I've lived in Northern Colorado for nearly twenty years now and hope to extend my stay here by at least another twenty. I'm an army brat, musician and radio guy, all of which means lot's of moving and relocating. A bit of a gypsy soul am I.

I grew up in Germany and France, lived in my home state of Pennsylvania, along with places like Virginia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, Idaho and others.

But, when I first moved to Colorado, I knew I had found home. Having lived in Estes Park for fifteen years, I finally moved to Fort Collins.

I've always been a history buff and that interest was intensified, by my relationship with a former co-worker/newsman, Phil Walker, who produced a series of audio features and books called "Visions Along The Poudre Valley".

So here are some facts about Fort Collins.

CAMP COLLINS: Our town was originally called  Camp Collins. Established as a military outpost to protect both the Cherokee and Overland Trails from Indian raids on settlers to the new west. Camp Collins was established by Col. Wm. Collins

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WHY ARE THE ROADS SO WIDE?
The roads in historic Old Town were planned to be extra ride so that wagons and horse teams of the times could do wide u-turns.

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FORT COLLINS SUBWAY? The short answer is no, that despite a rumor that Fort Collins had an 11 mile track of subway underground in fact no it did not. It was from a fictionalized account of a visit to a subway written in 1982 in Poudre Magazine by Bob Terrill.

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COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY: CSU, State Agricultural College in Fort Collins was built in 1879, along with University of Colorado and The College of Mines in Golden. All public institutions built in the 1870's.

 

 


 

SALOONS AND THE COURTHOUSE:: Originally Fort Collins was a 'dry' town, but then lifted the restrictions on saloons. That brought in a plethora of saloons and prompted one city leader to state that "the town was over run with saloons and places where intoxicants could be obtained." and "town was full of idle and vicious men, driftwood from railroad and ditch camps, irresponsible creatures, without home or friends, who hung about the saloons and brothels." This prompted city officials to impose a high liquor license fee. That weeded out the saloons to just six. But there was still plenty of use for the Larimer County Courthouse built in the 1880's.

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