Castle Rock works to preserve rich history as Colorado town grows

May is Historic Preservation Month, and one fast-growing community in Douglas County, Colorado, is working to ensure new development doesn't overshadow its rich history. The Town of Castle Rock was founded in 1874.
Castle Rock
DCL Archives and Local History
One hundred fifty years later, CBS Colorado's Olivia Young sat down with the town's mayor to learn more about her hometown's history and his vision for Castle Rock's future.
Back in 1900, only about 300 people lived in Castle Rock. In 2000, that number was a little over 20,000 people, and today it's nearly 90,000.
"These started out as a rail town," said Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray. "You know, we had a rhyolite mine that was mine here."
Castle Rock Mayor Jason Gray believes Castle Rock's history should play a role in its future.
"We try to make sure that we preserve our history and preserve our old buildings," Gray said.
One of those buildings is the Cantril School, which was built as a wooden schoolhouse in 1875.
"The Cantril School is probably our most historic building in town," Gray said.
Cantril School
DCL Archives and Local History, Castle Rock, Colorado
When a fire burned the school to the ground in 1896, the stone building that stands today was erected in its place and taught Castle Rock students until 1983.
In 2023, the town bought the school and now uses it for arts programming while they make improvements to the building.
"We got this great building, and we will preserve it," Gray said.
Blocks away, many more historic buildings can be found in Castle Rock's downtown, including the City Hotel, which is being restored.
"Ours is a natural downtown. It's, you know, Wilcox and Perry Street, and you know, you'll go by, you know, seven or eight, really, just gorgeous buildings, and then you'll have a newer building next to it," Gray said.
New neighborhoods are set to bring thousands of homes to town in the next few years. A new Interstate 25 interchange is underway, and major retail developments and a cancer center are also on their way.
"I think that we do a really good job of trying to keep our small-town feel, especially downtown, but give up big-town amenities," Gray said.
Some community members have worried that the growth is too much.
"I can't deny that we're not growing. We're growing at a much slower rate than we were a few years ago," Gray said.
But Gray said the town is growing smart, and keeping its history in mind.
"There's a long time where Castle Rock was basically a gas stop, you know, on the way to Colorado Springs," Gray said. "And I think that we have a really neat identity now, and we kind of own our identity and Western heritage."
Castle Rock
DCL Archives and Local History, Castle Rock, Colorado
If you'd like to take yourself on a tour of downtown Castle Rock and learn more about its history, there is a link to a historic walking tour map on our website.
If you'd like to explore the town's history yourself, a historic walking tour map can be found here.
For Historic Preservation Month, Castle Rock is also offering a Scavenge the Rock scavenger hunt, trolley ride history tours, and Victoria's Tea. More information here.
Castle Rock Population Through the Years:

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Boston Globe

9 hours ago

• Boston Globe

US boosts emergency Mideast evacuations and travel warnings after Trump orders strikes in Iran

The notice made no mention of any potential evacuation flights or other assistance for private Americans wanting to leave Lebanon but said those who want to should try to use existing commercial services to depart. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up At the same time, the department issued warnings to U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia and Turkey to take extra security precautions given the uncertainty. Advertisement 'Given reports of regional hostilities, the U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia has advised its personnel to exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region,' the department said in its notice for Saudi Arabia. In Turkey, the department said U.S. personnel 'have been cautioned to maintain a low profile and instructed to avoid personal travel to the U.S. Consulate Adana consular district,' which includes the NATO airbase at Incirlik. 'Negative sentiment toward U.S. foreign policy may prompt actions against U.S. or Western interests in Turkey,' the statement said. Advertisement Late Saturday, the department said it was stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq. But even before the U.S. airstrikes on Iran were made public by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had announced the start of evacuation flights for private Americans from Israel. Sixty-seven American citizens left Israel on two government flights bound for Athens, Greece on Saturday and four more evacuation flights to Athens were planned for Sunday, according to internal State Department document seen by The Associated Press. A nongovernment charter flight is scheduled to depart Israel for Rome on Monday. In addition to the flights, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document. It also said the evacuation of non-essential personnel at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Erbil is continuing. Those staffers had been ordered to leave even before Israel began its military operation in Iran more than a week ago. 'As part of our ongoing effort to streamline operations, additional personnel departed Iraq on June 21 and 22,' the department said. 'These departures represent a continuation of the process started on June 12.' As of Saturday, more than 7,900 Americans had asked for assistance in leaving Israel and more than 1,000 had sought help in leaving Iran, where the U.S. has no diplomatic presence, the document said. There are roughly 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, in Israel and many thousands of Americans, most of them dual in Iran. It was not clear how many Americans had successfully made it out of Iran through overland routes, although the document said more than 200 had entered neighboring Azerbaijan as of Saturday since the conflict began. Advertisement After the U.S. strikes in Iran, security officers at all U.S. embassies and consulates have been instructed to conduct reviews of their post's security posture and report back to the State Department by late Sunday.

Business Insider

2 days ago

• Business Insider

I moved from the US to Thailand, leaving most of my family behind. I don't feel guilty for prioritizing my goals and desires.

I got married for the first time the day after I turned 18. A year later, my first child was born; I was just 19 years old. The next few years would bring two more children, along with the responsibilities and costs of raising a family in the US. My first wife and I worked multiple jobs and side hustles to pay for our family of five. We were a middle-class family that prioritized our children and making sure they were fed, loved, and cared for. We wanted to travel, but we didn't because we figured that's not what parents should do. We put our ambitions and desires on hold to take care of our responsibilities. But now I'm no longer putting my dreams of early retirement on hold and instead chasing what I want — even if that means leaving people behind. I felt shame for wanting to travel after my divorce After 18 years of marriage, we got divorced and went in different directions. My kids were finishing high school at that point and heading off to college. It was the first time in my life that I actively thought about where I wanted to live and what I wanted to do outside being a parent. The thought of doing what I wanted instantly brought shame. Prioritizing myself made me feel as though I was doing something wrong. Despite having mixed feelings, I traveled internationally a few years ago. I then entered into a relationship with the woman who would become my second wife, and we continued traveling, battling those feelings of shame. We moved to Florida for a few years and also spent a few years living in Medellín, Colombia. I set a new goal of wanting to retire early Between my wife and me, we have six adult children and a few grandchildren. After doing our part as parents, we decided that we wanted to retire early. As we considered the money we had saved and invested, the amount we were earning, and our everyday living expenses, it became clear that we would need to adjust our cost of living so that we could save more. That's when we realized living in America would not help us adjust our finances sufficiently to reach our goals, and additional factors, such as the cost of a medical emergency, could bankrupt us. We decided to move to Thailand I started attending therapy some years ago to work through childhood trauma and parent guilt. Therapy helped me see that I get to live my life as I see fit, wherever I choose. I released the shame, guilt, and feeling of obligation that we, as parents and grandparents, have around the need to live closer to our family, or that we're doing something wrong. With that free mindset, my wife and I chose Thailand, where we can live well for less than $3,000 a month, still have access to Western conveniences, and work toward our financial freedom. We can also get affordable medical care and easily pay for it out-of-pocket. So my wife, I, and two of our six children obtained five-year Destination Thailand Visas. As we've left the US behind, I feel good about prioritizing my goals and desires. I don't feel the stress and guilt of being away from our children and other family, and I don't feel like a failure for prioritizing my goals and desires. Our family will visit as we work on our goals in a way that feels good to us We have permanently relocated out of the US and have no plans to return. I don't feel any shame or guilt about that. Our children are choosing to stay in the US; they're making the best choice for them, and we're making the best choice for us. I believe self-prioritization is essential for me as a parent and a grandparent. I wake up every day in Thailand feeling incredibly happy that we made the move. We're saving over $10,000 a month and have a better quality of life. Thailand is not on Mars, so there are plenty of opportunities for our children and other family members to visit us. Having family visit us in Thailand while we're living in a place that helps us achieve our goals feels healthy to me.

CBS News

4 days ago

• CBS News

Colorado's RTD shares improvement plan designed to regain trust in riders

The Regional Transportation District, also known as RTD, is sharing its plans to improve services. CBS Colorado's First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter Brian Sherrod interviewed RTD's Board Chair Julien Bouquet one-on-one to learn more about these improvements. In the first six months of 2025, RTD said it has upgraded security, improved light rails and shuttles, and is always working to get passengers to their destinations on time. CBS Colorado's First Alert Traffic Tracker Reporter Brian Sherrod interviewed RTD's Board Chair Julien Bouquet. CBS Bouquet says their job is not done yet. These are just small improvements to get the community to trust their services. This comes after months of slow zones causing delays with services, constant cancellations involving maintenance and riders feeling the services are not safe enough. To improve safety and security, RTD's new Police Chief Steve Martingano says it starts with making their officers more present. The agency currently has 88 sworn officers. Their budget will allow the hiring of 150 by the end of 2025. RTD police officers on patrol. CBS Broken and damaged rails have been replaced and are expected to last 30 years. All shuttles have live cameras so police can always see what's happening. Also, availabilities with services have improved. The agency announced in May that they received 27,000 more service hours to provide shuttles and light rails more frequently. For a lot of riders, public transportation is their only option to travel, so these services are essential. "Without public transit, you don't have the option for the single moms to go and pick up their child from school," said Bouquet. "Without public transit, you don't have the option for the senior to go to the market. Without public transit, you don't have the option for someone to support themselves and go to their work." CBS The agency's next plan is to add security cameras on all of their light rails. They are also finding new places to add transit services and listening to the community more to build that trust.