My 'Then and Now' Speech for the Rodeo

  So I've been trying to memorize my speech for Friday. So I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and write it out mostly by memory for you guys. :) I don't know how interesting it will be for you, seeing as it's about my town. But for history lovers out there here you go.

  "My family and I moved to Douglas County just over two years ago from Fort Morgan. Douglas County is named after Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois. Douglas County was one of the original counties in the Colorado territory created by the Colorado territorial legislature.

  Today I live in Larkspur with my family. Most people know it for the Renaissance Festival, but there is much more history to our little town than that.

  Larkspur was named after the purple flower of the same name that grows abundantly in the area. Larkspur was first settled by people heading west in 1858 for the Pike's Peak or Bust Gold Rush. They were then followed by farmers, ranchers, and business people. The town was originally called Huntsville after Alexander Cameron Hunt a territorial governor. Huntsville was technically two miles north of present day Larkspur. Which was an ideal location because it was half way between Denver City and Colorado City.  It had lush native grasses, fertile soil, streams, it was protected by the Hunt Butte, and was surrounded by tick forests.
  Huntsville was the first town in Douglas County to have a post office.
  During the Indian Uprisings in the 1860s they built a stockade known as Fort Lincoln to protect nearby ranchers and their families from attack. In fact thirty families took refuge for six months in 1864.

  In 1871 railroad tracks from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad had reached Larkspur. It then became a major hub on the railway due to the abundant gypsum, clay, lumber, and creamery products.

  Since it's inception there have been two major floods to this region. The first on May 7, 1864 and the second June of 1865 taking with it any remains of the original Huntsville.

  Today Larkspur has it's own fire department. There are no Indian uprisings. 95 families call it home. And yes we hold the annual Renaissance Festival that is attended by 225,000 people each year.

Pike's Peak. :) My beautiful neighbor.

  I consider myself to be truly blessed to live in such a beautiful area. To live in the state with the most sunshine days, where we are the only state in the union were our water only flows out and not in from another state. To live in the shadow of Pike's Peak and 52 other mountains that tower over 14thousand feet. Lastly where Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to pen the words for 'America the Beautiful'.

  "Of beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plains. America! America! God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea."

So whoever just finished that. Many thanks. :) And I hope you enjoyed it. Does anyone have an insight. I would gladly take any critique. Or would love to talk to you about anything in here. :)