Douglas County, Colorado

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Douglas County, Colorado
One of two county buildings for Douglas County in Castle Rock
Location in the state of Colorado
Colorado's location in the U.S.
Founded	November 1, 1861
Named for	Stephen A. Douglas
Seat	Castle Rock
Largest CDP	Highlands Ranch
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	842.75 sq mi (2,183 km²) 840.11 sq mi (2,176 km²) 2.64 sq mi (7 km²), 0.31%
Population  - (2020)  - Density	357,978 209/sq mi (81/km²)
Time zone	Mountain: UTC-7/-6
Website	www.douglas.co.us
Footnotes: Eighth most populous Colorado county

Second Douglas County office building in Castle Rock

Douglas County Events Center and Fairgrounds in Castle Rock

Douglas County School District office in Castle Rock

Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado, in the United States. The county is located midway between Colorado's two largest cities: Denver and Colorado Springs. The United States Census Bureau that the county population was 357,978 in 2020 census. Douglas County is part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area. The county seat is Castle Rock, named after a prominent castle tower-shaped butte just north of the town.

Douglas County is lightly wooded, mostly with ponderosa pine, with broken terrain characterized by mesas and small streams. Cherry Creek and Plum Creek rise in Douglas County and flow north toward Denver and into the South Platte River. Both were subject to flash flooding in the past, Plum Creek being partially responsible for the Denver flood of 1965. Cherry Creek is now dammed.

Most residents commute to workplaces elsewhere in the metropolitan area outside of the county. Suburban development is displacing the ranching economy of the county.

History

The "rock" of Castle Rock, Colorado

Douglas County was one of the original 17 counties created in the Colorado Territory by the Colorado Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. The county was named in honor of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who died five months before the county was created. The county seat was originally Franktown, but was moved to California Ranch in 1863, and then to Castle Rock in 1874. Although the county's boundaries originally extended eastward to the Kansas state border, in 1874 most of the eastern portion of the county became part of Elbert County.

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 842.75 square miles (2,182.7 km²), of which 840.11 square miles (2,175.9 km²) (or 99.69%) is land and 2.64 square miles (6.8 km²) (or 0.31%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

• Jefferson County, Colorado - west
• Arapahoe County, Colorado - north
• Elbert County, Colorado - east
• El Paso County, Colorado - southeast
• Teller County, Colorado - south

Douglas County has a comprehensive library system with a large local history section, the Douglas County History Research Center, at http://www.douglascountyhistory.org

Cities and towns

• Aurora (partially)
• Castle Pines North
• Castle Rock
• Larkspur
• Littleton (partially)
• Lone Tree
• Parker

Census-designated places

• Acres Green
• Carriage Club
• Castle Pines (includes most of Castle Pines North)
• Cottonwood
• Franktown
• Grand View Estates
• Heritage Hills
• Highlands Ranch
• Louviers
• Meridian
• Perry Park
• Roxborough Park
• Sedalia
• Stonegate
• The Pinery
• Westcreek

Other places

• Castle Pines Village
• Dakan
• Deckers
• Greenland

Parks and recreational areas

Three state parks fall within Douglas County, Castlewood Canyon State Park, Chatfield State Park and Roxborough State Park. Parts of the county lie within the Pike National Forest and were crossed by the historic South Platte Trail.

Recreation trails in the county include:

• American Discovery Trail
• Colorado Trail
• Devils Head National Recreation Trail
• Highline Canal National Recreation Trail
• Platte River Greenway National Recreation Trail
• Ridgeline Open Space Trail

Recognition

Douglas County has been recognized by a number of national periodicals:

• Money magazine ranked Douglas County No. 5 in the United States for “Job Growth over the Last Eight Years”. (Towns include Castle Rock, Parker, Stonegate, Lone Tree, and Highlands Ranch), 18 August 2009
• American City Business Journals (ACBJ) ranked Douglas County No. 4 in the nation for “Quality of Life,” May 2004
• SchoolDigger.com ranked Douglas County School District No.1 in the Denver Metropolitan Area and No.12 in Colorado based on 2009 test scores. (School district rankings were determined by averaging the rankings of individual schools within each of the 122 districts evaluated). Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education, and Colorado Department of Education.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1870	1,388		—
1880	2,486		79.1%
1890	3,006		20.9%
1900	3,120		3.8%
1910	3,192		2.3%
1920	3,517		10.2%
1930	3,498		−0.5%
1940	3,496		−0.1%
1950	3,507		0.3%
1960	4,816		37.3%
1970	8,407		74.6%
1980	25,153		199.2%
1990	60,391		140.1%
2000	175,766		191.0%
2010	285,465		62.4%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the census of 2000, there were 175,766 people, 60,924 households, and 49,835 families residing in the county. The population density was 209 people per square mile (81/km²). There were 63,333 housing units at an average density of 75 per square mile (29/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 92.77% White, 0.95% Black or African American, 0.41% Native American, 2.51% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races. 5.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 60,924 households out of which 47.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.8% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.2% were non-families. 13.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the county the population was spread out with 31.6% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $82,929, and the median income for a family was $88,482 (these figures had risen to $93,819 and $102,767 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $60,729 versus $38,965 for females. The per capita income for the county was $34,848. About 1.6% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.

Douglas County had the highest median household income of any Colorado county or statistical equivalent in 2000. In 2008, it ranked #8 in the United States in that category - it was one of two in the top 15 not in the vicinity of New York or Washington.

Politics

As a primarily exurban county, Douglas County has long been known as a Republican stronghold. In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney won 62% of the vote. Douglas County has become more competitive in recent years, with Donald Trump winning 55% of the county's vote in 2016, and only 52% of the vote in 2020. However, Democratic strength is mostly limited to heavily Democratic parts of Lone Tree and the moderate town of Highlands Ranch, while the rest of the county is still strongly Republican.

United States presidential election results for Douglas County, Colorado

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	121,270	52.36%	104,653	45.19%	5,682	2.45%
2016	102,573	54.71%	68,657	36.62%	16,270	8.68%
2012	104,397	62.11%	61,094	36.35%	2,593	1.54%
2008	88,108	58.03%	61,960	40.81%	1,751	1.15%
2004	80,651	66.54%	39,661	32.72%	889	0.73%
2000	56,007	64.95%	27,076	31.40%	3,142	3.64%
1996	32,120	61.80%	16,232	31.23%	3,623	6.97%
1992	18,592	46.41%	9,991	24.94%	11,477	28.65%
1988	17,035	69.96%	6,931	28.46%	384	1.58%
1984	12,249	79.33%	3,011	19.50%	181	1.17%
1980	8,126	70.08%	2,108	18.18%	1,362	11.75%
1976	5,078	65.54%	2,459	31.74%	211	2.72%
1972	3,625	75.52%	1,048	21.83%	127	2.65%
1968	1,910	61.53%	857	27.61%	337	10.86%
1964	1,336	47.87%	1,442	51.67%	13	0.47%
1960	1,490	64.42%	823	35.58%	0	0.00%
1956	1,508	68.08%	697	31.47%	10	0.45%
1952	1,427	69.00%	637	30.80%	4	0.19%
1948	979	55.75%	767	43.68%	10	0.57%
1944	1,214	65.37%	638	34.36%	5	0.27%
1940	1,298	61.57%	801	38.00%	9	0.43%
1936	895	45.48%	1,044	53.05%	29	1.47%
1932	836	42.96%	1,061	54.52%	49	2.52%
1928	1,107	64.25%	603	35.00%	13	0.75%
1924	870	55.34%	383	24.36%	319	20.29%
1920	948	61.40%	561	36.33%	35	2.27%
1916	612	42.18%	820	56.51%	19	1.31%
1912	373	28.21%	619	46.82%	330	24.96%
1908	779	54.78%	629	44.23%	14	0.98%
1904	792	59.28%	524	39.22%	20	1.50%
1900	642	49.01%	650	49.62%	18	1.37%
1896	172	13.95%	1,051	85.24%	10	0.81%
1892	360	57.60%	0	0.00%	265	42.40%
1888	385	52.67%	307	42.00%	39	5.34%
1884	288	53.33%	246	45.56%	6	1.11%
1880	331	53.82%	282	45.85%	2	0.33%

Education

Douglas County is served by Douglas County School District RE-1, the third-largest school district in Colorado. In addition to traditional neighborhood schools, the district includes six charter schools, four option schools and an online school . Schools are rated generally high in the area.

The University Center at Chaparral in Parker offers courses through Arapahoe Community College, University of Colorado Denver, University College of the University of Denver, and the Douglas County School District.

See also

• Colorado census statistical areas
• Colorado counties
• Colorado metropolitan areas
• Colorado municipalities
• Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area
• Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area
• Front Range Urban Corridor
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Douglas County, Colorado

External links

• Douglas County website Douglas County Website
• Douglas County School Information Douglas County Schools
• Douglas County Sheriff Department website
• YourHub.com/DouglasCounty
• Colorado Historical Society Colorado Historical Society
• Colorado County Evolution by Don Stanwyck
• Douglas County Library Douglas County Library
• Our Douglas County Colorado News and Events