Russellville, Colorado
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Franktown is an unincorporated town, a
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Douglas County,
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The CDP is a part of the
Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver regi ...
. The Franktown post office has the ZIP Code 80116. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Franktown CDP was 409.


History

Franktown is named for James Frank Gardner, a prospector who built a cabin north of the present location of Franktown in 1859 that became known as Frankstown in the
Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...
(also in the extralegal
Jefferson Territory The Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson was an extralegal and unrecognized United States territory that existed in the Pike's Peak mining region from October 24, 1859, until it yielded to the new Territory of Colorado on Jun ...
.) The Territory of Colorado was created on February 28, 1861, and the new territory created Douglas County on November 1, 1861, with Frankstown as the first
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
. On September 8, 1862, the former Russellville post office moved to Frankstown. ( Russellville, southeast of the present location of Franktown, had been settled by members of the
William Greeneberry Russell William Greeneberry "Green" Russell (1818–1877) was an American gold prospector and miner. Early life Green Russell was born in South Carolina but moved with his family to Georgia as a small child. His father James Russell engaged in gold mini ...
Party in 1858.) In 1864, the county seat was moved south to California Ranch (at the present location of Franktown), a popular rest stop on the busy Jimmy Camp Trail (which followed Cherry Creek north to
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
.) The residents and post office of Frankstown soon followed to California Ranch and the new post office took the name Franktown, Colorado, although the name Frankstown persisted. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reached the new town of
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
on October 27, 1871, and traffic on the Jimmy Camp Trail rapidly subsided. In 1874, Douglas County moved its county seat to the new town of Castle Rock on the railroad. Despite losing the county seat, Frankstown remained a ranching and farming hub, held together by its church, school, grange, and handful of businesses. In 1885, the Town of Frankstown incorporated. During the twentieth century, no more than a hundred people called it home. Even as suburban sprawl surrounded it at the turn of the millennium, Franktown resisted efforts to develop, maintaining a distinctly rural identity. On November 14, 2007, the Colorado Department of State declared the government of the Town of Frankstown officially abandoned and Franktown became an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
.


Grange

Franktown's strong agricultural roots made it a natural fit for The Grange, a cooperative farmers' movement that swept rural America in the mid-1870s. Several dozen chapters formed in Colorado, including the Fonder Grange (founded in 1875) and its successor, Pikes Peak Grange No. 163 (established in Franktown in 1908). Both belonged to the statewide grange organization, which set up credit unions, insurance programs, and other services, and to the national grange association, which pursued long-range political goals. Local chapters more directly affected farmers' lives, with activities such as dances, holiday picnics, and town meetings. These sponsored events helped sparsely populated communities forge a sense of identity. Still active today, Pike's Peak Grange No. 163 in Franktown is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.


Castlewood Dam collapse

The Castlewood Dam was built in 1890, about five miles south of Franktown on Cherry Creek. The barrier stored enough water to irrigate 30,000 acres of farmland. The dam began leaking the year it was completed, and was serious enough that a hundred-foot section crumbled in 1897. Although its builders vouched for the structure's integrity, the dam continued to leak sporadically for decades. Finally, on August 3, 1933, Castlewood Dam collapsed, sending a billion-gallon torrent toward Denver. Only two people drowned, thanks to a switchboard operator's life-saving calls, but the flood devastated farms in this area and tore out six bridges in Denver, thirty miles downstream. The dam's remains can still be visited in nearby Castlewood Canyon State Park.


Timber industry

Frontier travelers often rejoiced upon reaching the timbered ridge just south of Franktown; it was the first woodland they encountered after hundreds of miles on the prairies. Early settlers in Colorado appreciated the forest, too-as a source of building material. Known as "the Pinery," it provided fast-growing Denver and other towns with most of their lumber during the 1860s. Several sawmills buzzed nonstop in and around Franktown, barely able to keep up with the demand. In the early 1870s, the Pinery supplied railroad ties to the Kansas Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande, both of which were laying tracks within twenty-five miles of here. Those routes eventually opened larger forests to exploitation and helped bring down this region's timber industry. By 1880, Franktown's sawmills had gone silent, but they had already left their mark: Pinery lumber built much of early Colorado.


Geography

Colorado State Highways 83 and 86 intersect in the center of Franktown. SH 83 leads north to Parker and south to
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
, while SH 86 leads east to Elizabeth and west to Castle Rock, the Douglas County seat. The Franktown CDP has an area of , including of water.


Demographics

The
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
initially defined the for the


Education

The Douglas County School District serves Franktown.


See also

* Cherry Creek Rockshelter * Franktown Cave, prehistorical archaeological site


References


External links


State of Colorado

History ColoradoFranktown @ Colorado.comFranktown @ UncoverColorado.comSave Franktown! websiteDouglas County websiteDouglas County School District
{{authority control 1861 establishments in Colorado Territory Census-designated places in Douglas County, Colorado Denver metropolitan area Former county seats in Colorado Former populated places in Douglas County, Colorado Geography of Douglas County, Colorado Ghost towns in Colorado History of Colorado Populated places established in 1861 Pre-statehood history of Colorado