Fort Collins Colorado
Fort Collins is the county seat of Larimer County, the fifth most populous city in Colorado and home to Colorado State University. The Cache la Poudre River and Spring Creek run through this town which sits just east of the Rocky Mountain foothills. It lies about 65 miles north of the capital city Denver and 45 miles south of Cheyenne, Wyoming. On the city’s western skyline, lies Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain. Fort Collins is a friendly, inviting town with almost 300 days per year of Colorado sunshine and a full range of temperatures in four distinct seasons. In 2006, Money magazine ranked Fort Collins as the best place to live in America, and again as #2 in 2008.
More Town Facts
| Region: Front Range | County: Larimer | |
| Latitude: 40.559167 | Longitude: -105.078056 | Elevation: 5,003 ft (1,525 m) |
Fort Collins was founded as a military outpost of the U.S. Army in 1864. By 1867, the fort was decommissioned and can be seen today next to the historic “Old Town” portion of Fort Collins. Over the next five years, the population increased with the arrival of settlers and farmers. An agricultural colony in 1872 brought hundreds of people to the new town and they began developing the area. Fort Collins is close to the cities of Loveland and Windsor, and the entire community had combined agricultural interests. When sugar beet farming was thriving in 1901, the agricultural college experimented with using the beet tops as food for the local sheep. This approach proved so successful that the area was known as the “Lamb feeding capital of the world.” The neighboring city of Loveland had the Great Western Sugar plant to process the rest of the beets.
Current Fort Collins culture has centered around the students at Colorado State University. This is the home of Colorado CSU Rams football. CSU is also proud of their academic excellence. “With more than 150 programs of study in eight colleges, Colorado State University offers a world-class education at one of the nation’s top research universities. Academic programs at CSU are among the best in the nation in quality, innovation, and achievement, with internationally known programs in infectious disease, agriculture, cancer research, atmospheric science, sustainability and clean energy, and much more.”
With so many students living in the area, there are new features that the city is now known for. There are many widely known and successful microbreweries including New Belgium Brewing Company, Odell Brewing, Fort Collins Brewery, and others. Of course the largest brewer in the world, Anheuser-Busch also has a brewery in the city. Because of the diversity and abundance of the beer breweries, every year Fort Collins holds the Colorado Brewer’s Festival in late June, which draws around 30,000 visitors. There are other festivals and events associated with Fort Collins, including the Colorado Marathon – which follows a path along the Poudre Valley and finishes in the Old Town district. The “NewWestFest” is held in late summer, and features food, live music and fun for all. Also, the Fort Collins Lincoln Center hosts the Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra and has many concerts and Broadway plays presented by touring companies. Fort Collins has something for everyone, from historic areas and museums, to microbreweries and marathons…. and everything in-between. They all extend a welcome for you to come and visit Fort Collins, Colorado.
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