Building a Legacy

Red Rocks will soon celebrate our 50-year Anniversary. This page brings you stories of how our country club was developed and of life before us in this unique valley. New stories will be added every few months so check back.

Unique Natural Landscape

Willow Springs hogback and rock formations are remnants of the first ancestral Rocky Mountain range formed about 300 million years ago and later formed the base for the current Rocky Mountain Range.[1] The most notable remnants of the ancestral Rockies are the dramatic rock formations seen at Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks amphitheater and throughout the RRCC area.

About 150 million years ago, many dinosaurs traveled the “Dinosaur Freeway from Boulder to New Mexico and right through Willow Springs. Dakota Group rock formations throughout our Willow Springs area reveal skeletal fossils of Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and extinct herbivores and plants.[2] By the 1800’s, the Red Rocks/ Willow Springs area is traditional territory of the Nuche (Ute). Tribes would move their lodges from the top of Lookout Mountain to the Willow Springs area because of the lush pastures for grazing livestock and the mineral springs thought to have healing properties.

[1] https://www.redrocksonline.com/our-story/geology/ [2] https://dinoridge.org/about/history-and-discoveries/

Ranches to Residents

Around 1875, a new toll road through Turkey Creek Canyon opened and was linked to the railroad station that developed in Morrison but then went out of business. The Turkey Creek toll road was less steep and easier for miners to traverse. Remnants of the road can be seen above Highway 285.

In 1938 a parcel of railroad land was sold to Joe and Minnie Kline for $15.74 per acre.[1] They developed the area as Willow Springs Farm. The deed for the Willow Springs Farm property included water rights of 3 cubic feet per second from Turkey Creek, six springs for domestic and stock use and two reservoirs of concrete construction. A 10-page brochure[2] from about 1940, describes Willow Springs Farm as a 2,200-acre farm and estate. The brochure states: “If you are looking for a little piece of heaven with everything that goes with it, combined with a profitable business, you have it at the Willow Springs Farm. .. The peacefulness, the restfulness, and the scenery that goes with it .. cannot be duplicated anywhere.”

[1] History of Tri-B-Ranch, Bax family document [2] The Estate Known as Willow Springs Farm, Mt. Morrison, CO 1939

RRCC - Vision & Early years

As Denver grew in the 1960’s and 1970’s, many saw opportunities in Willow Springs for residential development. Part of the Tri-B ranch was sold to The Hunt Company who promoted 84 acres of building sites in Willowbrook as “ideal for high end development.”[1]

The Harwood family also decided to move from ranching to a recreational community. During the 1970’s, developer Stan Harwood, his father Clarence Harwood, and Bob Brannberg worked together to develop an 18-hole golf course, 740 homes, and over 1,000 acres of private open-space. They researched and hired professional golf course architects and turf specialists including Pres Maxwell, Henry Hughes, Stan Metsger, and Dr. Jackie Butler of CSU. Initial construction of the golf course began in 1973 and Jefferson County granted approval for the Willow Springs Country Club Development in 1975.

The first nine holes of the golf course opened in July of 1975. The second nine became the “front” nine and opened in 1984.

[1] The Hunt Company. Builders Dream 242 Acres brochure, Golden, CO (undated)

RRCC – Improving for 50 Years

Originally, Memberships in the Willow Springs Country Club were offered to all residents with no initiation fee and $50 dues. Members received access to the golf course, tennis courts, and open space trails. Tennis courts were located across Belleview near the north reservoir. Maintenance equipment and golf cart storage shared space with hay bales in the ranch barn. Food and beverage service was provided by “Bills Burger Shack” and picnic tables overlooking Kingfisher lake.

When the Club was reincorporated in 1993, leadership of RRCC quickly learned about the importance of water rights, timing of taking water to fill the reservoirs, and irrigation challenges as a severe drought in hit in 1994. Tees and greens were watered but many fairways dried up and memberships declined. To protect water storage, Kingfisher Lake was recontoured and desilted, but the lake was not lined at the time due to the need of capturing spring runoff. Bud McAnally, who twice served as President of the Board, and spent multiple years heading up the water committee became known for saying: “Without water, there is no golf course. Without the golf course, there is no Red Rocks Country Club.”