Highlands Ranch. Colorado

Like most areas of the Colorado Front Range, the original residents of Highlands Ranch were Native Americans, including the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Highlands Ranch was claimed by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier and named part of "Louisiana" in 1682. Highlands Ranch was sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

The Highlands Ranch Mansion (or "Castle Isabel") was built from 1891 to 1904. People believed for years that the house was built by John Springer, an East Coast businessman, but the original owner was Samuel Allan Long. According to the Highlands Ranch website, Long was a well-known innovator of dry land farming techniques in Colorado during the late 1800s.