Located in an area shielded from the winter storms of the mountains and just outside the reach of the extreme heat of the plains, the Colorado Front Range foothills offered an excellent location for Native Americans and the game they sought for food.

Timberlands, grassy plains and foothills drained by the Arkansas and the Platte rivers created a sufficient supply of vegetation and water to maintain the antelope, buffalo, deer and rabbit necessary to the Native American diet.

White settlers were drawn by rumors of gold and by land that was made available through the Homestead Act of 1864. Castle Rock, first settled in the 1870s, is nestled in the heart of East Plum Creek Valley, surrounded by rocky buttes and featuring stunning views of the Rocky Mountain Front Range. Named for the prominent rock formation that overlooks the Town, the discovery of rhyolite stone in the butte near Plum Creek is what put Castle Rock on the map and made it an important station for north-south railroad traffic.

One of the original homesteaders, Jeremiah Gould, owned 160 acres to the south of "The Rock." At that time, the community consisted of just a few shacks for prospectors, quarry workers and other hired hands. In 1874, Gould donated 120 acres to "be known as Castle Rock." Within a year, the new train depot brought the Denver & Rio Grande Railway to the community unloading supplies for ranchers, shipping rhyolite from the three local quarries, and cheese from the dairy farms in the surrounding area. The depot now houses the Castle Rock Historical Museum on Elbert Street, where visitors can relive the 125+ years since the Town's inception.