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D−History
History · Highlands Ranch

Half of Highlands Ranch’s homes were built after 1997

More historic than 4% of U.S. towns · #136 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it

Most of Highlands Ranch was built recently: 0.1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1990.

0on the National Register
0.1%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
10famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Highlands Ranch’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Highlands Ranch’s history

How historic is Highlands Ranch?

D−

More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Highlands Ranch’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highlands Ranch is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #136 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highlands Ranch’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19400.1% of homes (±0.1) · typical CO town 2.5% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical CO town 1.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 4%
NewerOlder
Colorado towns of 2,500+ (159)Ahead of 15%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Highlands Ranch ranks #382 on History.

Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Highlands Ranch’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

Newer cities are common at Highlands Ranch’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.1 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Highlands Ranch’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Highlands Ranch, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Famous sons and daughtersEthan Horvath, Taylor Kemp and 8 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Highlands Ranch’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highlands Ranch’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewJohn W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 1910: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bear Canon
1863–1867
Bear Canyon
1869–1879
Keystone
1869–1872
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BlakelandGatewayKistler Park
Gone or out of use
Bowen Farms Number 1 AirportairportLittle Dry Creek Placersmine

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Famous people

10 famous people were born in Highlands Ranch

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
E
Ethan HorvathAmerican soccer player · b. 1995
T
Taylor KempAmerican soccer player · b. 1990
Jordan BaggettAmerican soccer player · b. 1996
Roger RosengartenAmerican football player · b. 2002
Brian CvilikasAmerican soccer player · b. 1984
G
Graham SmithAmerican soccer player · b. 1995
The story

How Highlands Ranch came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Highlands Ranch.

Read it all →

The Stephen H. Long's Expedition of 1820 entered the area at the beginning of July 1820. That was the first documented exploration of the area by European or United States explorers.

Much of the Denver Metro Area began to be settled as ranch land starting in 1859, but because of a lack of water in the area, it was not permanently settled until around 1870. The first legal settler of the area was Curtis H. Field, who purchased land just on the west side of Santa Fe Drive from the U.S. government on February 25, 1870.

ChaptersBeginnings20th centuryBecoming a suburbRecent history

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Highlands Ranch, 1863 to 2002

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1863Post officeThe Bear Canon post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Bear Canon post office closes
  4. 1869Post officeThe Bear Canyon post office opens
  5. 1869Post officeThe Keystone post office opens
  6. 1872Post officeThe Keystone post office closes
  7. 1879Post officeThe Bear Canyon post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1910In the archiveJohn W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 1910
  10. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1990Born hereTaylor Kemp is born here
  12. 1995Born hereEthan Horvath is born here
  13. 1996Born hereJordan Baggett is born here
  14. 21st century
  15. 2002Born hereRoger Rosengarten is born here
By decade

Highlands Ranch, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s2 items
John W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 19101910John W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 1910John Wallace Springer, 19111911John Wallace Springer, 1911
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
US Navy 070507-N-9599T-002 Navy Band Northwest Passage Sailors perform at Rock Canyon High School, Highlands Ranch, Col…2007US Navy 070507-N-9599T-002 Navy Band Northwest Passag…The Chapel at Cherry Hills Community Church2006The Chapel at Cherry Hills Community ChurchHighlands Ranch cropped2006Highlands Ranch croppedCOMap-doton-HighlandsRanch2005COMap-doton-HighlandsRanch
On the map

Highlands Ranch on the map, 1949 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highlands Ranch. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Highlands Ranch on the 1949 USGS mapHighlands Ranch on the 1957 USGS mapHighlands Ranch on the 1965 USGS mapHighlands Ranch on the 1971 USGS mapHighlands Ranch on the 1980 USGS mapHighlands Ranch on the 1994 USGS map1949Highlands Ranch sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Highlands Ranch.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

John W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 1910
Retake this viewJohn W. Springer Country Ranch, ca. 1910, 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Highlands Ranch’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Highlands Ranch, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,00020002020105,631

Grew from 10,181 people in 1990 to 105,631 in 2020, more than tenfold.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Highlands Ranch’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Littleton7 historic placesB−Lone TreeIts storyD−Acres GreenIts storyD−CentennialIts storyD−

Questions about Highlands Ranch’s history

How does Highlands Ranch rank for history?

Highlands Ranch is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #136 of 159 in Colorado. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Highlands Ranch?

0.1% of Highlands Ranch’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1997.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.