The Boulder County Board of County Commissioners heard a request for Historic Landmark Designation for the Tucker Ranch at 1001 Caribou Road during a regular, virtual meeting at 3 p.m. on September 9, 2021. County Planner Denise Grimm presented the request to the Board.

Boulder County Parks and Open Spaces submitted the application for landmark designation of the site, a oneacre area of a 324-acre parcel. Carol Beam with Boulder County Parks and Open Space conducted the research.

The site includes five contributing resources, which are the house, the privy, the cistern, the shed, and the driveway. “The parcel was part of the vast holdings of Alfred and Margaret Tucker and their family, who farmed and ranched.”

Alfred Tucker first arrived in Colorado in 1859. In August 1870, Tucker organized the Keysport Town Company, under the direction of the Grand Island Lumber Company, of which he was president and trustee.

The Grand Island Lumber Company that launched Keysport owned a steam sawmill, machine repair shop, a house furniture factory, sash-and-door factory, an arrastra for testing ores, and 100 head of cattle. Tucker purchased the first 160 acres of the Caribou Road parcel in 1872, and subsequently added another 160 acres purchased from the United States.

The Tuckers owned another 880 acres in the Golden and Arvada areas, Larimer County, and Denver. “The house [at Tucker Ranch] was built in 1871 and retains its physical integrity from the periods of significance associated with the Tucker family….It features a large fieldstone chimney, historic siding, and historic windows.”

Boulder County purchased the property in 2020 from the Tucker family. “The property is significant for its association with the development of early agriculture in Boulder County.

“The proposed landmark is an embodiment of the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style valuable for the study of a period, type, method of construction, or the use of indigenous materials,” Beam wrote. The property is significant for the cabin’s early construction date.

“Tucker’s dream for Keysport never materialized, and like many other settlements conceived during the 19th century mining boom in the area, it faded away almost as quickly as it began,” Beam wrote. Alfred Tucker, identified as one of the earliest citizens of Jefferson County, died at the home ranch along Ralston Creek in Jefferson County on June 15, 1880, at the age of 59. Margaret Tucker died in the same room as her husband in January 1905.

The Historic Preservation Advisory Board considered this application at its September 2, 2021, meeting and voted unanimously to recommend approval. Staff and the Historic Preservation Advisory Board recommend that the Commissioners approve the historic designation subject to the condition that the alteration of any exterior feature of structures or construction within the site area require review and approval by Boulder County.

Regular maintenance, which prolongs the life of the landmark, using original materials or materials that replicate the original materials, will not require review

The County tries to do one historic designation every year, Beam said. This is the latest one that is eligible to be landmarked, and once they get it stabilized, it will be on the historic mining tour.

Commissioners said they were incredibly impressed with the amount of research Beam did with the whole history of the Tucker family. The Board approved the historic designation.