Castle Rock – Local leaders are banking on Castle Rock’s past as they plan for its future.
Next week, the town will close a $140,000 deal to buy an old train depot, vacant, unlocked and vandalized for years. But someday, it could house a second town museum, a welcome center, a public meeting hall or even find new life as a depot for commuter rail.
The depot is the latest cornerstone in the town’s plan for historical preservation. Next year, the town hopes to survey its historic buildings, if it can score a $30,000 grant to fund the task.
“I hope the town can save all the old buildings it can,” said Castle Rock Museum director Lionel Oberlin, as he looked over the dilapidated Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Depot.
“There aren’t that many left.”
Fires from primitive home heating took out many of this historic town’s original quarters, and in recent years, scrape-offs for new construction have taken many of the others, Oberlin said.
While the town celebrated its 125th anniversary this year, only one in five of its downtown businesses are older than 60.
But in Castle Rock, unlike most of south metro’s modern boomtowns, the past is everywhere, and a railroad runs through it.
“This is a railroad town; always has been,” said resident Harry Williamson. “Any money the town puts toward preserving that, I’m for it.”
Preserving historic character pays off, according to the Colorado Historical Society.
Heritage tourism is a $3.4 billion a year business in Colorado, while attracting residents, businesses and private investment. The Douglas County seat sprang up along the rail lines in the 1870s and flourished because of them. Older buildings are built from stone from local quarries and timber from the foothills; newer buildings are constructed to resemble them.
“A lot of towns have to invent their history,” said Fabby Hillyard, Castle Rock’s downtown coordinator. “People here are interested in that history. It makes people feel more grounded. The depot is a manifestation of that interest.”
The old depot, at 928 Prairie Hawk Drive, is already connected to downtown by a trail under Interstate 25, along Plum Creek. Its high perch on the east provides a soothing view of downtown and Castle Rock’s namesake butte.
The 1,480-square-foot Santa Fe depot served the rails from 1911 until the late 1940s. Two previous Santa Fe depots at the site, dating back to the 1880s, burned.
Before the depot becomes a public building, the town must remove lead paint and asbestos, an estimated $2,000 job. The depot also is hooked up to a well and a septic system, problems for a public building. Town water and sewer lines are nearby, however.
But if the depot stays at its current location, the rail crossing will have to be reclassified as public, meaning anywhere from $30,000 to $250,000 in safety improvements, according to the town’s assessment of the site.
The value, however, far outweighs the possible costs, said Hillyard, who pitched the project to the Town Council.
“The structure is an important part of the town’s historic rail history,” she said. “We think that it’s a good investment.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
