Page 19 - AreaNewsletters "Jan 2022" issue

Answer to Trivia question: (from the rst page of this article) Ryan Hollingshead represents Castle Rock Town Council District 1. (Here is the link to the district map to better understand district boundaries.) He was elected to a four-year term in November of 2020. Ryan grew up in Douglas County, and he and his family have been residents of the Meadows since 2012. He has worked as a teacher, coach, and assistant principal in Douglas County Schools for 22 years. He opened Castle View High School 16 years ago, and still works there. His favorite events in Castle Rock include Oktoberfest, Music intheMeadows,Starlighting,andtheDouglasCountyFair. RyansupportsafutureCastleRockwithavibrant downtown, an economic community that supports primary employers, and a community that provides the highest quality of life for residents with expanded parks and rec options, and fully supported police and re departments. Courthouse Fire when she wrote several stories and took numerous photographs of the re itself. I asked her to send me some memories – here they are: “My most vivid memories of the Douglas County Courthouse re are of the faces of long-time residents – commissioners, farmers, ranchers, business owners – ordinary people who had lived their entire lives in Douglas County – as they watched their history go up in ames. I was the newcomer – used to covering the police beat in much larger cities. I had watched buildings burn before. I was snapping photos from every angle as the re ripped through the windows and shot out the roof of the historic building. It went up like a tinderbox and the tears streaming down the faces of the men and women who watched it burn re ected the deep personal loss they felt. Their emotions were as visible as the ames crawling up the beautiful carved wood interior staircases. On discovering that the re was not an accident later, the shock for long-time residents turned to anger. There are touches of the locally-quarried rhyolite skillfully crafted into that old building that remain on buildings dotting Castle Rock today. None are as majestic as the old courthouse, where weddings were recorded, deaths were noted, property changed hands and voters cast their ballots. Decades of history and memories went up in smoke and ames that night. It was obvious as the crowd watched that it was more than just a government building in the center of town – it was the center of their community and it had a special place in their hearts.” l 19 Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters” • January 2022