The Railroad Era, Colorado Agricultural College, and
the Growth of the City, 1877-1900
A number of standard gauge railroads were important to Fort
Collins in providing transportation access and opening up markets
to the community. The arrival of the railroads ended the
isolation of the community and made possible the importation of
manufactured building materials from the East. The first railroad
to reach Fort Collins was the Colorado Central in 1877, followed
by the Greeley, Salt Lake, and Pacific (GSL&P) in 1882. These
lines, both subsidiaries of the Union Pacific (UP), were later
consolidated into the Colorado and Southern Railway in 1898
following reorganization of UP holdings. In 1910, the Union
Pacific prepared to lay track into the city and, in clearing its
right or way, destroyed sizable numbers of the city's most
historic structures along Jefferson Avenue, including many
historic residences.
The Colorado Central Railroad was organized by W.A.H. Loveland
of Golden and others in 1865 as the Colorado and Clear Creek
Railroad Company. The objectives of the company were to build
lines from Golden up Clear Creek Canyon to mining areas and to
connect with Boulder and other points to the north. The line was
supported by the Union Pacific Railroad with financial backing
and donated equipment. In the early 1870s, the Colorado Central
built a line northward from Golden to Boulder and then northeast
to Longmont, which was reached in 1873. The Panic of 1873 halted
construction on a planned extension from Longmont to Greeley.
When construction resumed in 1877, the railroad decided to build
directly north to a connection with the UP mainline near Hazard,
Wyoming, just west of Cheyenne. This linkage would give the
"UP access to Colorado trade independent of the KP [Kansas
Pacific] or DP [Denver Pacific]."
Fort Collins was the main population center along the proposed
alignment of the Wyoming extension of the Colorado Central. In
order to ensure that the town was not bypassed by the Colorado
Central, the Fort Collins Board of Trustees enacted an ordinance
in June 1877 giving the railroad a right of way north-south
through the town along Mason Street, plus additional land for
yards and a depot. Of the alignment cutting through the town,
railroad historian Kenneth Jessen opined that "Fort Collins
would ultimately live to regret this decision as rail traffic
grew and trains became longer."
Inadequate transportation had hindered the growth of the Fort
Collins area, with wagon roads to Denver and Cheyenne so poor
that they were passable only during good weather. Jessen noted
that the foothill area in Larimer County was ideal for
wheat-growing (as evidenced by local milling activities), but
"shipping the flour to outside markets was prohibitively
expensive" given poor transportation facilities. While the
mid-1870s had seen development stagnate within Fort Collins, the
coming of the railroad in 1877 was an impetus for a surge of
growth.
Building south from Wyoming, the rails reached Fort Collins in
September 1877 and the segment to Longmont was completed by
November of the same year. The communities of Loveland and
Berthoud would soon develop along the stretch of track between
Fort Collins and Longmont. Watrous eloquently describes the
impact of the rail link on Fort Collins:
The advent of the railroad marked the beginning of a
new era in the history of Fort Collins and Larimer
County. It opened communication by rail with the outside
world and brought the town in touch with the rest of
creation. It afforded the farmer and stockman an
opportunity to ship out their surplus products and fat
cattle to wider and better markets. The home merchants
could also get in their stocks of goods in better time,
in better condition and at a cheaper rate, consequently
the producers and consumers were all benefitted.
By the spring of 1878, Fort Collins was in the midst of a new
period of prosperity and development, during which a number of
the city's most substantial business blocks, public buildings,
and residences would be erected. An influx of new settlers from
the Midwest took advantage of rail transportation to bring
families, household goods, farm implements, and farm animals
directly to the area. The railroads actively encouraged
immigration by advertising the region in order to sell their land
grant acres and by offering special rates for emigrant cars in
which farmers could transport their belongings. The town, whose
economy depended upon the success of the agricultural sector,
prospered as a supply center for the new emigrants.
The second railroad to reach Fort Collins was the Greeley,
Salt Lake, and Pacific Railroad (GSL&P), a line under the
control of the Union Pacific. The GSL&P was incorporated in
January 1881 in response to surveying activities up the Cache la
Poudre Canyon by the Denver, Salt Lake, and Western Railroad, a
line associated with UP's rival, the Chicago, Burlington, and
Quincy. The UP conducted its own surveys in the canyon and, by
February 1881, had construction teams working in the area. The
quick action by the UP apparently dissuaded the rival line from
pursuing its plans for tracks up the Cache la Poudre Canyon.
As initially proposed, the GSL&P was intended to run from
Greeley to Fort Collins and westward to Salt Lake City, Utah. To
aid in the line's construction, the railroad requested that Fort
Collins provide a free right of way through the town. A town
meeting was held on the question in July 1881 and the town Board
of Trustees acceded to the request, tempted by visions of Fort
Collins on a transcontinental rail route. Jessen observed that
the town "had illusions of much more than the GSL&P was
ever to provide."
The GSL&P located a right of way on the northern fringe of
town, roughly aligned with Willow Street on a slight
northwest-southeast orientation. The cost of compensating
affected property owners was seven thousand dollars and in only a
few cases was outright condemnation employed. The initial
tracklaying on the GSL&P in October 1881 was a 15.4 mile
branch from Fort Collins to Bellvue and then south to an area of
stone quarries that had developed along the hogback west and
south of Fort Collins. In December 1881, the first thirty-five
carloads of high quality sandstone, hauled by wagon from the
quarries, was shipped from Laporte. By May 1882, the branch line
had reached the southern end of Horsetooth Valley, and, by June
1882, up to four trains a day were running from the Stout
quarries. The 24.5 miles of connecting track between Greeley and
Fort Collins were laid between May and October 1882, and the
first GSL&P train rolled into Fort Collins over the link on 9
October 1882. Fort Collins was not destined to be part of a
transcontinental route. In the fall of 1882 the Union Pacific
determined that the effort to push a line through the Cache la
Poudre Canyon was too expensive and abandoned the project.
A number of changes in railroad operations and trackage
occurred as a result of the Colorado Central and the GSL&P
both being under control of the Union Pacific (UP). In 1883,
service on Colorado Central trackage north of Fort Collins was
discontinued, with traffic diverted to the GSL&P route to
Greeley and thence north to Cheyenne. The stated rationale was
the poor condition and more difficult grades of the older
Colorado Central route north to Wyoming. More cars could be moved
by a single engine over the GSL&P route versus the older Fort
Collins-Hazard alignment. The abandonment of the tracks north of
Fort Collins left the small communities of Bristol and Taylors
without rail service. While this loss of market access sparked
protests and lawsuits in Fort Collins, tracks were physically
removed in 1890.
The agricultural sector was a major customer for railroads in
the region, but the late 1880s were a difficult period for cattle
ranchers. During the part of the decade, businesses overexpanded
and subsequently, a period of stagnation set in. Farmers, who had
gone into debt to acquire land, experienced a lack of demand for
alfalfa and a decline in value of cattle and horses. A harsh
winter during 1886-1887 was referred to as "the big
die-up" as cattlemen lost as much as half their herds.
Fortunately, in 1889, a new agricultural activity was initiated,
which would become one of the foundations of the farming economy
in the Fort Collins area. In that year, a blizzard halted the
railroads, delaying at Walsenburg a shipment of New Mexican lambs
received by E.J. and I.W. Bennett and headed for Nebraska. When
transportation reopened, the lambs were in too poor a condition
to be sent east. Instead, they were sent to Fort Collins, where
alfalfa hay was plentiful. The lambs were fattened on hay and
corn by Charles F. Blunck for the Bennetts. In 1890, the fattened
lambs were marketed in Chicago, where they produced a profit.
This was the beginning of a major industry for the Fort Collins
area. In 1889, 3,500 lambs were fed, and by 1901, 400,000 were
being fed. Major lamb feeders during the early twentieth century
included W.A. Drake, Peter Anderson, Blunck, Jesse Harris, and
the Zieglers.
The farmers in the vicinity of Fort Collins joined together in
an effort to improve their livelihood in 1884 through the
organization of the Farmers Protective Association. The group
incorporated with the object of building mills and elevators,
buying and selling real estate, and manufacturing flour. The
organizers hoped to protect the interests of local wheat growers
against millers' discrimination in the purchase of grain. Leaders
of the group included John G. Coy, Peter Anderson, Joseph Murray,
and J.E. and Z.C. Plummer. The farmers built Harmony Mill in
1884, a portion of which is still standing (See Figure 14). The
mill had the capacity to process six hundred one-hundred-pound
sacks of flour a day. The Harmony Mill quickly ran into problems
through mismanagement and by 1901, the mill was closed and in
litigation with creditors. In 1906, the Sanborn Map describes the
building as a "vacant old mill."
In 1890, the Union Pacific formed a new subsidiary, the Union
Pacific, Denver, and Gulf Railroad (UPD&G), which
consolidated the Colorado Central, Greeley, Salt Lake, and
Pacific, and other lines extending southward to Texas. The
UPD&G existed for three years until the entire UP system went
into receivership. In 1898, the Colorado and Southern Railway was
created, including the former trackage of both the Colorado
Central and the GSL&P lines.
Colorado State Agricultural College
Three public institutions for higher education were created
and built in Colorado during the 1870s: the Colorado School of
Mines in Golden (1874); the University of Colorado in Boulder
(1877); and the State Agricultural College in Fort Collins
(1879). The Colorado territorial legislature determined the
locations of these institutions, as a result of various
communities vying for the honor of being chosen as the site of
such facilities as the state prison, insane asylum, and
university. Representatives of Larimer County realized the
economic and political advantages of locating a government
institution in their community. As James Hansen has noted, the
acquisition of a college was considered desirable because it
would enhance the city's prestige and insure a "center of
culture, an enlarged and refined population, and a variety of
economic rewards."
The idea of establishing an agricultural college in Fort
Collins was initially advanced by Larimer County Representative
Harris Stratton in 1867. In February 1870, Matthew S. Taylor
followed up on Stratton's concept and introduced in the
territorial legislature an act establishing what he referred to
as the "Agricultural College of Colorado" at Fort
Collins. Apparently some legislators voted to grant Fort Collins
the college in the belief that an agricultural college in
"the Great American Desert" was pure fantasy. Trustees
were appointed to organize the college and purchase the necessary
property, erect buildings, and employ a teaching staff.
Unfortunately, no money was appropriated to accomplish these
tasks. The first trustees included a number of prominent Colorado
citizens, including Samuel H. Elbert, Granville Berkley, Benjamin
Whedbee, and Jesse M. Sherwood.
Although no state funding had been forthcoming, residents of
Fort Collins were determined to push ahead with the creation of
the college. Local settlers and businesses thus donated land for
the college campus. In 1871, Robert Dalzell, who had a homestead
near the town site, donated thirty acres of land for the
institution. In 1872, eighty acres of land were donated by the
Larimer County Land Improvement Company, the same development
group which had established the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony.
Pioneers A. H. Patterson, John Mathews, Joseph Mason, and Henry
C. Peterson also donated land for the site.
In 1874, the territorial legislature appropriated one thousand
dollars as start-up money for the college after intense lobbying
by Norman H. Meldrum. Meldrum was a pioneer farmer and
stockraiser, who served as Larimer county assessor, member of the
territorial and state legislatures, secretary of state, and
lieutenant governor before moving to Wyoming in 1897. The
legislature appropriated the money with the stipulation that the
college trustees raise a matching amount.
In order to further the probability that the college would
actually be built, Fort Collins citizens erected a board fence
around a portion of the donated land and constructed a
"claim" building designed by local banker A. K. Yount
on the donated campus acreage. The small claim building
(demolished) was erected at the southwest corner of College and
West Laurel. This first building on the college campus was
initially utilized for storage and later housed the first college
president. Henry Patterson planted trees along the road to the
site to further enhance its appearance. In 1875, the local grange
evidenced its support of the college when it plowed up twenty
acres of the donated campus land and planted it, raising a crop
to be sold to establish a fund for the institution. The grain was
harvested, threshed, stored in the claim building, and eventually
sold to the local mill.
When the state constitution was written in 1876, it
incorporated the concept of an agricultural college and a state
board of agriculture to oversee it. In 1877, the college took a
step nearer to becoming a reality when a state funding act levied
an assessment on taxable property in order to secure money for
the construction of buildings at the institution. In addition, a
State Board of Agriculture was created to govern the college.
This support for the college resulted in the formulation of plans
for the first classroom building. Combined taxes for 1878 and
1879 netted a construction budget of eight thousand dollars for
the construction of "Old Main." When the building was
completed in 1879, the college officially opened. Historians
Abbott, Leonard, and McComb observed that the "massive new
college building expressed the desire to build a cultured
commonwealth and affirmed Coloradans' faith in the practical
application of learning to railroads, mining, irrigation, and
industry."
In the early 1880s, the college's continued existence appeared
somewhat uncertain, and Hansen reported that the university at
Boulder went so far as to attempt to recruit the agricultural
college's students. The students themselves helped advance the
prospects of the institution by assisting the campus buildings
and grounds crews in completing repairs and improvements.
Although the local agricultural economy suffered during the late
1880s and a general economic downturn was experienced in the
state in 1893, enrollment at the college (which stood at 146 in
1892) grew after the initial period of uncertainty.
Growth of the City
Although sparse in some cases and interspersed with vacant
blocks, many blocks of the original plat of 1873 had begun to
experience development by the mid-1880s. Fort Collins sign
painter and French immigrant Pierre Dastarac produced a
bird's-eye-view map of the Fort Collins in 1884 (See Figure 15).
The view created by Dastarac was to the southwest from beyond the
northeastern edge of town and included the developed area of the
community. Around its edges, the map also included line drawings
of the principal commercial and public buildings of the town.
The earliest Sanborn insurance map coverage of Fort Collins,
produced in 1886, provides detailed information on existing land
uses and building footprints for the most heavily developed area
of the city, extending from Willow Street on the northeast to
Olive Street on the south and from roughly Howes Street on the
west to Lincoln Avenue and Whedbee Street on the east. The map
indicates that streets within the city were not paved and shows
bridges over the Cache la Poudre River at College and Lincoln
Avenues. Railroad tracks of the Greeley, Salt Lake, and Pacific
(GSL&P) are shown on a slight northwest-southeast orientation
through the town roughly aligned with Willow Street. The Colorado
Central Railroad tracks are shown along Mason Street north-south
through the town. A freight and passenger depot is shown on Mason
Street between Maple Street and Laporte Avenue.
The principal industrial sites of 1886 Fort Collins were found
on the northeastern edge of town and in the northern area along
railroad lines. The Garbe Brothers Machine Shop and Foundry was
located on Riverside Avenue near Smith Street. A two-and-a-half
story grain elevator of the Colorado Elevator Company with a
capacity of 55,000 bushels was located on the Colorado Central
railroad tracks at the northwest corner of Maple and Mason
streets. Two water-powered mills of the Colorado Milling and
Elevator Company were also shown. The Inter-Ocean Mills were
located on the northwest corner of Cherry and Mason streets along
the Colorado Central Railroad. The mill was three and a half
stories with a two story warehouse. The Lindell Mills were
situated on the GSL&P railroad line in the northeastern part
of town at the intersection of Willow Street and Lincoln Avenue.
The mill was of four stories with a two story warehouse and a
150,000 bushel elevator.
The commercial and business area of the town in 1886 covered
approximately forty-three acres and stretched from Jefferson
Avenue on the northeast, southwest to the intersection of College
Avenue and Mountain Avenue and west to College Avenue and Laporte
Avenue. Figure 16 maps the growth of the Fort Collins commercial
core between 1886 and 1925, based on an analysis of successive
Sanborn fire insurance maps. A number of hotels were found within
the 1886 commercial area: the Tedmon House at the northwest
corner of Jefferson and Linden; the Collins House on Jefferson
between Linden and Chestnut; the Cottage House on Jefferson
between Pine and Linden; and the Commercial Hotel at College and
Walnut. Jefferson between Pine and Chestnut, Linden between
Willow and Mountain, and College between Mountain and Walnut
displayed the heaviest concentrations of commercial structures.
Groceries, dry goods, restaurants, hardware, drugs, jewelers,
laundries, printers, furniture, carriage and harness supplies,
saloons, and hotels were among the enterprises found in this
area. Most of the buildings in the commercial core were one to
two stories in height, with only the Tedmon House, Collins House,
the Opera House, and Poudre Valley Bank/Linden Hotel at three
stories. Offices were located on floors above street level. This
area was by no means exclusively commercial and contained a
number of residential units, along commercial blockfaces or on
the periphery of such blocks, as well as on upper floors of some
businesses.
Public facilities included the town offices on Walnut between
Pine and Linden, which also housed firefighting equipment and a
bell tower. The Post Office was at the corner of Linden and
Mountain. A small "calaboose" was shown on Sanborn maps
on the alley between Jefferson and Walnut and Linden and
Chestnut. A frame office and stone jail were located on
Courthouse Square at Mason and Mountain; the large courthouse had
not yet been constructed. Remington School was situated at the
southeast corner of Olive and Remington. Only a few buildings of
the State Agricultural College are shown, located just southwest
of the intersection of Laurel and College: a college building,
dormitory, mechanical building, and chemistry laboratory.
A few churches are shown on the 1886 Sanborn map: the
Methodist Church near the corner of Mountain and Walnut; the
Presbyterian Church at Walnut and Linden; the stone Episcopal
Church on the southeast corner of College and Oak; and the frame
Catholic church near Mountain and Riverside.
A overview of the physical development of Fort Collins at the
end of the century is provided in Merritt D. Houghton's 1899
bird's-eye-view map of city (See Figure 17). Houghton was an
artist who later moved to Laramie, Wyoming, and specialized in
sketching ranches and the countryside. His 1899 map essentially
replicated the view and coverage of Dastarac's 1884 effort. The
1899 map graphically illustrates the densification of the
commercial core, with previously vacant or residential areas
replaced by larger and generally taller commercial structures.
The expansion of the business area onto the south blockface of
Mountain Avenue and further north along College Avenue is also
evident. The presence of a number of large public structures on
the 1899 map, such as the Courthouse, Remington School, and
Franklin School, is also a striking difference. Discussing the
1899 map, Swanson observed that "there are many more
buildings on the campus. There is a luxuriant growth of trees.
Even in the old parts of town many blocks were not yet
occupied."
Commercial District Growth
In 1879, forty-one buildings were erected in Fort Collins and
Watrous noted that 1,150,000 bricks were laid. As the building
boom of the late 1870s expanded during 1880, lots which had been
offered for fifty to seventy-five dollars at the end of 1879 sold
for five to eight hundred dollars by 1880. The 1880 Census showed
the town with 1,356 inhabitants as the twelfth most populous
municipality in the state. Table 1 displays population growth
trends and rankings for 1880 through 1940. Growth of around fifty
percent was recorded during both the 1880s and 1890s, as Fort
Collins topped two thousand residents in 1890 and just over three
thousand in 1900. Despite the rate of growth, the town dropped to
the sixteenth largest in Colorado in 1900 as a result of more
rapid growth occurring in booming mining communities.
Hotels
The growth of the town also resulted in an increase in
visitors to the city. Hotels were built to accommodate guests and
often the enterprises included restaurants and bars which made
them a center of social events. D. M. Harris moved the front part
of the old Agricultural Hotel to College Avenue near Walnut,
enlarged the building, and renamed it the Commercial Hotel.
Harris later had the frame building razed and erected a
three-story brick building on the lot. The new hotel boasted
fifty rooms, electric lighting, steam heat, and a large dining
room. The building's proximity to the Colorado Central Railroad
station made it a popular stop for travelers and businessmen.
The Tedmon House, built by Bolivar Seward Tedmon, opened on 20
May 1880 and was reputedly the finest hotel in Colorado north of
Denver (See Figure 18). Located on the northwest corner of
Jefferson and Linden, the Tedmon House contained sixty-five
handsomely furnished rooms and was a popular hostelry for thirty
years. In 1909, the Tedmon House was sold to the Union Pacific
Railroad, which temporarily used it as a depot and then razed it
in 1910.
A competitor of the Tedmon, the Linden Hotel was completed in
1883 at the northwest corner of Linden and Walnut. Abner Loomis
and Charles Andrews erected the block house the hotel and the
Poudre Valley National Bank. The Poudre Valley National Bank had
started as a private institution in 1878. Officers of the bank
included William C. Stover, president, and Charles H. Sheldon,
cashier. The Loomis and Andrews building was designed by William
Quayle, a Denver architect who designed a number of buildings in
Fort Collins.
Opera House
By the beginning of the 1880s, residents of Fort Collins felt
that they had created a cosmopolitan community which favorably
compared with other Colorado towns in its possession of the
trappings of culture and civilization. An essential ingredient of
a sophisticated town during the late nineteenth century was an
opera house. Central City erected its opera house in 1878 and
Horace Tabor built one in Leadville in 1879. Traveling minstrel
and vaudeville companies were available for one night stops and
the large, elegant opera houses featured the best entertainment
available.
Opera houses were most popular in the more prosperous and
developed towns of the state and it seemed fitting that Fort
Collins should construct its own structure. With the support of a
group of prominent businessmen, including Franklin Avery, Jay H.
Bouton, Dr. C.P. Miller, M.F. Thomas, and P.S. Balcam, an opera
house for Fort Collins was planned. John F. Colpitts designed and
built the three-story opera house block which opened in 1881.
Jacob Welch, whose dry goods store had burned earlier in the
year, joined the group and a new Welch Block was erected as part
of the Opera House Block. The investors thus used the opportunity
of erecting a new business block to combine the functions of the
opera house, a bank, a retail shop, and a hotel, the Windsor. The
First National Bank, of which Franklin C. Avery was president
from 1881-1909, was a major occupant of the block. The bank,
which incorporated as the Larimer County Bank in 1880, opened for
business in the Opera Block in 1881. In 1882, the bank became
known as the First National Bank of Fort Collins.
City Services
The frame and brick Welch Building fire in 1880, which cost
two lives, motivated the town to establish a Hook and Ladder
company during the same year. The unbridled expansion of the
business and residential sectors resulted in the need for more
formal government offices and fire equipment. In 1881, a combined
city hall and fire station building was erected on the north side
of Walnut between Pine and Linden. It was common during the
period to combine both activities in one building.
In 1882, city services were further expanded when the town
approved by vote a city water system for domestic and fire
purposes. Previously, residents obtained water from the town
water wagon, which was now considered unsanitary and obsolete.
The contract for the system went to Russel and Alexander of
Colorado Springs. H.P. Handy was engineer in charge of
construction. The water was taken from the Cache la Poudre River
west of Laporte through an open ditch to the pump house and from
there through city mains by pumps driven by water wheels.
In 1887, a company known as the Fort Collins Light, Heat, and
Power Company was incorporated by W.B. Stewart, E.P. Roberts,
E.T. Dunning, and William B. Miner. The company was organized to
build and operate an electrical plant in the city. Stewart was a
mechanical engineer from Denver and Roberts was general manager
of the electrical system in Cheyenne. The plant at the northwest
corner of West Mountain Avenue and Mason Street provided power
until 1908 when the franchise was purchased by the Northern
Colorado Power Company. At that time, the old power plant was
dismantled.
Another convenience for city dwellers was the telephone system
installed in 1887. In 1893, the city granted a franchise to the
Colorado Telephone Company to build a line connecting Fort
Collins with other Colorado cities. In 1909, the Telephone
Company erected a building on College Avenue. By the early
twentieth century, Fort Collins had adopted many of the services
which marked a progressive city.
County Courthouse
Although the harsh winter of 1886-1887 had profound effects on
the livestock industry in the West, Fort Collins was somewhat
insulated from the devastation felt by other areas because its
businessmen held diversified interests. During the year, a number
of city improvements and major building projects pushed forward.
In 1887, work on the Larimer County Courthouse, designed by
architect William Quayle, began in Courthouse quare in New Town
between Mountain and Oak Streets. Barney Des Jardines of Fort
Collins was the contractor for the building which cost $39,379.
Kemoe & Bradley completed the stone work and John G. Lunn
subcontracted the brick work on the building.
At the dedication ceremonies for the building, the public was
reminded of the heroism of those who had braved the hardships of
the frontier to establish homes and local governments. The
citizens of the county were asked to view the building as a
monument to their commitment to future generations. At last, the
county had an appropriate monumental building worthy of its
county seat. When the courthouse was demolished in 1957, it
reportedly took two days to topple the tower.
Saloons
Although the founders of the city had discouraged the
establishment of saloons, in 1875 the ordinance prohibiting the
sale of liquor was repealed. Frank C. Miller, a Danish immigrant,
miner, and saloon owner operated one of the most successful
saloons in town and built the Miller Block. The northern
two-thirds of the building was completed in the fall of 1888 at a
cost of twenty thousand dollars, and the rest of the building was
erected a few years later. W.S. Bernheim established a clothing
store in the northern part of the building, the second floor was
divided into offices, and Miller had his liquor store in another
part of the building. After Miller died, his son, Frank C.
Miller, Jr., operated the Fair Store in the building.
By 1883, Watrous noted that "the town was over run with
saloons and places where intoxicants could be obtained."
These businesses included thirteen bars, three drug stores which
sold liquors, five houses of prostitution which sold liquors, and
gaming houses. Watrous stated that the "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." At that point, liquor licenses
cost three hundred dollars.
An election was held, and those favoring a high liquor license
won, led by Mayor A.L. Emigh. The liquor license fee was then set
at one thousand dollars. This weeded out all but six saloons.
"The riff-raff, flotsam and jetsam, the gamblers and many of
the loose women that had floated in here during the 'wide open'
period, found it convenient to leave the city and seek locations
where they could more safely ply their nefarious
avocations." In 1896, the city enacted a prohibition law.
Avery Block
In 1897, the Avery Block, one of the city's most significant
commercial buildings, was completed near the intersection of
College and Mountain avenues. The building, which was composed of
three sections on the triangular lot, housed Avery's First
National Bank and a number of stores and offices. Avery had been
contemplating construction of a new bank building on the site
since 1884, apparently dissatisfied with the Opera House
location. In 1896, Fort Collins architect Montezuma Fuller
revised the drawings for the block produced in 1884 and the
building opened the following year (See Figure 19). Lawrence
Baume has noted that Franklin Avery considered the intersection
of Mountain and College the "hub" of the town's
commercial district, as it linked the old and new business areas.
Residential Development
The Fort Collins town plat of 1873 embraced roughly 935 acres
of land. As the population of the town increased, residential
additions were platted in order to separate industrial,
commercial and housing areas. A few large residential
subdivisions were created in the city prior to 1900, predating
the streetcar era. The first residential subdivisions after the
original townsite were platted in 1881. Earliest development
activity included the Harrison Addition (1881) and the Lake Park
Addition (1881). Other major subdivisions platted before 1900
included the Doty and Rhodes Subdivision (1883), the A.L. Emigh
Subdivision (1886), the Loomis Addition (1887), and the West Side
Addition (1887). Table 2 presents a listing of pre-1940
subdivisions within the city. At the end of the nineteenth
century, Fort Collins covered approximately 1,100 acres.
By the mid-1890s, residential areas within the city had
expanded, with principal residential locations to the south and
west of downtown with smaller residential areas to the northwest
and between Jefferson Street and the river. Dwelling units by
block were tabulated from the 1894 W. C. Willits map of Fort
Collins and vicinity and are mapped in Figure 20. Only a handful
of dwelling units were located west of Whitcomb and north of
Cherry. Southeast of the State Agricultural College was a cluster
of homes in the Lake Park Addition in an area from Elizabeth to
Pitkin and College to Whedbee, which was separated from the main
residential area of town by several square blocks of undeveloped
land.
An area in the northwestern quadrant of the original townsite
which encompasses the eastern part of what is today known as the
Holy Family Neighborhood was developed as a working class
residential neighborhood. This area, bounded by Whitcomb Street
on the west, Mason Street on the east, and Laporte Avenue on the
south, and the railroad tracks on the north contained, small,
mostly vernacular homes. The presence of the railroad tracks,
industrial land uses, and the proximity of the river insured that
this area was a less desirable residential sector. The 1894
Willits map indicates that the heaviest development by that date
had occurred along Howes Street between Maple and Cherry streets
in Block 43. By 1902, Block 42, immediately to the south, was
populated by Afro-American residents. Most of the homes in the
latter block were removed during construction of the city hall
complex. For a further discussion of the Holy Family
Neighborhood, see Community Services Collaborative,
"Architecture and History of Holy Family Neighborhood,"
1983.
The southeast quadrant of the original townsite is what is
today known as the Laurel School Neighborhood. One of the
earliest of Fort Collins' residential areas, the northwest
section of the neighborhood contains many of the older, larger
houses in styles such as Italianate, Second Empire, and Queen
Anne which were popular during the late nineteenth century. This
portion of the neighborhood attracted wealthy businessmen of the
city, including Jesse Harris, Jacob Welch, A.W. Scott, and B.F.
Hottel. This was the most heavily developed residential portion
of the city before 1900. Several churches were built in the area,
as well as Remington School. Lincoln Park was located near the
center of the southeast quadrant. For a discussion of the Laurel
School Neighborhood, see Community Services Collaborative,
"Architecture and History of Laurel School
Neighborhood," 1983.
The southwest quadrant of the original townsite saw scattered
development before 1900. This area also attracted some of the
town's pioneer residents, including Franklin C. Avery, Jay H.
Bouton, Peter Anderson, and James Vandewark. In 1880, James
Harrison purchased forty acres of land one-half mile south of the
old section of town. The Harrison Addition, an area extending
from Meldrum on the west to College on the east and Mulberry on
the north to Laurel on the south, was created in 1881 and
developed slowly in subsequent years. In March 1881, J.C. Abbott
purchased three lots from Harrison. During the same month,
Harrison was reportedly operating a milk route, which he gave up
at the end of April. By June, Harrison had returned to Iowa.
Development of Harrison's Addition appears to have begun
extensively in the late 1880s and continued into the early 1900s.
The addition attracted primarily middle class and working
class residents who built homes in styles popular during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The houses of the 1890s
utilized stone, brick, or wood, and incorporated popular
architectural details such as decorative shingles, spindlework,
ornamental brackets, turned porch supports, and segmental window
arches. Many of the homes erected during the late nineteenth
century were vernacular in design, with minimal exterior
ornamentation. The houses built during the early twentieth
century reflected the continued popularity of wood shingles and
included more classical details, such as porch columns,
pilasters, and floral ornaments. Architectural styles found in
the neighborhood include Edwardian Vernacular, Foursquare,
Classic Cottage, and Eclectic.
In 1881, Abraham L. Emigh platted the Lake Park Addition, a
huge area east of College Avenue between Elizabeth and Pitkin.
Emigh, a Pennsylvania native and Civil War veteran, came to Fort
Collins in 1874. In civic affairs, Emigh served as mayor of Fort
Collins, president of the State Board of Agriculture, and state
superintendent of irrigation. A prominent businessman, Emigh was
the first president of the Larimer County Ditch Company and
director of the First National Bank. The addition was some
distance from the original townsite, lying east of the college
and south of Elizabeth Street and did not see immediate
development.
The Doty and Rhodes Subdivision was surveyed in 1881 and the
plat was filed in 1883. Zina Doty, who signed the plat in New
York, was listed as the owner of the subdivision. The addition
embraced a large area east of Wood Street between Laporte and
Vine. The Willits map of 1894 indicates only one residence in the
subdivision by that date. The owner of the property, located on
Park Street, is listed as "Jones." A portion of this
subdivision was later resubdivided as the Capital Hill Addition.
In 1890, E.M. and K.D. Craft resubdivided the Lake Park
Addition and in the early 1920s, L.C. Moore resubdivided the
southern half of the subdivision. Craft's Resubdivision was
described as "the poor man's friend," because lots
could be bought on installment at low interest rates. Evadene
Swanson reported that one of the Crafts was an editor of the Fort
Collins Express who soon sold out and moved to California. A
map of the city produced by W.C. Willits in 1894 identifies
approximately twenty dwellings in the addition in that year,
including the homes owned by prominent members of the Fort
Collins community such as C. Garbe (on Elizabeth), M.H. Akin (on
Remington), T.B. Ogilvie (on Garfield), J.A. Richards (on
Remington), and L.J. Hilton (on Garfield). Watrous reported that
Akin lived in "a beautiful home at 1008 Remington
Street." After the Crafts left, Akin obtained almost a full
block of land where he developed a farm within the city. Akin
raised horses, cows, chickens, lambs, and started an orchard
north of his 1890 stone dwelling. The Shadeland Place ranch of
Charles B. Andrews was located just to the east of the
subdivision, where Andrews raised imported Shetland ponies. This
land later became the site of the Experiment Station farm.
The Loomis Addition of 1887, was a large area on the west side
of town bounded by Laporte, Whitcomb, Mulberry, and Washington,
platted by Abner Loomis and Malinda Maxwell. Abner Loomis came to
the city in 1860 and the Fort Collins Express called
Loomis an "energetic factor in building up the country and
[one who] has always been identified with the growth and progress
of Fort Collins." Loomis, who prospected, freighted, farmed,
and established a cattle ranch during the 1860s, was a
contemporary of Antoine Janis. In 1894, Loomis became president
of the Poudre Valley Bank. He also served as county commissioner
and on the town board of trustees. In 1896, Loomis married Mrs.
M. Maxwell. The Fort Collins Irrigation Canal curved through the
east-central portion of the addition. To promote interest in the
development, a house built by Loomis at 121 North Grant was
raffled, with anyone purchasing lots in the addition eligible to
win (See Figure 21). J. M. Fillebrown of Geneva, Nebraska, won
the house in a drawing held 11 May 1888 and sold it a few months
later to A.H. Patterson. The Willits map of 1894 indicates that
about fifteen houses had been built in the addition by that date,
mostly on the northern and eastern edges. The same map indicates
that Loomis and Maxwell owned substantial undeveloped acreage to
the west of their addition.
In 1887, pioneer businesspersons Franklin C. Avery and Ella B.
Yount created the West Side Addition, bounded by Elm, Whitcomb,
Laporte, and Wood. Avery helped lay out the streets of the colony
town and was involved in a variety of successful businesses,
including ranching, real estate, and banking. Ella Yount had
established a pioneer mercantile business in the Big Thompson
Valley with her husband and operated the first successful bank in
town, which opened in 1874. The Willits map of 1894 does not
indicate any dwellings in the West Side Addition. The Fort
Collins Irrigation Canal is shown traversing the area from the
southeastern corner of the addition in a northwesterly direction
toward the corner of Cherry and Wood streets.
Architects Active in Fort Collins During the Nineteenth
Century and Early Twentieth Century
One of the first architect designed buildings in Fort Collins
was the first major building on the Colorado Agricultural College
campus, Old Main. George E. King was chosen by the board of
trustees of the college to design Old Main based upon plans
suggested by other state agricultural colleges. King designed a
building in the French Second Empire style, which was popular
following the Civil War in the United States. King was a Boulder
architect who had designed at least three Second Empire style
buildings in Leadville: a private residence, the county
courthouse, and a hotel for Horace Tabor.
Harlan Thomas, who designed Judge Jay Bouton's home at 113 N.
Sherwood, attended college in Fort Collins in the 1880s. He later
left the city to establish an architectural practice in the
Denver suburb of Montclair, where he also served three terms as
mayor. Thomas then moved to Seattle, where he became director of
the School of Architecture at the University of Washington.
There, Thomas designed the Corner Public Market Building, which
is part of the Pike Place National Historic District.
Denver architect William Quayle was one of the most popular
architects in Fort Collins during the early 1880s. Quayle moved
to Denver from Illinois in 1880. Quayle's firm designed more than
twenty-five school buildings, in addition to business blocks,
churches, and residences. In 1881, he designed the Reed &
Dauth Block and the Jefferson Block. Quayle designed the Loomis
and Andrews Block (Linden Hotel) in 1882 and Franklin School in
1886. Quayle's buildings were described as "much admired for
their massive elegance and harmony of effect, while the
elaborations of detail and care bestowed upon every part of the
work reflects the utmost credit upon his practice methods."
Quayle designed the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen, as well as
a city hall in the Denver suburb of Highlands in 1890. It was
fitting that Quayle was chosen to design one of Fort Collins'
most important structures, the Larimer County Courthouse.
Montezuma W. Fuller arrived in Fort Collins in 1880, lived
there until his death in 1925, and was the city's first licensed
architect. Fuller was a native of Nova Scotia, where he worked as
a ship carpenter. His first recorded work in Fort Collins was the
remodeling of a barn on the college campus into a lab and
scientific classroom in 1883. In the same year, Fuller enrolled
as a special student at the college. By 1890, Fuller had
established a successful practice and was hired by banker Charles
Andrews to design his $10,000 stone residence at 202 Remington.
During the depressed economic period following 1893, Fuller
designed many small cottages in and around Fort Collins. In 1897,
he created the Avery Block for prominent businessman Franklin C.
Avery. Fuller's workload steadily grew during the early twentieth
century and included buildings such as Fort Collins High School
(1903), the C. R. Welch Block (1901-1902), Laurel Street School
(1906), Laporte Avenue School (1907), C. C. Forrester Block
(1907), the YMCA. building (1907-08), and Odd Fellows Hall
(1906-1908). Fuller worked on buildings in a number of towns in
Colorado, concentrating on Larimer and Weld County structures and
including schools, churches, and private residences.
Arthur Garbutt settled in Fort Collins in the early 1900s and
was a drafting teacher at the college. Garbutt was associated
with Fort Collins builder C.J. Loveland in 1902, and during the
early 1900s worked on a number of commercial blocks, residences,
and public buildings. In 1905, he designed the Colorado Block,
which was hailed as the most modern business block in town at
that date and influenced future building in the downtown area.
Garbutt assisted Fuller with the drawings for the YMCA building
and worked on some private residences. In about 1912, Garbutt
left Fort Collins to practice architecture in Wyoming, where he
designed a number of buildings in Casper.
Property Types
Context
The Railroad Era, Colorado Agricultural College, and the
Growth of the City, 1877-1900. This context includes the period
from the arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad in Fort Collins
in 1877 to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Potential Property Types
Property types associated with this theme could include
railroad associated buildings and structures such as tracks,
passenger and freight depots, bridges, water towers, and coal
sheds. In addition, residential dwellings and farms are a major
property type. Other property types could include college
buildings, such as classroom buildings and dormitories, and
campus grounds. Businesses could encompass banks, grocery stores,
general stores, jewelry stores, hardware stores, laundries,
printers, saloons, hotels, the opera house, restaurants,
bakeries, offices and service shops. Other resources could
include government buildings, such as city hall, fire department,
post office, jail and county courthouse. Resources related to
utilities could include buildings such as water system structures
and pump house, telephone company buildings, sewer systems, and
power plants. Other resources could include churches; industrial
enterprises, such as mills and grain elevators, foundries,
creameries, and packing plants; meeting places, such as fraternal
lodges; streets; and park systems and cemeteries.
Residences. By 1879, Fort Collins was reaping sizable
advantages from its rail connection. Business was experiencing an
upswing and many entrepreneurs were planning the erection of
larger, more substantial and ornate commercial blocks. A number
of local citizens had become wealthy from their early investment
in the town and were ready to show the world that Fort Collins
had its own group of successful capitalists. As Denver's power
elite built impressive mansions in fashionable neighborhoods, so
too, did the power elite of Fort Collins build noteworthy homes.
These businessmen utilized local building materials and railroad
transported architectural supplies to erect homes entirely
different from those of the frontier period.
When the railroad arrived in 1877, Fort Collins suddenly had
access to the eastern markets and the architectural ornament and
building materials available there. From the plain vernacular
designs of the territorial period, the community soon turned to
the more complex, formal styles which had been developed by
architects in the East. The Victorian styles, which had evolved
over many years in the East, were brought westward by architects
and builders seeking to profit from the building boom on the
frontier and by the new mail-order pattern books.
Suddenly, the new home owner had a choice of styles from which
to select in determining the architecture of his residence.
Although most of the homes built in the early days in the West
were less elaborate examples of styles developed in the East,
western citizens were eager to follow newly developed
architectural fashions of the nineteenth century. The citizen who
could afford to hire an architect could make a personal statement
about his lifestyle and status within the community through the
style of his home.
The development of steam power in the 1870s led to the
production of faster, less expensive machinery which produced a
wide variety of architectural ornament, including shingles and
moldings which could be liberally applied to building exteriors.
Architectural supply companies produced catalogs from which the
builder could order any variety of details, as well as entire
portions of buildings, such as porches. This, in turn, led to the
popularity of elaborate ornament on house exteriors, an essential
element of the Queen Anne style. Soon even the simplest homes of
the period included wood shingle decoration.
By the late 1870s, most of the exterior ornament on buildings
had been factory produced, shipped by rail, and then nailed or
glued into place by a builder. Gwendolyn Wright has noted that
"the new industrialism did encourage extravagance, even
garish display because it made abundant ornament accessible to
builders and home owners of all classes." During the same
period, the production of glass became less expensive and it,
too, could be ordered in varied sizes and forms, including
stained, beveled, and leaded.
During the 1880s, the latest building technologies and
architectural styles were spread by architect and builder's
journals which described detailed methods of construction and
discussed the latest building trends. The history and practice of
architecture were thus made accessible to the average person and
popular interest in the subject was stimulated and at the same
time shaped.
Among the earliest formal architectural styles to take root in
a fledgling community were Greek Revival and Gothic Revival
styles. Greek Revival style, of which few examples are extant in
Colorado, was developed in the East in the 1820s, was very
popular throughout the nation during the first half of the
century, and was utilized in Colorado as late as the mid-1870s.
Archaeological discoveries of the era caught the imaginations of
Americans who found a new appreciation of the beauty of classical
art, literature, and architecture. The democratic ideals being
fought for in the Greek War of Independence also brought the
civilization to the forefront of American national interest.
The Greek Revival style in Colorado is generally found only on
very early buildings and is generally a very scaled down, less
pure version of the style. The basic model for the design was the
Greek temple with a series of columns supporting an entablature
or a triangular pediment. According to Sarah Pearce,
characteristic elements of the style as transferred to the
Colorado Territory were pedimented lintels over doors and
windows, pilaster boards at building corners, transoms and
sidelights surrounding doors, and slim, Doric columns.
During the 1840s, European-inspired Romanticism took hold as a
reaction to the complexity of modern urban life. One of the most
influential architects of the mid-1800s was Andrew Jackson
Downing, who authored widely-dispersed pattern books for
builders. Downing's philosophy stressed that the design of homes
should fit their setting and that the function of domestic
buildings should also be reflected in their design. Downing's
concept of the house as a domestic symbol included architectural
elements such as overhanging roofs with high gables and deep
eaves, large entry porches, and delicate ornaments such as
brackets and tracery. Downing popularized both the Gothic Revival
and Italianate style through his pattern books.
The Gothic Revival style began in England and harkened back to
Medieval period castles and churches. Alexander Jackson Davis
designed the first Gothic Revival residence in the United States
in 1832. Andrew Jackson Downing spread the style through his
pattern books and public speaking. The style was popular in
Colorado during the territorial period, and often details were
found on vernacular residences. The most commonly adapted feature
of the style was the tall, steeply pitched gabled roof. The most
characteristic detail is the pointed arch window.
The Gothic Revival style dwelling found in Colorado towns was
generally identifiable by its steeply pitched roof, clapboard or
stone siding, and picturesque composition. Other details might
include dripstones over windows, polychromatic composition,
decorative vergeboards, pierced aprons, and bay windows.
One-story porches commonly had flattened arches or side brackets
that mimicked such arches.
The Avery House incorporates elements of the Gothic Revival
style and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(See Figure 22). The house was constructed by Franklin and Sarah
Avery at the corner of Mountain Avenue and Meldrum Street in
1879. Avery was a New York native who, as a member of the Union
Colony, helped lay out the streets of Greeley. In 1872, he was
employed as the company surveyor for the Larimer County Land
Improvement Company, in which capacity he helped plat Fort
Collins townsite. Avery also surveyed irrigation systems,
including the one owned by the Larimer County Ditch Company, in
which he was active. Avery purchased several lots in the new town
and became street supervisor in order to make certain that the
streets were properly developed. In this capacity, he transported
trees from the foothills to the city and issued precise
instructions regarding the planting of trees along the newly
created avenues.
The Avery dwelling, which has been called "one of the
best examples of the Victorian period" was a two-story
sandstone building with multiple gabled dormers and a turret
which form a picturesque and eclectic composition. In its
construction, Avery spared no expense. The two-story home was
composed of Colorado sandstone of two colors. Gothic Revival
elements included the rusticated masonry walls and contrasting
stone trim; the steeply pitched, flared, roofline; the
intersecting gabled bay with flared roofline; and the gabled
dormers. The building also reflects the Gothic style in its
flattened arch windows. The porch with classical columns was a
later addition, as was the tower. Inside the house, luxurious
features such as a tiled marble fireplace and ornately carved
woodwork reflected the owner's position in the community.
The Italianate style rivaled the Greek Revival and Gothic
Revival styles for supremacy in the world of architecture during
the decade prior to the Civil War in the East. By the 1860s, the
Italianate style had become the most popular in America and had
found a place in Colorado Territory. The style had a vertical,
often asymmetrical, emphasis and rich ornamentation. Homes
constructed in the Italianate style were generally two to three
stories in height, and had low pitched, hipped roofs, widely
overhanging eaves, and decorative brackets. Large windows, with
double-hung sashes and one-over-one lights were common, as were
elaborate window surrounds, usually arched or curved. Porches
were an important element of the style, and one-story porches
with square supports with beveled edges were typical. Elaborate
versions of the style featured cupolas or towers, quoins, and
balustraded balconies.
The Abner Loomis residence (demolished) was an excellent
example of the Italianate style in Fort Collins (See Figure 23).
Loomis, a native of New York, had been a prospector in California
in 1850 and searched for gold in Colorado with Antoine Janis in
the 1860s. Loomis made enough at mining to buy farm land in
Pleasant Valley, where he raised food to sell to the mining
camps. He entered the cattle business in 1867 and was a prominent
businessman, serving as president of the Poudre Valley National
Bank and on the board of county commissioners. As befitting such
a successful businessman, the Loomis residence at the corner of
Remington and Magnolia was one of the largest houses in the city.
The two-and-a-half-story Italianate brick residence cost $12,000.
Loomis bought the lot for his home in 1880, but did not erect the
dwelling until 1885. The house had a truncated, hipped roof and a
wide bracketed cornice. A projecting, gabled bay featured a
hipped roof dormer with narrow triple windows. Evenly spaced,
segmental arched windows dominated the facade of the building.
The windows were one-over-one light and had arched hood moulds
and shared sill courses. The off-center, one-story porch had a
spindlework frieze and balustrade and narrow, squared post
supports. The evenly coursed rusticated stone foundation was
raised to porch level.
The Josiah McIntyre residence at 137 Mathews is an extant
example of the Italianate style. The 1879 brick home was built
for a blind Civil War veteran who later became the first blind
person to obtain a law degree in Larimer County. The house has a
steeply pitched, cross-gabled roof with overhanging eaves, paired
segmental arched windows, and a one-story bay window with
decorative brackets. Another example of the style is the house at
2912 East Horsetooth Road associated with the farm established by
English immigrant Joseph Sainsbury in 1882. Although somewhat
altered, the dwelling reflects the Italianate style in its
vertical emphasis and low hipped roof with overhanging eaves and
wide cornice with decorative brackets.
The Benjamin F. Hottel residence, which was erected at 527
College Avenue, was perhaps the best example of the Italian Villa
variation of the Italianate style residence built in the city.
Hottel was a successful Fort Collins businessman, owner with
Joseph Mason of the Lindell Mills, and later became president of
the Fort Collins sugar company and president of the Poudre Valley
National Bank. The house was completed in 1882 and was designed
and constructed by Richard Burke, a local builder. The two-story
house featured a prototypical central tower with mansard roof and
stilted arch window. Flanking the tower were two octagonal
projecting bays. The house had a hipped roof with overhanging
eaves and paired brackets. The central, one-story porch had
narrow supports with decorative brackets. The one-over-one light
windows were tall, with flat arches and ornamental surrounds. The
imposing house survived and continued to be owned by the Hottel
family until the 1960s, when it was torn down.
The French Second Empire or Mansard style was also frequently
found in Colorado during the Victorian period. The style was very
popular for public buildings in the United States during the
period immediately following the Civil War, although it was more
popular in cities than rural areas and in the Northeast and
Midwest than the South and West. The style was called Second
Empire in honor of the era of Napoleon III. The characteristic
element of the style, the mansard roof, consisted of a steep
lower slope and a gently angled top portion. Other elements of
the composition could include a projecting bay or tower extending
above the roofline, and windows with pedimented or moulded hood
surrounds. Other representative details included bracketed
cornices and roof cresting. Old Main, constructed at the State
Agricultural College in 1879, and the Larimer County Courthouse,
both gone, were the best examples of this style constructed in
Fort Collins. The architect of Old Main, George E. King, designed
several buildings in this style, including a house, hotel, and
courthouse in Leadville. William Quayle, the architect of the
courthouse also designed other buildings in the style in
different parts of the state.
The W. C. Dilts house at 514 Remington is a rare example of
the Second Empire style in Fort Collins. The 1889 dwelling has a
mansard roof with gabled dormers, eave brackets, a corbelled
brick cornice, and windows with decorative crowns. Dilts, who
lived in the house for twenty-five years, was co-owner of a
limestone quarry.
American architects during the late nineteenth century,
inspired by the nation's centennial, were obsessed with finding
an American style and looked everywhere for a model. The work of
English architect Richard Norman Shaw was discovered and
popularized. Shaw specialized in a style that supposedly was
based on construction during the eighteenth century reign of
Queen Anne. Shaw's work was seized upon by American architects as
a source of inspiration for a new style. Noted American architect
Henry Hobson Richardson designed the first Queen Anne style house
in America in Rhode Island. The architectural pattern books of
the day popularized the style, which was widely utilized from the
1880s through the first decade of the twentieth century.
The Queen Anne style emphasized ornamentation through a
variety of shapes, patterns, and building materials, made
accessible to the public due to advances in technology and
transportation. Queen Anne houses had vertical lines with steep
gables and angles to catch the light. "Towers and bays
projected, verandas and niches receded, chimneys surged
skyward." The style favored a variety of building materials
for a single building, including brick, stone, wood, stucco,
tile, shingles, and stained glass. The newly invented turning
lathe ensured that turned porch supports and spindlework would be
a significant element of the style.
The Queen Anne style was immensely popular as it could be
adapted to any size home, and any lot, rural or urban. Queen Anne
could be had by the common man, who might not decorate his home
with stained glass, but could afford decorative shingles or a
turned spindle support on the porch. Since large plate glass
panels were inexpensive and available, colored glass was often
limited to small panes bordering large expanses of clear glass.
The Robert Andrews house at 324 East Oak is one of the city's
best examples of the Queen Anne style (See Figure 24). The circa
1892 dwelling has a rusticated, sandstone foundation and brick
walls, and decorative wooden shingles in multiple gable ends. The
house has a decorative cornice, vergeboard with sawn appliques,
and a molded sun decoration. A porch on the southern elevation is
elaborately decorated with turned cannonball supports, spandrels
with open latticework, spoolwork, and a pierced porch curtain.
Windows have semi-circular arches and include leaded and stained
glass. A door has the ubiquitous panel of clear glass edged with
smaller panes of colored glass. The Andrews house is listed on
the National Register of Historic Places.
Montezuma Fuller, the city's best known architect, designed
his home at 226 West Magnolia to take full advantage of the
visual display offered by the Queen Anne style. The dwelling,
which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was
designed by Fuller in 1890 and built in 1894-1895, reflecting the
fact that Fuller survived the economic depression of the 1890s
better than a number of architects in the state. The building had
a picturesque, asymmetrical design, with varied height gables
with decorative shingles and vergeboards, a pierced gable apron,
and an ornate porch with spindlework balustrade, chamfered post
supports, and curved brackets. Windows represent a full array of
available glass during the period as combined on Queen Anne
homes, including clear glass, leaded glass, and a clear pane
surrounded by small colored glass panes.
The Baker house at 304 East Mulberry is a 1896 Queen Anne
House, reflecting the later adaptations of the style. The brick
dwelling is two-and-a-half stories, irregularly shaped, with
triple front gables with return, and a two-story rounded bay. The
steeply pitched gables have varied, decorative wood shingles in
the gable ends. The composition of the building includes a raised
sandstone foundation, brick walls, and wooden gable ends. A
one-story, rounded, wrap-around porch has walls composed of brick
and stone and a spindlework frieze. Multiple porch supports are
narrow, with brackets. Windows on the first floor have sandstone
sills and lintels. This house is listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
The Maxwell house at 2340 West Mulberry Street is reflective
of a large segment of the homes constructed at the turn of the
century, representing Queen Anne ornament applied to more
vernacular homes built by the middle class (See Figure 25). The
one-and-a-half story brick house confines its ornament to gable
ends, a small porch, and window treatment. The porch has a
typical Queen Anne frieze and dainty, turned spindle supports.
The large parlor window was emphasized with a segmental arch and
radiating voussoirs. The dwelling was built by farmer Robert G.
Maxwell, and reflects the influence of popular styles on what
was, at the time of its construction, a rural area. This house is
listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Boston architect William Ralph Emerson designed the first
fully developed Shingle style home in Maine in 1879. Shingle
style homes were first constructed in New England as seaside
resort homes. As James Massey and Shirley Maxwell note, they were
"mansion-sized cottages for the wealthy." The Shingle
style was characterized by its horizontal emphasis, with its
shingled walls and roof forming smooth planes. Colonial Revival
details decorated the exterior, including Palladian windows, oval
windows, and small pane sash windows. Such houses had prominent
porches and verandas and usually had stone foundations. The style
was a contemporary of the Queen Anne, but not as versatile and
was much less frequently utilized.
The Shingle style was not widely built in Fort Collins. Local
architect Harlan Thomas designed Judge Jay H. Bouton's 1895
residence at 113 N. Sherwood with elements of the Shingle style
(See Figure 26). John C. Davis built the house which cost six
thousand dollars. Bouton had served as city attorney, alderman
and president of the school board and the house reflected
Bouton's prominence within the community. The large, hipped roof,
two-and-a-half-story dwelling had pedimented, paired, symmetrical
cross gables with Palladian motif windows in the upper gable
ends, and multi-level eaves. The house had shingled upper walls
and clapboard first story walls atop a rusticated stone
foundation. The wrap-around porch featured classical column
supports, a wooden balustrade, and a pediment shape with
decorative medallion over the entrance. Above the porch was a
small, inset balcony supported by short columns. The large
windows were simple sash and transom and one-over-one light. This
house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Although the popular national styles had great impact on Fort
Collins, many homes continued to be built in a vernacular manner,
with "an absence of architectural features and ornamentation
that can distinguish a specific style." Vernacular homes are
classified by the Colorado Historical Society according to floor
plan and roof shape, including Gabled L, Front Gabled, Hipped
Box, and Side Gable. In 1896, Alin H. and Amanda Fry built a very
representative one-story frame house with a vernacular Gabled L
plan at 202 West Myrtle (See Figure 27). The small dwelling had
horizontal board siding with corner boards, a stone foundation,
and brick chimney. A porch located at the intersection of the
gables was supported by slender, squared, chamfered columns. The
home had a sash and transom parlor window (somewhat luxurious for
a vernacular house) and one-over-one light double-hung windows
with wooden surrounds. Alin Fry was employed in the Horticulture
Department of the college for thirty-three years and was a member
of the volunteer fire department. Amanda Fry was a skilled
seamstress and dress designer who counted the city's affluent
matrons as her customers.
Railroad Buildings and Structures. Train depots were
"a place of glamour and excitement." The depot was the
town's link to the outside world and was thus a focus of town
life. The Colorado Central built a small, brick depot in Fort
Collins along Mason Street between Maple and Laporte. The 1877
building, which was razed in 1906, contained an office, passenger
waiting room, and freight room and was described by Jessen as
"typical" of Colorado Central depot construction. Small
depots were typically rectangular, one-story buildings with
widely overhanging eaves which offered shelter from the elements
for waiting passengers. The Fort Collins depot was brick, with
segmental arched openings.
The Colorado and Southern (C&S) constructed a new stone
depot in Fort Collins that it occupied in January 1899 (See
Figure 28). The new station, on Mason at Laporte, reflected
Romanesque influences, including its gray stone walls laid in
broken ashlar pattern, with cut stone caps and sills and arches.
The building had an off-center, two-story tower and a large
entryway with stone voussoirs. The building was razed during the
early 1950s.
Government Buildings. In 1880, the city built a
combined city hall and fire station (See Figure 29). The brick
building had a bell tower and an elaborate cast iron cornice with
roof cresting. The entrance to the city hall offices had a
semi-circular arch, while the wide entrance for the hose cart had
a Tudor arch. Tudor arches were often placed on government
buildings such as firehouses and armories during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Colorado.
Utilities. The city water system established in 1882
included a brick pump house with a stone foundation, a
cross-gabled roof, and hood moulds with Tudor arches over doors
and windows (See Figure 30). In 1904 and subsequent years, the
structure and the system were expanded and enlarged.
County Courthouse. The two-and-a-half-story Second
Empire style brick courthouse (demolished) designed by Denver
architect William Quayle was highlighted by a central three-story
entrance tower with mansard roof and arched windows with stone
hood moulds, oculus windows, and pediments (See Figure 31). The
building featured a bracketed cornice, bays topped by pediments,
and an elaborate entrance with classical details. The Fort
Collins Redstone Company donated a red sandstone cornerstone from
their local quarries for the building. Barney Des Jardines of
Fort Collins was the contractor for the courthouse, which cost
$39,379. Kemoe & Bradley did the stone work and John G. Lunn
subcontracted the brick work on the building.
Churches. The Gothic Revival was a popular style for
churches long after it had fallen out of favor for residential
buildings. Gothic churches employed such features as pointed or
Gothic arch windows, towers, flying buttresses, and recessed
entrances. St. Luke's Episcopal Church (demolished) was a small,
1882 Gothic Revival chapel with steeply pitched gabled roof,
gabled entrance bay with double doors with pointed arched
opening, pointed arched windows, and flying buttresses.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 300 West Mountain was
constructed in 1900, with stone from the quarries west of Fort
Collins, including the Stout quarry, the Frye quarry, and the
Lamb quarry. Lamb donated one hundred tons of stone for the
church. The stone utilized in construction was buff and gray
sandstone which was transported by train and wagon to the
building site. The church had a steeply pitched central gable
flanked by a tall entrance tower with belfry and a short
secondary entrance tower with arcaded upper story, all with
numerous pointed arched openings (See Figure 32).
Gothic Revival churches also included a Christian Church
(demolished) at the corner of Magnolia Street and College Avenue,
a brick building with steeply pitched gabled roof and a square
entrance bay with cross gabled roof and pointed arch entrance
with stained glass and double wood paneled doors. The building
had decorative brickwork, a raised, rusticated stone foundation,
and evenly spaced pointed arch windows. The 1904 German
Congregational Church at the corner of Whedbee and Oak was a
Gothic Revival building with cross-gabled roof and a large,
square entrance tower with pinnacle, pointed arch louvered vents,
and arched entrance. The building had massive stained glass
windows with Gothic arches and a raised stone foundation. The
1903 Baptist Church (328 Remington) was a fortress-like
structure, with rusticated stone walls, and a large, square
entrance tower with crenelated roof. The church had large stained
glass windows with Gothic arches and a tall spire.
Commercial Buildings. As the town gained in prosperity,
the false fronts were replaced by architecture developed in the
East and transferred to the western towns via trained builders
and architects. The arrival of the railroad made a variety of
building elements available at reasonable costs and mass produced
ornaments allowed buildings to achieve individual distinction
formerly possible only for the most expensive edifices. Many of
the more sophisticated buildings reflected elements of the
Italianate, Queen Anne, and Romanesque styles.
Italianate style commercial buildings were of two to three
stories, with flat roofs with ornamented cornices and elaborately
detailed windows. The buildings were divided into long, narrow
shop spaces on the main level, with a central, inset entrance.
Double shopfronts had two entrances, either in the center of the
building, or separated and flanked by display windows. To make
blocks larger, the same storefront form was repeated several
times on one building facade under a single cornice. Italianate
details on a commercial building could include such features as
second story oriel windows, bracketed cornices, and quoins at
building corners.
Cast iron fronts, which were invented in New York in 1848,
rapidly became popular for nineteenth century commercial
structures in Colorado, including Italianate style buildings.
Cast iron fronts, which could be ordered in catalogs, were viewed
as durable, economical, fire resistant, and easily reassembled.
Several cast iron manufacturers were located within the state. As
Eric Stoehr has noted, "the facades could be prepared and
fitted in the factory, transported to the site, and put together
rapidly in all seasons of the year. They were deliberately made
to look like the already accepted wood and stone fronts."
Metal was also used for window detailing, and elaborate cornices.
A plaque proudly identifying the builder of the cast iron front
was often found at its base.
In an exuberance of ornamentation to match the Queen Anne
style of residential construction, shop owners could choose from
multiple construction materials, cast iron facades, molded or
carved window surrounds, decorative cornices, elaborate panels
with the owner's name and building date, and richly detailed
entrances. Paneled doors with leaded glass and decoratively
molded door handles, patterned iron footplates, brass hardware,
and tile floors all spoke to the prosperity of the businessman
and the luxuries to be found within the establishment.
Less elaborate buildings of the late nineteenth century were
distinguished by their brickwork. The one or two-story buildings
were characterized by decorative Queen Anne brick corbelling
along the cornice line. These buildings usually had flat roofs,
and first floor storefronts with living quarters or offices
above. The storefronts featured large display windows,
clerestories, paneled kickplates, and recessed entrances.
Decorative brickwork was evidenced not only at cornice level, but
could also be found in window lintels and sills, belt courses,
and corner beveling.
The Romanesque Revival style began as a historical revival of
Medieval church architecture. American architect Henry Hobson
Richardson's interpretation of the style was new and innovative,
creating an American version known as Richardsonian Romanesque.
As a residential style, it first appeared in the 1870s and
reached its height of popularity in the 1890s. The Romanesque
style was not considered a poor man's style and was intended for
large, freestanding buildings. The composition required the work
of skilled designers and experienced craftsmen. The design was
intended to reflect substance, prosperity, and how the wealthy
felt about themselves as reflected in the "home as
castle" concept. The style was considered urban rather than
rural and was found only in the most prosperous towns, mostly in
the Northeast and Midwest. Richardsonian Romanesque is
characterized by the semi-circular arch, which was often combined
with square towers of varied height, heavy, rusticated stone
construction, round arches, contrasting colors, and short towers.
Hotels. As the town matured, hotels became more lavish
and were decorated with Italianate, Queen Anne, or Second Empire
detailing. The three-story brick Tedmon House (demolished) built
in 1880 had a cornice of decorative brickwork and a slightly
projecting, central, pedimented entrance. A corner entrance of
the building led to the City Drug Store. Above the corner drug
store entrance were second and third story squared bay windows.
The evenly spaced windows of the building had flat arches with
heavy stone lintels on the first and second story and segmental
brick arches with stone tabs on the third story.
The 1883 Loomis Block, which housed the Linden Hotel, was a
three-story Italianate commercial building featuring a corner
tower with corner entrance and bay windows on the second and
third stories, topped by a pyramidal tower roof (See Figure 33).
The corner entrance with second and third story bay windows made
the building reminiscent of the Tedmon House, and was a popular
design element for prominent commercial buildings of the period.
However, the Linden Hotel had a heavy bracketed metal cornice.
Windows of the building varied in design from floor to floor,
with the first having tall, segmental arched windows; the second
story having round arched windows; and the third having flat
arched windows. Each group of windows had decorative crowns and
sills which were connected to form courses.
Business Blocks. John F. Colpitts designed and built
the Opera House Block, a large, three-story building, with
elaborate cornice, evenly spaced windows with arched hood moulds
on second and third stories, and first floor display windows and
inset entrances. Opened in 1881, the Opera House was called
"Fort Collins' Big Block." The building had an
"unbroken frontage on College of two hundred feet"
which made it one of the largest structures in town during the
1880s. The Opera House Block was the home of the Larimer County
Bank (the First National Bank) until the late 1890s. The back
portion of the second and third floors contained the opera house,
which had a ceiling twenty-four feet high. The opera house was
the site of many theatrical productions, public speeches,
operettas, and other presentations. The facade of the building
was remodeled during the early twentieth century.
The Welch Block, located south of the opera house portion of
the building, was the scene of a fire in 1885. At that time, the
third floor of the Welch building was removed. The remodeled
two-story Welch brick block had an ornate cast iron cornice
around the facade, while the side of the building had a corbelled
brick cornice (See Figure 34). Windows of the second story
featured arched hood moulds with keystones. The first floor
facade had a series of plate glass display windows and inset
entrances. Crowning the block was a large capstone with the
words, "C. R. Welch 1885." In 1907, Montezuma Fuller
remodelled the facade of the building and removed the large
gabled capstone which had been a feature of the front elevation.
Montezuma Fuller designed a business block for John Kissock in
1889. Original tenants included Kissock's abstract company, a
furniture store, and a drugstore. The two-story red brick
building featured heavy native sandstone lintels on the three
groups of three windows on the second story; an ornate metal
cornice with applied ornament and tympanum; and first floor
storefronts with large display windows and recessed entrances.
The building became a center for social activities in Fort
Collins as the Odd Fellows hall occupied the second floor. In the
nineteenth century, most men belonged to at least one fraternal
organization. The Odd Fellows hall became a community center,
holding balls, banquets, and dances in their lodge rooms. The
1889 Kissock Block is the only remaining Victorian commercial
structure on East Mountain Avenue outside of Old Town (See Figure
35). This building is now listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
Franklin Avery's 1897 business block at College and Mountain
represented the height of Fort Collins' Victorian architecture.
As was fitting, the bank portion of the two-story building was
the most ornate, with Romanesque influences evident in its
rough-faced stone construction and arched entrance. The remaining
portions of the building were of more restrained brick with stone
trim. The entire building was tied together with an ornate
cornice with dentils and frieze with Colonial floral swags. The
corner entrance of the building was topped by a steeply pitched
pediment with the word "BANK" carved into its stone.
The second story of the corner elevation had a semi-circular
fanlight over paired windows, beneath which was a semi-circular
arched entrance with stone scrolls and a carved lion's head
forming the keystone of the arch. Flanking these openings were
stone torches which extended from the ground to the crowning
pediment.
The bank building's rusticated stone composition, carved
stonework, and arched openings had become typical elements of
Romanesque commercial buildings of the late nineteenth century.
The extravagance of the torches, the pediment announcing the
building's function, and the artistry of the stone lion's head
were all architectural details which would be considered
excessive within a few years, when tastes had shifted to more
classical styles for buildings such as banks. Franklin Avery
would then build one of the city's greatest twentieth century
buildings to house his financial institution.
Saloons. Saloons were generally among the most
profitable businesses in early towns and in many cases the
buildings which housed saloons resembled commercial stores. Frank
Miller, a Danish immigrant, miner, and saloon owner, built the
Miller Block (See Figure 36). The building was composed of evenly
coursed, rusticated sandstone and had an elaborate bracketed
cornice, tablet with the building name, and decorative cresting
along the roofline. Windows were flat arched, with stone hood
moulds and were evenly spaced along the second story and
connected by a sill course. A secondary metal cornice connected
the multiple first story storefronts, which were divided by
engaged stone pillars. Reportedly, Miller's friends suggested
that he use cheaper materials for the building, but he wanted it
to be the finest in town. The cast iron front and cornice were
produced by the Fort Collins foundry. The building contained what
is said to be the first Howe truss system in the state, which
left the first floor free of supporting posts.
Schools. By 1879, population in town had grown to the
extent that the small frame schoolhouse on Riverside was no
longer adequate. The Remington School at the southwest corner of
Remington and Olive was completed in 1879. John F. Colpitts and
Joseph Coyte constructed the Italianate style building. The
school was a plain, two-story structure with a raised, rusticated
stone foundation with basement level windows. The building
featured a central entrance tower, corbelled corners, a bracketed
cornice, and segmental arched windows with hood moulds. The
school was razed in the 1970s.
By the 1880s, the population had again skyrocketed, forcing
the district to rent vacant store rooms on Jefferson and Mountain
for classes which could not fit into Remington School.
To remedy this situation, Franklin School (demolished) was
completed in 1887 at the corner of Mountain and Howes streets.
The builder was E.F. Halleck Lumber Company of Denver. The
two-and-a-half-story brick building had a truncated hipped roof
and a raised stone foundation with basement level windows.
Franklin School was somewhat more ornate in design than
Remington, and featured a central, slightly projecting,
elaborately pedimented entrance bay with segmental arched
openings, multiple fluted chimneys, beltcourses, and a heavy
cornice (See Figure 37).
College Buildings. In 1879, the Colorado Agricultural
College campus received its first substantial building. Boulder
architect George King designed the two-story French Second Empire
style brick building, which quickly came to be known as "Old
Main" (See Figure 38). The building, which was constructed
by H.C. Baker of Boulder, had a raised stone foundation and a
central, three-story entrance tower. Notable features were the
bracketed cornice, iron roof cresting, and segmental and round
arched windows. The founders of the college expressed their
desire for a conservative and yet representative building by
soliciting design suggestions for the structure from other state
agricultural colleges. The style of the building was popular for
pubic buildings in the era following the Civil War. Architectural
historian Ellen Michaud asserted that the picturesque roofline of
Old Main suggested the housetops of Paris.
In 1881, Spruce Hall joined Old Main along the esplanade. The
design of the modest Italianate style building was based on the
plans of local builder Hiram Pierce, who later became a carpentry
instructor at the college. The structure had brick walls, a low
pitched roof, and carved wooden brackets, as well as brick which
was painted dark red to suggest stone trim on window sills and
between floors. The building had a central, gabled entrance bay,
with a flattened arched entrance with keystone, above which were
two semi-circular arched windows. Other windows were evenly
spaced and segmental arched. The dormitory building had nine
rooms on each floor and a basement with a kitchen, dining room,
and rooms for the cook. Spruce Hall is the oldest extant
structure on the university campus.
In 1890, the small cottage still standing at College and
Laurel was erected which was to be utilized for the instruction
of domestic science and later became the Horticultural and
Botanical Laboratory. The building was designed by Pueblo
architect Otto Bulow in a form consistent with upper middle class
homes of the Queen Anne style. In the same year, a large addition
to the main building was completed, as well as barns and an
apiary. Spruce Hall and the Queen Anne cottage are both listed in
the National Register of Historic Places.
Registration Requirements
A number of buildings reflecting property types associated
with this context have been identified in Fort Collins. Several
residences from this period have been nominated to the National
Register of Historic Places. Residences may be eligible under
criterion A, for their association with historic events or
themes, under criterion B, for their association with significant
persons, or under criterion C, for their representation of an
architectural style or as the work of an architect such as
Montezuma Fuller. Eligible residences should maintain high
degrees of integrity of design, materials, craftsmanship, and
location. Other property types may be eligible under criterion A,
for their association with a particular historical theme or under
criterion C for their architecture, construction techniques, or
as representative of the work of a master. Resources representing
these property types should generally maintain a high degree of
integrity of materials, design, craftsmanship, location, and
feeling. Buildings significant primarily for their architectural
value may have lost integrity of location and still qualify under
criteria consideration B if other elements of integrity are
intact. Religious properties which derive primary significance
from their architectural or historical importance would also be
eligible under criterion consideration A. Small, one-story
commercial buildings from the period before 1900 are extremely
rare and should be considered significant.
Threats to Resources
Historic neighborhoods near the university campus are under
threat from development pressures which have resulted in the
division of single family homes into multiple unit rentals,
inappropriate remodeling, and deterioration. The intrusion of
large modern buildings into historic neighborhoods is also a
threat. Most of the buildings in the Old Town Historic District
fall into this period and are protected. Historic commercial and
industrial structures in outlying areas of the downtown are
threatened by development pressures.
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