Deer Trail: World's First Rodeo

On July fourth, eighteen sixty-nine, cowboys from the ranches around Deer Trail gathered on the eastern Colorado plains for a contest nobody had a name for yet. They brought their best horses, the ones that couldn't be broken, and one by one riders tried to stay on. By local tradition, a rider named Gardenshire of the Milliron Ranch lasted the longest and walked away with a suit of clothes and the title Champion Bronco Buster of the Plains.

The Kansas Pacific Railway built a station here the following year, sealing Deer Trail's place on the map. The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and the Colorado state legislature both credit this little town with hosting the world's first rodeo. The sport that would fill arenas across the continent started right here, with no bleachers, no announcer, and no name.