In 1859, John D. “Colonel Jack” Henderson built a ranch, trading post, and hotel on Henderson Island in the South Platte River in Arapaho County, Kansas Territory. Jack Henderson was the former editor and proprietor of the Leavenworth (Kansas Territory) Journal and an outspoken pro-slavery politician who had been accused of vote fraud in eastern Kansas. Henderson sold meat and provisions to gold seekers on their way up the South Platte River Trail to the gold fields during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. Henderson Island was the first permanent settlement in the South Platte River Valley between Fort Saint Vrain in the Nebraska Territory and the Cherry Creek Diggings in the Kansas Territory. Jack Henderson eventually returned to eastern Kansas and ironically fought for the Union in the American Civil War. Henderson Island is today the site of the Adams County Regional Park and Fairgrounds.

Portions of the Henderson area have been annexed by the City of Commerce City, the City of Brighton, and the City of Thornton.