Parker

Parker can trace its roots back to the establishment of the Pine Grove Post Office by Alfred Butters around 1862. Butters handled mail, sold provisions and offered gold-seekers a place to leave messages at his refuge he called “Pine Grove.” He traded the building for a yoke of oxen and the new owners moved the structure to the present day Town of Parker. Adding to it, they called it the 20 Mile House since it was located 20 miles south of Denver on the old Cherokee Trail and stager route. In 1874, a pioneer named Parker bought the place and renamed it, and the the eponymous town was incorporated in 1981. Today Parker has been expanded to 20.8 square miles and 45,000 residents call it home.