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1965 Map of Highlands Ranch

Name: 1965 Topographic Map of Highlands Ranch
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1984
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1984

About this map

Littleton sits at the western edge of this transition from mid-century suburbanization to the open range of the Colorado front range. The 1965 survey, updated with 1980 photogrammetric data, documents the aggressive southward push of the Denver metro area, where residential developments like Broadway Estates Shopping Center and Southglenn Shopping Ctr began replacing agricultural lands. The contrast between the grid-bound neighborhoods in the north and the expansive, gulch-cut terrain of Highlands Ranch to the south reveals the landscape just before its transformation into a massive planned community.

Strategic water management is evident throughout the terrain, from the Highline Canal snaking across the topography to the Englewood Dam and various gulches like Marcy Gulch and Big Dry Creek. Local genealogy and land use history are anchored by landmarks such as Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens (Cemetery), McArthur Ranch, and the emerging Denver Technological Center near the rail lines of the Denver and Rio Grande Western RR.