their tax monies, to create entities around the county that will help preserve these sites. I don't think we can do it without the help of open space, or all these entities in Douglas County like the Town of Larkspur, the Town of Lone Tree, the Town of Parker, the Town of Castle Rock, and probably the future Town of Highlands Ranch. It's got to be a cooperative thing. It will impact each one of these municipalities. I hope that the Douglas County government can be the leader in helping these communities with this and be kind of a coordinator to make this a countywide effort rather than having one group in one municipality trying to do it alone.

As residential and commercial growth of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s threatened to change forever the open vistas and natural scenery of the county, another enterprising group of citizens organized the Douglas County Open Lands Coalition to protect the county's rural qualities and preserve open land. In 1992, the coalition placed an open space land acquisition sales tax on the county ballot. When the sales tax failed, the coalition began a campaign to put the issue back before the voters in 1994.

Using petitions, surveys, door-to-door discussions, homeowners association presentations, newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and mailings, the campaign focused on the definition of open space and its importance to the present and future quality of life in the county. A cornerstone of the campaign was a strong statewide movement to prevent a parcel of land known as Southdowns, adjacent to Roxborough State Park, from being developed into a residential community. The publicity and educational focus of that campaign helped spur voters to approve a one-sixth of a cent sales tax to finance the purchase and upkeep of open space, as well as the development of parks and trails in Douglas County. Campaign leaders Micki dark, Jennifer Drybread, MarkWeston, andJon Farnlof, along with an army of spirited volunteers, devoted countless hours to the campaign. It was the determination and loyalty of the volunteers that Clark identified as the real force behind the campaign's success:

If you have no hope of getting paid for your efforts and you don't expect to and there is no power in the position and you do it because you love it, then I believe that's the strongest force on earth. You cannot stop any group of people anywhere if they put their passion into something. All the lawyers and all the government in the world cannot stop people from caring if they're willing to commit their time to it.

In January 1995, the Douglas County Open Space Advisory Committee (COSAC) formed to oversee purchases of open space with funds generated by the sales tax. Powered by nine volunteer members, including town representatives, a professional planner, a county planning commissioner, and an at-large citizen, the committee identified five open-space priority areas within the county: the South Interstate 2 5 Corridor, the High Plateau, the Cherry Creek Corridor, the Northern Natural Area, and the Mountain Backdrop area from Perry Park north to Roxborough Park. In 1996, a $25 million bond referendum authorized the county to borrow on the 1994 sales tax in order to purchase properties as soon as they became available.

Clark, who became chair of COSAC and later president of the Douglas County Open Lands Coalition, reflected upon the achievements of these initial efforts to preserve open space. Encouraged by the acquisition of natural, scenic properties like Cherokee Ranch, Southdowns at Roxborough State Park, Prairie Canyon Ranch, Greenland Ranch, and the Lamb Spring Archaeological Site, dark hopes that future acquisitions and management plans will be handled with the same charitable exuberance and respect exhibited by the foresighted citizens who pioneered the movement.

My dream is that [COSAC] will continue to focus and get these fabulous jewels within the county and that they will further evolve into having good management plans so that people can actually enjoy this land and have it be a place where we can all go walk our dogs, ride our horses, bird-watch, or whatever people want to do on it while leaving the land in as much of a pristine condition as possible. I see that as the next big challenge. Where is that fine line that you need to draw between the public loving the land to death and making it accessible to those people who have paid for it? . . . I'd like to see [the acquisition of open space land] taken with the spirit of dignity and appreciation that it deserves. I'd like to see it, if possible, become less of a trump card in somebody's resume and more of a true commitment. I believe that now the commissioners are fully on board with the program. It has become a little more institutionalized than my roots would like to see, but I understand it. It would take a government to run it.

In 1993, I began researching this book as the subject of my master's thesis, which was completed and submitted to the University of Colorado at Denver two years later under the tide, "Douglas County: History and Guide to Cultural Resources." The manuscript would have never gone beyond the dusty bookshelves of academia had it not been for an urgent need to promote the preservation of Douglas County's history and historic sites, especially in light of the current explosive growth throughout the county. In 1997, I returned to the document with the desire to create a written tool for building better awareness of the county's rich heritage amid the whirlwind of this change and growth.

Why preserve these aged, often dilapidated, seemingly useless structures? Are they not just hindrances to progress and growth? Why spend the money to remodel and renovate an outdated building when one can construct a modern, fashionable structure with contemporary plumbing, wiring, and other conveniences? The reasons are simultaneously simple and complex. Historic buildings and sites represent a tangible means of connecting the past with the present by providing glimpses into the lives of the early settlers who built them. In doing so, these edifices help us understand how our communities began and evolved into their present state. They encourage a sense of place and identity by supplying the unique and original features that differentiate one community from another. By giving life and interpretation to our history in a way that textbooks, documentaries, and audio sources cannot, historic sites engender greater civic pride and heritage among citizens. Finally, these monuments, which bring so much variety and personality to the towns in which they are located, represent a distinctive and irreplaceable blend of architectural style, craftsmanship, and construction material.

The historic sites of Douglas County reflect the pioneer spirit of its early settlers. Numerous small, one-room churches and schools scattered throughout the county testify to the importance early citizens placed on education and religion. Because these structures also existed as the core of community social and political life, their importance to early settlers is immeasurable by today's standards. Old buildings that originally housed early businesses such as hotels, restaurants, banks, and general stores, particularly in Castle Rock, symbolize young Douglas County's commitment to the opportunistic qualities that typified the settlement of many towns in the Great American West. Freedom to succeed in the embrace of a welcoming, unregulated, virgin land drove settlers and adventurers west, hauling their own cultural baggage that was reflected in the architecture and style of early Douglas County buildings. Without the finances needed for elaborate architectural experimentation and design, builders created, or re-created, what modest decoration they could afford. A few more elaborate homes and public buildings display attempts to regain through design the memories of places and buildings left behind.

The historic sites of Douglas County are reminders of the past. Preservation of these sites provides life and richness to the county's history and contributes to the community's sense of pride and tradition. As more people make the county their home, a need arises for roots, civic esteem, and greater awareness of past events, present conditions, and future possibilities. This book should not be considered the definitive history of the county. It was written with the intent and hope of fostering a better understanding of the value and significance of the county's past, thus supplying context to its present and future.

Notes

1. Record-Journal of Douglas County, July 23, 1909, p. 1.
2. Douglas County News, October 20, 1977, p. 6.