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36-665: The town of Fort Collins had been founded in the previous decade on the site of the decommissioned Camp Collins of the United States Army . Moreover, the territorial legislature had designated the site of the Colorado Agricultural College to be in Fort Collins in 1870, although no money had been allocated for structures. A recurring source of anxiety among local leaders was the lack of railroad , which would not arrive until 1877. The 1872 colony came two years after

72-487: A "good country newspaper , hardware store , bank , as well as farmers and other "industrious people." It specifically discouraged whiskey saloons or gambling halls. The first drawing of lots for the colony was held in December 1872, at which time one-fifth of the lots were disbursed. The colony quickly resulted in the addition of several hundred new residents to the town, as well the erection of many new buildings. Among

108-411: A general store and a hotel. The store was a thriving business, sometimes making as much as $ 1,000 per day. LaPorte was the most important settlement north of Denver, housing the stage station, the county court house, the military, Indians, and trappers. In 1862, Camp Collins was established by the U.S. Army along the river to protect the stage line from attack by Native Americans . Also that same year,

144-573: A guide to the location of the original camp buildings, none of which survive today. The first commercial buildings were built on the southwest side of the Denver Road (Jefferson Street), including the two-story inn owned by early settler "Auntie" Elizabeth Stone . The structure was relocated in the 20th century to the grounds of the Fort Collins Museum . The subsiding of the conflict with Native Americans, in particular their complete removal from

180-528: A local settler, came forth with a proposal for a new site adjacent to his own claim four miles downstream on the Poudre, on a section of high ground on the south bank of the river. The site offered protection from flooding, had a prominent viewshed of the terrain, and was directly on the "Denver Road", the section of the Overland Trail through the county. The site offered the additional benefit of being removed from

216-669: Is an unincorporated town , a post office , and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Larimer County , Colorado , United States. The CDP is a part of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The Laporte post office has the ZIP Code 80535. At the United States Census 2020 , the population of the Laporte CDP was 2,409. The town was first settled by French-Canadian fur trappers and mountain men . It

252-457: Is how the river got its name. It became the home of Antoine Janis in 1844, who is often noted as the first permanent settler north of the Arkansas River . A band of mountaineers, hunters and trappers made LaPorte their headquarters for fur catching and trading operations. The settlement increased in numbers, including 150 lodges of Arapaho Indians who settled peacefully along the river and in

288-455: Is possessed of a good moral character" by purchasing a certificate ranging in price from 50 to US$ 250. A fifty-dollar certificate entitled the purchased to one town lot. Larger certificates entitled the purchaser to locate both a business and residence in the colony, as well as certain water rights . At the time, the town possessed a post office, grist mill, and numerous other small businesses and stores. The colony specifically issued an appeal for

324-516: The Laporte CDP for the United States Census 2000 . In L. Neil Smith 's North American Confederacy series of novels, beginning with The Probability Broach , an alternate-history LaPorte is one of the major cities of North America, occupying roughly half the area of Larimer County, and with a population of over two million people, whereas the city of Denver does not exist; in its place are

360-497: The saloons and other temptations in Laporte. On August 20, 1864, Colonel Collins issued Special Order No. 1 relocating the camp to the site suggested by Mason. The new post, by then known as "Fort Collins", was fully occupied by October 22 and the Laporte site was completely abandoned. The new site saw as little direct action as the original site, but its proximity to the growing community of new homesteaders , as well as its location on

396-458: The 11th Ohio. The event was not a battle but the flooding on the Poudre River, swollen from spring snow melt, in early June 1864. The flood destroyed the camp nearly completely, with many of the soldiers barely escaping with their lives. The obvious unsuitability of the site for future use prompted Evans to order Lieutenant Joseph Hannah to begin scouting for an alternative site. Joseph Mason ,

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432-476: The 1870s, and the town plat was rapidly expanded by the founding of the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony in 1873. Camp Collins History- [1] 40°38′N 105°08′W  /  40.63°N 105.14°W  / 40.63; -105.14  ( Camp Collins approximate location ) Laporte, Colorado Laporte (originally spelled La Porte and alternatively spelled LaPorte)

468-525: The Colorado Territory after 1865, increasingly made the fort irrelevant. In September 1866 the post was completely abandoned and was officially decommissioned the following year by order of General William T. Sherman . Almost immediately, local business owners and residents stepped into the vacuum left by the abandonment, claiming the land for commercial purposes, despite a clerical error by the Army that kept

504-486: The Denver Road, made it increasingly the center of local transportation and commerce. The site itself is in present-day Old Town in Fort Collins, between Jefferson Street (the old Denver Road) and the Poudre River. The actual military reservation encompassed an expansive territory that stretches several miles south of the Poudre, but the actual campgrounds were confined to a small area in present-day Old Town. The 300 foot square parade ground, standard for forts of its type,

540-512: The Fort Collins was as much of a local effort at boosting the population as it was a means of establishing a religiously-oriented cooperative. In addition to Cameron, officers and trustees included many early prominent residents and business owners of Fort Collins, including John C. Matthews, Judge A.F. Howes, J.M. Sherwood, Colonel J.E. Remington, N.H. Meldrum, B.T. Whedbee, Benjamin Harrison Eaton , and Joseph Mason . The colony plan called for

576-586: The Laporte Townsite Company claimed 1,280 acres (5.2 km ) of land for the town. In 1863 the 13th Kansas volunteer infantry was stationed to Laporte, acting as escort for the Overland Stage on the trail to Virginia Dale . During the flood of 1864, the army camp was covered with water, and the soldiers had to suddenly flee to higher ground. In August of that year, Col. Collins came down from Laramie, Wyoming , on an inspection tour, and decided to move

612-562: The Poudre was used until 1866 and became the nucleus around which the City of Fort Collins was founded. The camp was commissioned on July 22, 1862, and later named for Lt. Col. William O. Collins , colonel of the 11th Ohio Cavalry and the commandant of Fort Laramie , the headquarters of the U.S. Army's West Sub-district of the District of Nebraska. The initial camp at Laporte was constructed and manned by Company B, 9th Kansas Cavalry . The mission of

648-468: The U.S. government. During its first two years, the fort remained a somewhat peaceful outpost. The fort saw little direct action during its commission and was never stockaded with walls. In the fall of 1862, the 9th Kansas Cavalry was relieved by a detachment of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Cavalry under Captain David L. Hardy. The following July 1863, Hardy and Company M left the fort to pursue hostile Utes in

684-677: The army camp to Fort Collins, downriver about 6 miles (10 km). Laporte is located on the Cache la Poudre River northwest of Fort Collins , close to where the river emerges from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains . U.S. Route 287 runs along the northern edge of the community, leading southeast 6 miles (10 km) to Fort Collins and northwest 58 miles (93 km) to Laramie, Wyoming . The Laporte CDP has an area of 3,983 acres (16.120 km ), including 69 acres (0.279 km ) of water. The United States Census Bureau initially defined

720-638: The banks of the Cache la Poudre River in the valley, and in November 1861 the territorial legislature designated Laporte as the county seat . In 1862, the town of Colona changed its name to "LaPorte", and was named the headquarters of the Mountain Division of the Overland Trail Stage Route. The first post office opened, and a stage stop was built on the Overland Trail. A station was erected right along

756-542: The camp were largely peaceful, the hostility of the Pawnee and other tribes on the Colorado Eastern Plains towards white settlement prompted the Army to establish the fort as a precautionary measure to protect the trail. The camp was founded near the existing settlement of Laporte (originally Colona) that had been founded four years earlier in 1858 by Antoine Janis and other homesteaders from Fort Laramie. Although

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792-401: The division of 3,000 acres (12 km) of land immediately adjoining the existing town to divided into 10, 20, and 40 acre (40,000, 81,000 and 162,000 m) lots. The new platted lands were largely west and south of the existing town of Fort Collins, and contiguous the existing grid. Thus the colony would extend the town away from the Cache la Poudre River . Unlike the existing town plat, which

828-464: The establishment of the Greeley Colony downstream on the Poudre and was led by General Robert A. Cameron , an officer in the Greeley Colony. The success of the Greeley Colony, which was intended by its founder Nathan Meeker as a religiously-oriented utopian community, prompted its officers to expand the enterprise, although without quite the degree of religious idealism of the first effort. Rather

864-737: The fort was to protect the emigrant trains and Overland Stage lines on the Overland Trail from the growing hostile attacks of the Plains Indians . The growing hostility of the Lakota to white encroachment further north had forced the temporary relocation of the Emigrant Trail from the North Platte River to the South Platte valley. Although relations with the Arapaho and Cheyenne in the vicinity of

900-494: The land officially in government hands until 1872. By 1869, Stone and Henry C. Peterson constructed the first flour mill on the south bank of the Poudre, as well as 1.5-mile (2.5 km) mill race to supply water power. The first white child in Fort Collins, Agnes Mason, was born in the former camp headquarters on October 31, 1867. In 1870 the Colorado Territorial Legislature designated the fledgling town as

936-675: The location for the Agricultural College (present-day Colorado State University ). The military reservation was officially relinquished on May 15, 1872, by presidential order, officially opening the land to settlement claims. The townsite of Fort Collins was officially platted on the former site of the camp in January 1873. The original plat includes all the "tilted" streets in present-day Old Town north of Mountain Avenue and east of College Avenue. The town grew rapidly as an agricultural center in

972-408: The mountains, leaving the camp in control of Company B of the 1st Colorado under Lt. George W. Hawkins. In April 1864, Company B was ordered to Camp Sanborn to bolster the garrison there, leaving a void that was filled in mid-May 1864 by the arrival of Company F of the 11th Ohio Cavalry, commanded by William H. Evans. The most significant event its history occurred within a month after the arrival of

1008-541: The recipients of lots in the drawing was Franklin Avery , who would later become one of the most prominent citizens of the town, as well as Jacob Welch, would become one of the most prominent merchants. Both received lots along College Avenue, which would become the principal thoroughfare in the new expanded town plan. Camp Collins Camp Collins (also known as the Fort Collins Military Reservation )

1044-533: The region was not part of the Colorado Gold Rush that erupted the following year, the fertile lands of the Colorado Piedmont along the Poudre attracted a growing number of homesteaders in the mid-1860s. The Arapaho continued to live in villages along the Poudre near the mountains, coexisting peacefully with the settlers, despite the loss of their hunting grounds on the eastern plains in 1861 by treaty with

1080-477: The river, very near where the present Overland Trail crosses the river. Mrs. Taylor, wife of the first stationmaster, was a "good cook" and "gracious hostess", and as described by one diarist, knows "what to do with beans and dried apples." The stage fare from Denver to LaPorte was $ 20.00. The first bridge over the Cache la Poudre River was built as a toll bridge, and during the rush to California, numerous wagons and stage coaches crossed it every day. The toll charged

1116-486: The valley. The town was named by the fur trappers, many with Native American wives, who settled in the area in the mid-19th century. The name la porte means "the door" in French . The winter of 1849 brought Kit Carson and his company of trappers to the Cache la Poudre, where they set up camp. In 1860 a town company was organized, originally called "Colona". Between fifty and sixty log dwellings were erected that year along

Fort Collins Agricultural Colony - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-668: Was a 19th-century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory . The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War . Located along the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County , it was relocated from its initial location near Laporte after a devastating flood. Its second location downstream on

1188-435: Was anywhere from $ .50 to $ 8.00, depending on what source of information is used. In 1864, the bridge was washed away by a flood, and a ferry was rigged up and used for several years until the county built another bridge. LaPorte soon became a bustling business and supply center for emigrants, with wagon trains and stagecoaches constantly passing through. There were four saloons, a brewery, a butcher shop, two blacksmith shops,

1224-412: Was centered at the present intersection of Willow and Linden Streets, approximately one block from the river. The site included the standard configuration of barracks and mess halls for enlisted men, an officer's quarters, camp headquarters, guard houses, storehouses, and stables. The buildings were of log construction typically for that era and region. A city-authorized sign near the intersection provides

1260-402: Was roughly parallel to the along the old Overland Stage road along the Poudre, the new lands would be oriented towards the compass. College Avenue, Mountain Avenue, and other major thoroughfares of the grid plan of downtown Fort Collins were laid out in the new plan of the colony. The older part of town has since become known as "Old Town Fort Collins." The colony invited anyone to join "who

1296-649: Was the gateway to all the mountainous region lying north of the South Platte River and extending from the Plains to the Continental Divide . The trappers built cabins here along the Cache la Poudre River as early as 1828, making it the first settlement in Larimer County. According to legend, a group of fur traders had earlier stashed supplies (including gunpowder ) in a cache along the river near Laporte, and that

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