60 Fun Facts About Fort Collins

Fort Collins was founded in 1864 as what kind of settlement?

The post never had walls and was decommissioned just three years later, in 1867, but settlers had already begun arriving around it.

Colonel William O. Collins commanded which Wyoming Army post when he authorized the site named for him?

Collins's son Caspar was killed in 1865, and the garrison near present-day Casper, Wyoming, was renamed in the son's honor.

What wiped out the original Camp Collins near Laporte in June 1864, prompting the move downriver?

The camp had been built to protect the Overland mail route, and travelers on the Overland Trail used to camp there.

Fort Collins is the seat of which Colorado county?

The county seat moved to Fort Collins from Laporte in 1868 after a campaign led by local businessman Joseph Mason.

In what year did the county seat move from Laporte to Fort Collins?

The first school and church had opened in 1866, and the town was platted the following year.

Roughly how many people lived in Fort Collins at the 2020 census?

That makes it the fourth-most populous city in Colorado, and the wider metro area holds an estimated 375,000 residents.

What is the elevation of Fort Collins above sea level?

The city sits at the base of the Front Range foothills, about 45 miles south of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The Cache la Poudre River takes its name from a cache of what, buried by French trappers in the 1820s?

The trappers were caught in a snowstorm and had to lighten their load; the name is a corruption of the original Cache à la Poudre.

The Poudre River empties into which larger river a few miles east of Greeley?

The river drops about 6,155 feet between its headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park and its mouth, which is why the current is so swift.

In October 1986, 76 miles of the Cache la Poudre received which federal designation?

Thirty of those miles are classified as wild and 46 as recreational; the stretch begins at Cache la Poudre Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

How do locals pronounce "Poudre"?

The canyon it carved is a glacier-formed valley roughly 40 miles long through the foothills northwest of the city.

Horsetooth Reservoir was built in 1949 as part of which federal water project?

The reservoir stores water piped eastward under the Continental Divide from Colorado's Western Slope, and it is held back by four separate earthen dams.

Filling Horsetooth Reservoir drowned part of which small community, whose schoolhouse is still underwater?

Most of the town relocated before the water rose to the area that now surrounds the reservoir's South Bay.

Which landmark appears in the official seal of the City of Fort Collins?

The tooth-shaped pegmatite formation sits atop a 7,259-foot summit seven miles west of downtown and also lends its name to Horsetooth Road.

CSU was chartered in 1870 under what name?

Although chartered in 1870, the school held no classes until 1879, and its first term looked more like a college-prep school than a college.

In what year did the Colorado General Assembly approve the name Colorado State University?

President Bill Morgan pushed for university status because he believed doctoral graduates should hold degrees from a university, not an A&M.

What was the name of Colorado State's first ram mascot, introduced in 1946?

Earlier mascots included a black bear cub that wore sweaters and a bulldog named Peanuts; the name CAM was later chosen during a basketball halftime contest.

Students of which school were blamed for the 1918 poisoning of Peanuts, the college's bulldog mascot?

An alumnus, Olympic decathlon champion Glenn Morris, later donated a replacement bulldog named Gallant Defender.

The giant hillside 'A' west of Fort Collins was first whitewashed in 1924 for teams known by what nickname?

The letter sits directly next to the old Hughes Stadium site and just below Horsetooth Rock.

What are Colorado State University's official school colors?

The Rams have played football for well over a century and enjoyed their best run under coach Sonny Lubick, whose name is on the stadium field.

Autism advocate Temple Grandin is a longtime professor at CSU in which field?

She earned her doctorate in animal science at Illinois in 1989 and is known for designing humane livestock-handling systems.

Six-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, one of CSU's most famous athletes, competed in which sport?

CSU alumni also include Nobel and Pulitzer winners, astronauts and two former governors of Colorado.

The Oval at the heart of the CSU campus is lined with 65 trees of which species?

Designed in 1909, the Oval measures 2,065 feet around and is faced on its south end by the 1924 Administration Building.

Which Fort Collins-born Disney artist contributed ideas for Main Street, U.S.A.?

Goff met Walt Disney in a London model shop in 1951 when both wanted to buy the same model train, and he later designed the Nautilus for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Along with Fort Collins, which Missouri town inspired the look of Disney's Main Street, U.S.A.?

Walt Disney spent part of his childhood in Marceline, while the Fort Collins connection came through a Disney artist who grew up riding the town's trolley.

Old Town's Miller Block (1888) was the first Colorado building to hang its ceiling from the roof using what?

The red sandstone building was put up for Danish-born saloonkeeper Frank C. Miller, and the trick left its first floor free of any posts.

Old Town Fort Collins was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in what year?

The 26-acre district includes 38 contributing buildings, many in Late Victorian or Romanesque Revival styles.

In what year did student activism end Fort Collins' alcohol ban, in force since the late 1890s?

The city had a reputation as deeply conservative for most of the twentieth century, which makes its later fame as a beer town all the more surprising.

Kim Jordan co-founded New Belgium Brewing in 1991 with which partner?

The Fat Tire recipe grew out of a co-founder's bicycle tour of Belgian breweries, which is why vintage bikes decorate the brewery grounds.

In 1999 New Belgium became the first U.S. brewery powered entirely by what?

The company later added an industrial heat pump in 2023 to cut its greenhouse gas emissions further.

In 2019 New Belgium was bought by Lion, the Australian subsidiary of which Japanese beverage group?

By 2015 New Belgium had grown into the fourth-largest craft brewer in the country and its beers reached all 50 states in 2017.

Before New Belgium reformulated Fat Tire in January 2023, what style of beer was it?

The reformulation made the flagship lighter in color and crisper; Esquire had earlier named the original one of the best canned beers to drink.

Odell Brewing opened in 1989 inside a converted 1915 building that had been what?

It was the first craft brewery in Fort Collins and only the second packaging craft brewery in all of Colorado.

Doug Odell made his first Fort Collins beer deliveries in an old mustard-colored pickup made by which company?

He had spent ten years refining recipes in his Los Angeles kitchen before settling on 90 Shilling and Easy Street Wheat.

In what year did Anheuser-Busch open its Fort Collins brewery?

The city now has more than 20 breweries, and the local chamber estimated the industry supported nearly 2,500 jobs in Larimer County as far back as 2010.

The Fort Collins Municipal Railway was North America's last streetcar system to run only which type of car?

The city took over the failing private trolley line in 1919, bought four new cars from the American Car Company, and never ran more than seven at a time.

Along which street does the restored heritage streetcar run on summer weekends?

Car 21 made its first public trips on December 29, 1984, exactly 77 years after electric streetcar service began in the city.

Fort Collins was the last city in Colorado to operate streetcars; in what year did regular service end?

Pueblo had quit in 1948 and the Denver Tramway in 1950, so for a year the little Birney fleet was the state's only streetcar service.

The MAX bus rapid transit line, opened in 2014, runs along which transitway corridor?

The end-to-end trip from downtown to south of Harmony Road takes about 15 minutes.

Which magazine named Fort Collins the best place to live in the United States in 2006?

The ranking is still quoted in university recruiting materials, along with the two-hour drive to major ski resorts.

Which Bicycle Friendly Community level did Fort Collins earn in 2013, shared by only four US cities?

The city has more than 280 miles of designated bikeways, and PeopleForBikes ranked it the number one U.S. cycling city in 2018.

Hattie McDaniel lived as a child in a Fort Collins house on which street?

The family moved there in 1901 and later left for Denver; a plaque now marks the house at number 317.

Which future Supreme Court justice, nicknamed "Whizzer", was born in Fort Collins in 1917?

White finished second in the 1937 Heisman voting for the Colorado Buffaloes before turning to law and serving on the Court from 1962 to 1993.

During the 2009 "balloon boy" hoax, where was six-year-old Falcon Heene eventually found?

The homemade saucer-shaped balloon reached 7,000 feet and flew about 50 miles while helicopters chased it; his father later pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant.

Which agency operates time-signal station WWV near Fort Collins?

It shares the site with WWVB, the 60 kHz longwave station that keeps radio-controlled clocks across the country on time.

OtterBox, the phone-case maker headquartered in Fort Collins, started in 1998 by making what?

Founder Curt Richardson built the first one in his garage in 1991 after noticing the boom in water sports; iPod cases followed in 2004.

Woodward, the aerospace-controls firm in Fort Collins, began in 1870 making speed governors for what?

Founder Amos Woodward's first patent was No. 103,813; his son Elmer later designed the first successful aircraft propeller governor in 1933.

The Lindenmeier site in Colorado is the most extensive campsite yet found from which prehistoric culture?

Radiocarbon dates put the camp at roughly 12,300 years old, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

The Cameron Peak Fire, which started in the upper Poudre Canyon in August 2020, set what Colorado record?

It burned 208,663 acres over 112 days and passed the Pine Gulch Fire, which had set the same record only seven weeks earlier.

The Colorado Marathon, run each May down the Poudre Canyon, advertises itself with which slogan?

The course is slightly downhill nearly the whole way, and in its first four years 18% of finishers qualified for Boston.

By the early 1900s, sugar-beet by-products made Fort Collins the world capital of what?

Beet tops proved an abundant feed, and the Great Western sugar plant opened in neighboring Loveland in 1901.

How many people did the July 1997 Spring Creek flood kill in Fort Collins?

The rainfall was the heaviest on record for a Colorado urban area, and the waters swamped CSU's library, causing about $140 million in damage there alone.

Which philanthropist gave $12,500 for the city's first purpose-built public library, completed in 1904?

The gift came with the condition that it stay a free public library; the building opened with 2,770 books on the shelves.

Fort Collins ranks where among Colorado cities by population, per the 2020 census?

Its 169,810 residents put it behind Denver, Colorado Springs and Aurora; the city sits about 60 miles north of the state capitol.

Roughly how far is Fort Collins from Cheyenne, Wyoming?

The city sits at the base of the northern Front Range foothills, about 60 miles north of Denver and 45 miles south of Cheyenne.

What triggered Fort Collins' first population boom in 1872?

Hundreds of settlers took lots south of Old Town, and friction with earlier residents shaped politics in the town incorporated in 1873.

Which company started the Fort Collins trolley service in 1907?

It aimed to link the Front Range; the line closed in 1951 and Car 21 was restored to run as a heritage trolley from 1984.

How many members sit on the Fort Collins City Council, including the mayor?

Under the council-manager system the mayor serves a two-year term while the six district members serve staggered four-year terms.

Roughly how many miles of designated bikeways does Fort Collins have?

They include the paved Spring Creek and Poudre River trails plus the dirt Foothills Trail along Horsetooth Reservoir.

Which Fort Collins venue is home to the city's symphony orchestra?

It also regularly hosts national touring companies of off-Broadway plays; the NewWestFest street festival was discontinued in 2021.