Front Range
Arapahoe County
25 Porch Notes tied to Arapahoe County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Places in this county
Money and taxes (1)
Home and property (1)
Water and land (2)
Water and land
South Platte Park in Littleton is a river floodplain kept wild on purpose
South Platte Park along the river in Littleton is a natural area with the Mary Carter Greenway trail and the Carson Nature Center, kept as floodplain open space.
Read note ->Water and land
The High Line Canal runs through Arapahoe County, but it is not a backyard water source
The historic High Line Canal is an irrigation and recreation corridor through Arapahoe County, not a water supply that comes with a nearby home.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (6)
Outdoors and wildfire
Aurora Reservoir trades pavement for a swim beach and a dive flag
Aurora Reservoir is a City of Aurora lake on the metro's east edge with a lifeguarded summer swim beach, its own SCUBA dive area, an 8-mile loop trail, an archery range, and fishing that has produced four Colorado state records.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Cherry Creek State Park is a state park, with state park rules
Cherry Creek State Park in Arapahoe County is run by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, so it follows state park rules for entry passes and boat inspections.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Quincy Reservoir is a quiet, flies-and-lures-only fishing lake
Quincy Reservoir in Arapahoe County is a small City of Aurora lake managed for quality fishing, where only artificial flies and lures are allowed and gas motors are not.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Cherry Creek Regional Trail follows the creek past 17 Mile House Farm Park
The Cherry Creek Regional Trail runs along Cherry Creek through Arapahoe County, with trailheads including the historic 17 Mile House Farm Park, linking the metro to the open country to the south.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The High Line Canal Trail is a 71-mile cottonwood corridor for walking and riding
Beyond its old irrigation role, the High Line Canal is a long, tree-lined recreation trail that threads Arapahoe County and stitches the south metro together for walkers, riders, and cyclists.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Plains Conservation Center protects real shortgrass prairie in east Aurora
On Aurora's eastern edge, the Plains Conservation Center preserves shortgrass prairie where you can see pronghorn, prairie dogs, and raptors, and it is tied to the West Bijou geology site to the east.
Read note ->Cars and driving (1)
Local rules (3)
Local rules
Arapahoe Libraries is its own district, not a county department
Arapahoe Libraries is an independent library district that serves much of Arapahoe County, including Centennial and the unincorporated areas, while Aurora, Englewood, and Littleton run their own city libraries.
Read note ->Local rules
In Arapahoe County, a metro district can be its own line on the bill
Many newer Arapahoe County neighborhoods sit inside a metropolitan district that adds its own charge on top of city and county taxes.
Read note ->Local rules
In Arapahoe County, your address decides who makes the rules
An Arapahoe County property may be inside a city like Centennial or Aurora, or in unincorporated county, and that decides which government sets the local rules.
Read note ->History and culture (11)
History and culture
Arapahoe County carries the name of the Arapaho people
Arapahoe County is named for the Arapaho people, who lived across the eastern Colorado plains long before the county was drawn.
Read note ->History and culture
Aurora was first called Fletcher
The city of Aurora started in 1891 as the town of Fletcher, named for a developer, and voters renamed it Aurora years later in the early 1900s.
Read note ->History and culture
Aurora's Havana Street is a four-mile run of immigrant kitchens
Along roughly four miles of Havana Street in Aurora, immigrant-owned Ethiopian, Somali, East African, Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican restaurants cluster together in one of the metro area's most international dining corridors.
Read note ->History and culture
Deer Trail and the rodeo that may be the world's first
On July 4, 1869, ranch hands near Deer Trail held a bronc-riding contest widely recognized as the world's first rodeo, and the eastern-plains town still rides every summer.
Read note ->History and culture
Englewood grew out of Orchard Place and Cherrelyn
Before it was Englewood, this Arapahoe County city was a cluster of communities including Orchard Place and Cherrelyn, joined into one city in 1903.
Read note ->History and culture
From Fitzsimons Army Hospital to the Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora's busy medical campus grew out of an Army tuberculosis hospital that once held the largest building in Colorado.
Read note ->History and culture
Littleton is the Arapahoe County seat, and it started with a flour mill
Littleton grew from Richard Little's 1860s homestead and the Rough and Ready Flour Mill, and it has served as the seat of Arapahoe County government.
Read note ->History and culture
Littleton's Main Street is a Victorian downtown you can walk in an afternoon
Littleton's Main Street Historic District packs brick storefronts, a 1920 town hall turned theater, and seasonal festivals into a few walkable blocks on the National Register.
Read note ->History and culture
Stanley Marketplace: Aurora's living room in an old ejection-seat factory
A 1950s aerospace plant that built fighter-jet escape systems is now an Aurora food hall and gathering place with more than 50 local businesses.
Read note ->History and culture
The Littleton Museum keeps two working pioneer farms
The Littleton Museum runs an 1860s and an 1890s living history farm where staff in period dress work the land, showing how settlement changed once the railroad arrived.
Read note ->History and culture
The Plains Conservation Center preserves shortgrass prairie in Aurora
The Plains Conservation Center in southeast Aurora protects shortgrass prairie and keeps replica homestead and tipi sites that show late-1800s life on the plains.
Read note ->