Twenty Mile House stood one-quarter mile due west, twenty miles from Denver, as the first house built in Parker in 1864. It stood on the Smoky Hill Trail, an emigrant route dotted with unmarked graves of pioneers, at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Santa Fe stage lines. It served as a refuge for early settlers against Indian attacks and was kept in turn by Nelson Doud and James S. Parker, for whom the town of Parker is named.