History

Prior to the gold rush of the 1850s the mountain was used by the Northern Utes for ceremonies and burials. Ranching on the land began in the 1800s.

In 1906 a café was built on the Castle Rock to which visitors rode on donkey-back. In 1913 the Quaintance family built a funicular railway to the top of the mesa and opened a casino. In the early 1920s the casino became a dance hall and then was taken over by the Ku Klux Clan. In 1927 the building burned and has not been rebuilt.

In the 1930s the WPA built a small amphitheater on the south side near the Quaker Street entrance. For about 10 years after that, Jack Browne, a former County Commissioner ran a rodeo on the top.

Jeffco Open Space acquired the initial 737 acres in 2004 from Coors, using a $4M GOCO grant to cover 40% of the purchase cost. Over the course of the next 5 years, JCOS was able to use Bond Funds to purchase the remaining 1436 acres to complete the current boundaries of the Park.