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Fort Collins Colorado History

Ft. Collins Colorado was founded as a military post in 1864 and incorporated in 1873. Long before that however there were people living and passing through this area as far back as 6-10,000 years ago. These people are called by scientists the original Native American. They were mostly nomadic tribes passing through while chasing down dinner in the form of Mastodons, giant sloth's and a saber toothed tiger or two. As close as they can figure at this time the first settlers were here about 1200BC.They were the first agricultural citizens.

The Native Americans as we know them arrived well before around 1300AD . As to recent history the Apache first passed through around 1525 or before. Coronado arrived in Southern Colorado in 1540 bringing horses with them. These horses were promptly stolen or were given to the Apaches and others. Written and physical evidence say this took place in 1600-1680. This has been horse country ever since. It also allowed the Apache, Cheyenne, Arapahoe and others to become the most fearsome horse cavalry around. In 1720 the first Spanish gold prospectors arrived at the South Platte River South and East of Ft Collins. Lewis & Clark went by North of here in Wyoming in 1804 and the Utes were in Estes Park.

In 1835 there was a fort established on the South Platte. The Oregon trail was used in 1840's North of Ft Collins. Laporte just west of present day Ft Collins was established in 1858 as the town of Colona. That brings us to 1864 when Camp Collins was established. It was also the infamous year of the Sand Creek massacre. Then in 1873 the town of Ft Collins was incorporated.

Fort Collins  was originally established due to the neighboring town of Laporte's bad luck. Camp Collins the armies fort in this area was moved from Laporte in 1864 to a site near the present downtown because the original fort was wiped out in a flood at the old location near the river in what is now Laporte.Laporte was a thriving small town with a post office stage stop and all the look of a growing successful town. It was even second to Denver by only one vote to become the state capital. Then the flood hit and the future was instantly changed as Camp Collins was moved to Fort Collins and then grew and prospered.

Ft Collins as well as the entire area were agricultural based communities featuring cattle and the sugar beet industry. All of the towns around Northern Colorado still have their large sugar beet factories obvious on the horizon. Ft Collins  sugar factory remains but the towers have come down so if you do not know where it is, it is hard to find as it looks very modern now and houses city offices and shops. We have a history from as far back as 12,000 years and the Fort Collins Library has a huge amount of information and photographs.It is broken down into major time frames and makes for good reading. The history story includes most everything up until 1941 the beginning of World War II.

After the war the town centered around it's college then named Colorado A&M and it had about 4000 students. Although CSU did not at first grow as fast as the larger University down the road in Boulder (Colorado University) there was a large influx of students after the war because of the GI Bill.  The big growth started with the arrival of President Morgan in the early 50's.  Morgan as a leader was also responsible in changing the school from an ag based university to a fully rounded world class facility. It has never lost it's roots however, as it is still a leading Vet Medicine school, Forestry School and still the leader in Agricultural Research and agricultural teaching. The University graduated it's first class under CSU in 1960-61. It had about 6,000 students then and now has close to 25,000 as the town and the university have grown.

Ft Collins was developing along at a leisurely pace in the late 50' and early 60's. In a second floor office on the corner of College & Mountain on of Ft Collins's first major companies was born with the invention of the Water Pik Oral Hygiene Appliance. This company founded by a local dentist, with an engineer friend started a company which is still here today and employs many hundreds of people. Then due primarily we feel to the Universities influence and the surrounding environmental advantages Ft Collins really began to grow. In 1969 Kodak came to Windsor and that was the start of it in a major way. HP was already in Loveland with a small facility and the US manufacturing division of Lego was also in Loveland.

In 1975 HP came to Ft Collins and continually expanded to the campus you see today. As these major US corporations arrived the small companies and the spin off companies turned Ft Collins into a regional power house. The first mall was built in the 60's on College Avenue where the big box mall and Whole Foods are now located. In the early 70's Foothills Mall was built and became the regional shopping center for a four state area.

As the area grows the surrounding towns have grown too and now we are close enough to be one large metro area. Just don't tell the local governments they are very territorial. The towns of Loveland which is just to the south has had tremendous growth since 2000 and the smaller towns of Windsor and Timnath are growing in leaps and bounds. Larimer county is now over 300,00 (2008) and if you throw in Greeley just to the east and Weld county we have probably reach 500,00.