Here we are starting 2012. This will be our third fully-complete year for Historic Douglas County, Inc. and we are very excited about what we’ve been able to accomplish since our mid-2009 incorporation. In the traditional items that correspond to anniversary years, year number three is leather …and, do we have a really big year planned to pound the leather! Our really big “Leather” event will be June 16, 2012 at Prairie Canyon Ranch. Mark your calendar now for the event! But, before I get to Prairie Canyon Ranch, let me give brief closure to 2011. In my holiday message last month I recapped the major history and participation events that took place throughout the County and beyond. 2011 was a good year for all the historical societies and venues. It was a good year for HDC as well and, for that, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to our sponsors and those 145,000 folks that found our new website this year to find out what’s happening in Douglas County history-wise. We are extremely proud and excited about our website. The number of hits our website took this year is very indicative of the many folks interested in Douglas County history and historical related venues and events. By the way, we didn’t really turn the website on for the public until March 26, 2011. So, the 145,000 hits are only for the last three quarters of the year! “Golly …I really would like to see the DOW market average grow as fast as our website traffic!”

Strategically, HDC is looking at 2012 as a year of good growth. We define our growth in three ways which we believe have strong impact on our value to the public, our sponsors and our mission (Our mission statement can be found at the bottom of this webpage). We aim to grow in both membership and sponsorship. Membership is the life-blood of any organization. Sponsorship is the two-way key of: 1) Helping us with financial assistance and supporting and strengthening public knowledge of the historical provenance of Douglas County; and, 2) HDC helping attract potential clients for our sponsors through our event advertising, website linkage and our annual Douglas County Historical Calendar which lists our sponsors and is widely distributed. We appreciate sponsors’ financial assistance to further our work and we strongly believe we help them by exposing their business services to a wide portion of the public. We do that function through our annual Douglas County Historical Calendar, our display banners at our events in which we participate and, in large portion, on our website where website visitors are directed to our sponsors and hopefully partake of our sponsors’ services and products. I mentioned the annual Douglas County Historical Calendar which we changed from area focus to theme focus in 2011. In 2011, the calendar was themed to show Early Industries in Douglas County. The 2012 calendar depicts Having Fun in Early Douglas County. And, for 2013, the calendar that will be available at the 2012 Douglas County Fair, the theme will be “The Famous Women of Early Douglas County.”

Secondly, HDC is focused on growing the range of events in which we are able to spread the rich history of Douglas County and the work of the various historical societies and venues to the general public. HDC is quite selective in selecting events and participate in those that have the greatest exposure to the public for broadening the public’s knowledge and interest in Douglas County history. If you know of an event that would help to strengthen the amount of historic information getting out to the general public, please contact us and let us know.

Thirdly, HDC is dedicated to expanding our ability to assist the historical societies and venues in the accomplishment of their projects. We view our assistance with functions helping societies and venues in marketing, providing wider public exposure and assisting them in grant acquisition for major projects and preservation work. To accomplish these functions requires a strong financial base. Hence, we are viewing 2012 as a year to tackle some major fundraising. If any of you have a fundraising idea you think we ought to consider, as I mentioned with events, please contact us.

HDC is a member of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce and has always participated in the Front Range Showcase held every April. The Chamber is foregoing the Front Range Showcase this year for a bit different venue on February 11. This day, dubbed the 2012 Healthy Living Expo will start in the early morning with a 5K run (for the non-faint-of-heart) called “Freeze Your Buns Off 5K Run” …1,000 runners are estimated to take part …however, yours truly will not be one of them! From 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, exhibits and interactive presentations and demonstrations will be open to the public at the Douglas County Events Center. There exhibitors and participants will showcase their products that promote our healthy, Colorado lifestyle. HDC will be at the Healthy Living Expo, showing you all the history-related things in Douglas County that you can see that contributes and support your healthy lifestyle at the same time. Come see us!

Okay, as I said in the opening paragraph, “Let’s pound some leather!” What am I talking about? I am speaking of Prairie Canyon Ranch. Prairie Canyon Ranch is truly a Douglas County Open Space idyllic ranch that Open Space uses for its annual Open Space Day …this year, June 16, 2012. Historic Douglas County, Inc. is co-sponsoring the Open Space Day this year and we are extremely excited about it. As earlier said, “Mark your calendar!” It will be a fun day for the whole family with rides for children, trail rides, exhibits, demonstrations, story-telling, good chuck-wagon food, music, ranch exploration… and, you just might see some Indian lore …and perhaps even a celebrity. This will be a really gala event. We already have “Yes” nods from a wide variety of participants. Parker Area Historical Society will be there with their magnificent Conestoga wagon …see how our forefathers actually got to Douglas County. Colorado Agricultural Leadership Foundation (CALF) will be at the Ranch touting how agriculture built the foundation of both our great County and our culture. Larkspur Historical Society and Palmer Lake Historical Society will represent the southwestern and Palmer Divide portion of our County and they will be demonstrating the early processes the pioneers used …such as, period household functions like food preparation, spinning and early firearms as well firearms of today. TheFriends of Castlewood Canyon will also be there and guiding hiking tours. There will be beautiful birds of prey being show and educational talks about how these magnificent creatures live in the wild. Oh my, I could go on and on… Probably needless to repeat myself, but HDC is very excited about this premier event!

I believe 2012 is going to be a really great year for history in Douglas County. Douglas County offers so many historical venues, active historical societies and organizations as well as all our rich history that led to the “’59-ers” coming into the area for gold and laying the foundation for the birth of Colorado. This Douglas County is truly a glorious place!

Jim Weglarz
President

About this website…

This Historic Douglas County, Inc. website is a communications vehicle designed as a “One Stop” location where the public can find out about events and what is going-on in historical organizations and venues around and beyond Douglas County, Colorado. Our goal is to expand and enrich public awareness of the history of Douglas County, Colorado through education and communications, and through support and coordination among local historical organizations and other related groups. This website is unique in its focus, and we hope you keep visiting us.

Photographs of Yesteryear

Many of the historic black and white photographs used throughout this website are courtesy of the Douglas County History Research Center at the Phillip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock, Colorado. Copies of these photos can be obtained from the History Research Center. If you wish to get one or several copies of these pictures, please refer to the Gallery section of this website under DCHRC provided pictures and obtain the catalog number associated with the photograph you wish to acquire. The Douglas County History Research Center can be reached through their website or telephoning 303.688.7730.