A Douglas County History Timeline t1861map
Exploration
Era Menu
Precolumbian Era: 1 Billion BC - 1500 AD
Exploration: 1500 - 1854
Kansas Territory: 1858 - 1861
Douglas County Infancy: 1862 - 1874
Closing the Frontier: 1875 - 1881
Building Douglas County: 1882 - 1899
Agriculture and Ranching: 1900 - 1918
Boom and Bust: 1920 - 1939
Small Town USA: 1940 - 1959
Destruction and Recovery: 1960 - 1979
Growth and Prosperity: 1980 - 2000
 
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Castle Rock
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Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree
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Sedalia
Spring Valley, Cherry Valley & Greenland
1500 AD
    All: Ute Indians settle in Rocky Mountain Region of Colorado, including Western Douglas County. (Colorado State Archives)
1682 AD
    All: Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle claims Mississippi River drainage for France. He names the area Louisiana for Louis XVI. (Stone: History of Colorado.: p.34)
1741 AD
    All: Pierre and Paul Mallet follow the Platte River to the Rocky Mountains. This would have put them in Douglas County. (Wisconsin Historical Society)
1763 AD
    All: The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending of French and Indian War. France cedes Louisiana to Spain. (Stone: History of Colorado.: p.35)
1801 AD
    All: The Treaty of Madrid forces Spain to relinquish the Louisiana Territory to France. (Stone: History of Colorado.: p.35)
1803 AD
    All: April 30: Napoleon sells the Louisiana Territory to United States for $15 Million. (Magill: p.445)
    All: May 9: Negotiations completed for the Louisiana Purchase.
1820 AD
    All: Numerous Native American tribes live in the Colorado area. The Utes live in the mountains, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reside on the plains from the Arkansas to the Platte Rivers. (Colorado State Archives)
    All: July 7: Major Stephen Long and the Long Expedition enters Douglas County near the area where the South Platte River flows from the mountains. (Bell: p.148-159)
    All: July 9: Long and another ascend a high butte, probably Dawson Butte, to get their bearings. (Bell: p.148-159)
    All: July 10: The Long Expedition exits Douglas County to the south. (Bell: p.148-159)
1831 AD
    All: Thomas Fitzpatrick, founder of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, surveys what is now I-25 through Douglas County. (: Douglas County News.)
1843 AD
    All: John C. Fremont's second expedition takes Fremont and thirty-eight companions through Douglas County. Among members of the company are Kit Carson, and future territorial governor William Gilpin. (Stone: History of Colorado.: p.58)
1846 AD
    All: August: Francis Parkman travels through future Douglas County on his exploration of the American West. His travels are recounted in his book "The Oregon Trail." (Parkman: p.305-306)
1849 AD
    All: The Trappers Trail is renamed the Cherokee Trail. (Sanford: p.30)
    All: Parties of miners, including Green Russell travel the Trapper's Trail on the way to the California Gold Rush. They discover a little gold along Cherry Creek, possibly in future Douglas County. (Hall: History of the State of Colorado, Vol. III.: p.333Spencer)

In 1741, Pierre and Paul Mallet, two French explorers, investigated the Platte River. This lithograph is from a sketch by Samuel Seymour, who traveled with the Stephen Long Expedition in 1820.

Douglas County came into the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Francis Parkman had just graduated from Harvard when he came to Douglas County in 1846 and wrote about his adventures in the book The Oregon Trail. Photo courtesy Peter Landry at www.blupete.com.
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