Before it was claimed as Spanish territory in the mid-1500s, our Highlands Ranch community was a prime hunting area for the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians.
The territory passed back and forth between Spain and France until Napoleon sold it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Some of the visitors who homesteaded or passed through portions of the land included: David Gregory, the first person to actually live on land now recognized as Highlands Ranch; Lewis Wales Cleveland, the cousin of President Grover Cleveland; John W. Springer, a descendant of the russian czar; Johanne Welte and Plazidus Gassner, owners of a ranch that made brick and Limburger cheeses; and Rufus H. Clark – ol’ Dad Clark himself!
In 1859, Dad Clark filed a 160-acre homestead on the site of today’s Highlands Ranch Golf Club. At the time, Colorado farmers had great success growing potato crops and Rufus decided to try his hand at it.
His first harvest was so abundant
that he became known as Colorado's “Potato King”. A caring philanthropist, he donated 80 acres of land and
$500 to a Methodist college, which later became the University of Denver at University Park. He also sold some of his land to the City of Denver to start Jewell Park and later Overland Park.
From 1891 to 1904, the first phase of the Highlands Ranch Mansion, originally called Castle Isabel, was built. Around that same time, property owner John Springer purchased additional land, bringing his total holdings to 23,000 acres. The acreage changed hands several more times until 1937, when Lawrence C. Phipps, Jr., son of a U.S. Senator from Colorado, bought it for cattle ranching.
After Phipps' death, the property was owned briefly by Highland Ventures and then by Mission Viejo Company in 1978. In 1981, the Phil and Kaye Scott family led a group of "pioneer" homeowners to the Highlands Ranch we know today, where homes were built and districts were created.
A new era of ownership was heralded in August 1997 as Shea Homes purchased the property and began the vital community we enjoy today!
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