.....Douglas County, Colorado is unique among Colorado's rural counties. For the past 5 years it has consistently been one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. This is not the first growth spurt, however. Douglas County has been transforming itself throughout its 125 year history. When Douglas County's first school district was organized in Sedalia, Colorado in 1865, Colorado was not even a state.

.....By the end of 1865, three districts had been organized with a total of seventy students. Douglas County was still very much part of the wild frontier. The school districts did not collect taxes from 1867-1869 due to raids by the few Native Americans that remained in the area. By 1890, there were twenty-three schools in covering all areas of Douglas County, and by 1900 there were eleven more.

.....The schools were governed by a three person school board, and usually one lone teacher acted as day care provider, school nurse, janitor and principal. When the student population centers changed, schools were sometimes moved or rebuilt to accommodate the shift.

.....There were eventually more than forty school districts in Douglas County, some with as few as one or two students, some with as many as seventy or eighty. Some of the schools were open for only a few months of the year, and some years the schools did not open at all if there were not enough students. The year before the Douglas County RE-1 School District was formed in 1958, there were seventeen districts in the county. All governed by a separate school board with their own policies, hiring decisions and budgets. In 1958 there was one.

Sedalia - 1

Acequia - 16

Westcreek/Pemberton - 27

Franktown - 2

Lone Tree - 17

Happy Canyon - 28

Spring Valley - 3

Allison - 18

Plainfield - 29

Kelly's/Gann - 4

Platte Canyon/Roxborough - 19

Hilltop - 30

Bear Canyon / Jarre Creek - 5

Cherry / Pratt's - 20

Round Top - 31

Glen Grove - 6

Horse Creek/Sylvia - 21

Oaklands - 32

Indian Park / Brown's- 7

East Cherry Creek - 22

Larsen's / Cedar Grove-33

Fonder - 8

Greenland - 23

Dewey - 34

Dry Creek/Welte - 9

Rock Ridge/Case/Irving-24

Flintwood - 35

Castle Rock - 11

Glade - 25

Louviers - 36

Lower Lake Gulch - 12

Rattlesnake - 25

Parker - 36

Upper Lake Gulch - 13

Columbine - 26

Baldridge - 39

Goldale - 14

Sugar Creek - 26

Cherry Valley - 40

Larkspur /Stone Canyon- 15

Pine Grove - 27