Ken Caryl Ranch Real Estate and Ken Caryl Ranch Homes
Ken Caryl Ranch is one of South Jefferson Counties largest residential and fastest growing communities. Luxury contemporary real estate nestled in and along the foot hills, rolling topography, shopping galore, historical archaeological digs and rich history makes this area fascinating. Homes for sale in the Ken Caryl Ranch Subdivision can be viewed on RealEstateColorado.net
Find Ken Caryl Ranch subdivision in Littleton Colorado homes for sale, real estate agents, and Ken Caryl Ranch home values. Get access to Ken Caryl Ranch real estate listings, including the MLS, our REALTORS, new homes and/or foreclosure property. We offer full service real estate services for all of Ken Caryl Ranch. We also have information on Ken Caryl Ranch home selling, home buying, mortgages, insurance, movers and other realty services for anyone looking to sell a home or buy a home in the Ken Caryl Ranch subdivision in Littleton Colorado.
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How The Ranch Came About
The earliest history of the Ranch is recorded along the mountain front west of the Manor House, marked by the sharp break in topography rising to Tincup and Beacon Hill. Tincup is the highest mountain west of the Manor House. Beacon Hill is the shoulder on the south side of Tincup.
Over the years, the Colorado Archaeological Society has done 33 archaeological digs on the Ken-Caryl Ranch. Excavations at the base of the red rock formations in the Valley have unearthed artifacts such as pottery, projectile points and hide scrapers of the Woodland and Archaic Indian cultures who occupied this area between the years 10,000 BC and 800 AD. These Indians were probably hunters and gatherers with little knowledge of farming, since no farming tools have been found.
Evidence of butchered bison vertebra was exposed in the stream cut bank of Massey Draw on an alluvial terrace southwest of and adjacent to Massey Draw. Natives probably ran herds of bison through the narrow openings of the Hogback, then killed and butchered their prey. In addition to buffalo and small game, antelope and mountain sheep roamed the area.
The Utes and Chief Colorow
The Ute Indians, more than any other tribe of Plains Indians, seemed to feel a special affinity for the Valley. Living in tepees, which could easily be taken down and rolled up, the Utes traveled and lived for a long time throughout the Morrison area to the north of the Valley. They had a trail that passed through the Ranch, a section of which was later made part of the Bradford Road.
Deposed Ute Indian Chief Colorow, an immense six-footer estimated to weigh 275 lb., was often seen in this area
Colorow was one of the last to leave and promised, "I go now. In winter I come back - hunt deer and elk." Every winter for seven years he returned to his Shining Mountains for the traditional winter hunt. He himself was quarry for the government men, but he eluded them until 1888 when he was wounded in a battle with a posse. He went into hiding at his camp at the mouth of the White River near the Uintah Reservation, but developed pneumonia and died in December. A cave north of Ken-Caryl was one of his favorite places and it is still called by his name.
Major R.B. Bradford and Bradford City
It seemed clear to at least one man, Major Robert B. Bradford from Lexington, Missouri, that the valley would become the hub of commerce for all the mines along the Blue River near Leadville and South Park. In 1859 the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell, freighters and merchandisers, sent Bradford to the Cherry Creek area to establish a store that would be stocked by the wagon trains of the main firm. In December 1859, Governor R. W. Steele appointed him Brig. Gen. R. B. Bradford, aid to the Governor's staff.
With W. H. Middaugh, Bradford set out to build a toll road to accommodate the miners from Denver to the mines. He was issued a charter by the Jefferson Territory for the Denver, Bradford and Blue River Road Co. On December 7, 1859, he purchased the property today known as the Bradford-Perley House. He planned to build a hotel along the road, and a town, of course, around the hotel.
The Bradford Road started operating as early as January 1860, and was advertised as "Ho for the Blue," in reference to the mines at the Blue River. The road left Auraria on the shores of Cherry Creek on the south, and traveled along the east side of the Platte River for 9 miles where it then crossed Brown's Bridge. The road then turned southwest to the hogback where the town of Bradford City was established. The Bradford Road operated successfully for seven years, eventually going on to Breckenridge, Colorado, in which town Major Bradford was one of the stockholders. The road was abandoned when a new, easier, road opened through Turkey Creek Canyon in 1867.
According to the Homestead Act application of December 9, 1870, Major Bradford shows "a stone house thereon, 24 by 30 feet, 2 stories high and an El 20 by 40 feet, 11/2 stories high - board floor and a shingle roof, with 12 doors, and 17 windows and has built a stable, corn cribs, smokehouse, milk house, hen house, and blacksmith shop - has dug 2 cellars - 2 wells and had enclosed 120 acres of said land with post fence and board fence - has set over 40 apple and peach trees."
Many legends surround the house. One is that Bradford brought slaves to Colorado and that they hand-chiseled the stone blocks for the struc?ture. The Bradford-Perley house is the only remaining Civil War recruiting site left in Jefferson County today.
Major Bradford lived out his life on the ranch and died on December 29, 1876. He left his wife, Fanny, and one daughter, Mattie. His wife lived on borrowed monies and in November 1881, a sale of the ranch was advertised in the Rocky Mountain News.
Today the Bradford House still stands ?solitary, bereaved and ruined - victim of abandonment and vandals. The Ken-Caryl Ranch Historical Committee is diligently working to save this house which was designated a State Historical Site in 1997.
John C. Shaffew and The Manor House
On Oct. 19, 1914 the Denver Times reported the sale of a 3,000 acre Northern View Estate southwest of Denver and adjacent to the Perley's ranch to John Charles Shaffer of Chicago, owner of the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Times. Shaffer bought the property for $100,000, and named it Ken-Caryl after his sons, Kent and Carroll.
The Denver Times wrote: "Immediately following the transfer of the property, Mr. Shaffer gave instructions for the drawing of plans for a summer home modeled on the colonial style, to cost approximately $100,000. This building will be situated on the highest portion of the estate and is prophesied to become the nucleus of a colony of summer retreats for millionaires." The house, now called the Manor House, was and is magnificent. With 8,000 square feet of living area, it had 20 rooms and six baths. Although it has since been modified, the living room was 80 feet long, with fireplaces at either end. The dining room featured an enormous picture window overlooking a view so spectacular it was treated as a painting. Special draperies were designed to frame the view without obscuring it. Sunrooms at either end of the house completed the floor plan and the housekeeper insists she counted 512 window panes on the main floor alone. The veranda is deep and cool, with columns two stories high.
Thus, the most constant guests at Ken-Caryl were Walter Dill Scott, president of Northwestern University, and his brother, John, chairman of the Greek Department.
President William Howard Taft and President Theodore Roosevelt were guests at the Manor House. Shaffer's relationship to President Roosevelt was so close in 1917 that he carried a letter granting him immediate admittance to the president at any time.
Other famous guests included advice to the lovelorn columnist Dorothy Dix, Amos and Andy, Indian Princess Teianina, and Mary Garden, who appeared with the Chicago Opera Company in Denver.
Cronological History of Owners
U. S. Steel industrialist William L. Allen bought the Ranch in 1937. He tried to rebuild the Ranch to its former grandeur, evicting some of the tenant farmers, including a family living with their pigs in the old Bradford house. Allan made no money raising cattle, and then World War II forced him to focus most of his attention on the steel business.
In 1944 the Ranch was bought by an Italian real estate tycoon, Joseph Minissale, to give his children the experience of living on an American ranch. Legend has it that Minissale tried raising turkeys as well as cattle. Before he sold the Ranch, almost 25 thousand of the turkeys apparently escaped and reverted to the wild. Some descendants of these birds can still be found on the Ranch today.
A. T. "Cap" McDannald, an oil man and cattleman from Texas, bought the Ranch in 1949.
In 1971 the Johns Manville Corporation purchased the property to develop a master-planned community and build their world headquarters. Their headquarters building, designed to blend into the landscape, won prestigious architectural awards. It was sold to the Martin Marietta Astronautics Group in 1987. The Manor House was subsequently sold to the Peterson family and is now operated as a restaurant. The remaining housing lots were sold to individual developers and home building was almost complete by 1997. The community is designed to maintain open space for the habitat of native animals and the recreational use of residents.
Today approximately 6000 acres are dedicated as open space for Ken-Caryl residents. In 1993 the South Hogback was purchased by the Ken-Caryl Ranch Foundation for open space and in 1997, 895 acres in the South Valley and 14 acres at the intersection of South Valley Road and Valley Parkway were purchased by Jefferson County Open Space.
The Ken-Caryl area has been a superb place to live and raise families ever since the first hunter-gatherers found bison grazing on the lush grasses of the unique valley and the surrounding high plains. This rare region is a legacy of the Indians who found it, the tribes who fought for it, pioneers who explored it, and those who planned the present community with its wide greenbelts and vast open spaces to maintain that heritage.
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Find Ken Caryl Ranch subdivisions in Littleton Colorado homes for sale, real estate agents, and Ken Caryl home values. Get access to Ken Caryl real estate listings, including the MLS, our REALTORS, new homes and/or foreclosure property. We offer full service real estate services for all of Ken Caryl. We also have information on Ken Caryl home selling, home buying, mortgages, insurance, movers and other realty services for anyone looking to sell a home or buy a home in the Ken Caryl subdivision in Littleton Colorado.
If you currently own property and are thinking of placing it on the market, this site contains information about preparing your home for sale, selecting the right agent, pricing your home appropriately, marketing it effectively, going through the inspection processes, and receiving a timely market evaluation. That's were years of experience closing over 135 million dollars of residential real estate helpful to our clients. We call it Knowledge and Experience in Action. If you just getting start, looking to do some research or would like to receive homes specific to you area of interest we can help!
Our goal is to help you find the best house for the least amount of money. That includes mortgage financing as well.
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