Jul. 28, 2007 - 21:32 MDT

SUBJECT FOR STUDY

When I was a young boy my Dad used to play golf at Highlands course. It was where Broadway ended, south of that there was a locked gate and a sign "Diamond K Ranch" and it seemed to me that those signs on gates followed the road south almost to Colorado Springs. I realize now that it wasn't possible, but in any event it was a huge thing.

Somewhere I found out that it was owned by Kistler and the only Kistler that rung a bell with me was Kistler Stationery in downtown Denver, a big fancy building that had everything, office furniture on up and down.

But in googling around I noticed that the stationery company was owned by W. H. Kistler and that the owner of the Diamond K Ranch was Frank E. Kistler.

And I can find no biography of either one of those men.

Warrants a trip to the Denver Public Library's Western HIstory section to try to find out about those two. Were they related ? And such dribs and drabs of information that I can gather there. Perhaps photos as well.

What little I could find out is this: location is officially where the present day Highlands Ranch is, The mansion (still standing from what I gather) encompasses 17,000 square feet. It's first owner was John Springer who in 1891 began construction. The original building reflected a Russian Castle style. Springer sold the ranch to Colonel Hughes, his first father-in-law in 1913. when Colonel Hughes died in 1918, the land passed to his granddaughter, Annie Clifton Springer Hughes. Annie and her husband Lafayette sold the mansion in 1920 to Waite Phillips, one of the brothers who founded Phillips Petroleum. He owned the property about six years and first introduced the name Highlands Ranch. In 1926, Phillips sold the mansion to Frank E. Kistler for $425,000.

Kistler converted the ranch into a breeding ranch specializing in diary and Angus cattle, purebred sheep, hogs and chickens. The ranch was then known as the Diamond K Ranch. At the same time Kistler added the final 40 percent of the mansion and altered the style to a classic Tudor.

Kistler invited Lawrence C. Phipps, Jr., to relocate the Arapahoe Hunt Club to the southern part of the ranch in 1929. This foxhunt club is still active today at a different location.

Kistler's subsequent financial troubles caused him to sell the entire property to Phipps in 1937 for $250.

Phipps' father, Lawrence C. Phipps, Sr. made his fortune with Carnegie Steel. The Phipps family members have been prominent leaders of industry in Colorado with involvement in construction, truckling, professional sports including the Denver broncos, ranching and real estate, among others. The Phipps family acquired the property as a residence and a working ranch and renamed it Highlands Ranch. Under their skillful management, the property again prospered.

And that's about all I gathered. So, somewhere in Highlands Ranch of today is that gorgeous mansion amid all the development of the last few years.

But dammit, I would like to know more about Frank E. Kistler, his biography, was he related to W. H. Kistler ? How did he lose his money ? Stockmarket crash ?

That romantic sign on the gate at the end of Broadway, Diamond K Ranch and under that "No Trespassing" filled me full of the wild, wild west mystique when I was a kid, and shall be for me a SUBJECT FOR STUDY . . . . . . . . . . .

Blog