Parker
Buy & Sell Parker Area Properties with The HomeSmiths Team
Parker is a home rule municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. As a self-declared “Town” under the Home Rule statutes, Parker is the second most populous town in the county; Castle Rock is the most populous. In recent years, Parker has become a commuter town at the southeasternmost corner of the Denver Metropolitan Area.
Content courtesy of Wikipedia.org
Explore Parker Colorado
PARKS & RECREATION
The Cherry Creek Trail runs along Cherry Creek, north and south through Parker. Bicycling, hiking, nature walks, and cross-country skiing are all popular uses.
The Rueter–Hess Reservoir is located west of town and is not yet open for recreational use. Nevertheless, planned activities there include fishing, hiking, and non-motorized boating. No natural streams flow into the reservoir, instead water rights owned by the Parker Water and Sanitation District provide water delivered via Cherry Creek and a local canals. If filled to capacity, surface size would be 1,140 acres.
The town currently maintains about 250 acres of developed parkland and more than 900 acres of open space. The Wildlife Experience, now part of CU South Denver, is an art and natural history museum located in Parker.
Parker is also home to the Parker Arts, Culture, & Events Center (PACE). It is a venue that hosts art exhibits, art classes, theater productions, and concerts. It is the official home of the Parker Symphony Orchestra, a community orchestra established in 1994, that offers a full season of orchestra concerts annually. The Parker Symphony was formerly the South Suburban Community Orchestra.
GEOGRAPHY
Parker is located in northeastern Douglas County. Its northernmost border follows the Arapahoe County line, and the city of Aurora touches the town’s northeast border. Unincorporated communities that border Parker are Dove Valley to the northwest, Stonegate to the west, and The Pinery to the south.
LOCAL MEDIA
Parker currently has one local magazine and one local paper. Search Parker Magazine is the local magazine and the Parker Chronicle is the local paper. Parker also receives the county-wide channel, Douglas County 8, which broadcasts school sports events and assorted programs run by residents.
EDUCATION
Parker is served by Douglas County School District RE-1. Douglas County School District has among the highest level of students in Colorado. Students have scored, on average, 12 to 19 percent above the state average. The district was rated 9th in the state in 2009. The Pine Lane Elementary School had the largest student enrollment in Parker until Mammoth Heights Elementary opened in January 2007 and took the overload.
Two of the three principal high schools in the area, Ponderosa and Chaparral, have a cross-town rivalry and compete annually for The Pride of Parker trophy. Legend High School opened in 2008, as Douglas County’s ninth High School.
