Historic Preservation Month – 2018
On Tuesday, the 15th, Fort Collins’ Mayor Pro Tem Horak declared May to be Historic Preservation month. As the chair of the Fort Collins Landmark Preservation Commission, I was on hand to receive the award. You can view the event online (around the 6 minute...
Loveland’s Great Western Train Depots: an Opportunity to Help Lovelanders Thrive
Buildings made of natural materials, constructed at a human scale, and imbued with the stories of a community have been found to reduce stress, improve people’s ability to focus, and inspire greater creativity. Though we can construct new buildings with some of...
Jacob’s Ladder, now the Birch Ruins
“In a dream [Jacob] saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.” – Genesis 28:12 Al Birch was a reporter from the Denver Post when he first visited Estes Park. At the time, there wasn’t...
The Franz-Smith Cabin
In 1882, Henry and Caroline Franz, immigrants from Württemberg, Germany, built a one-and-a-half story log cabin on the hill where the Clarendon Hills neighborhood stands today, just south of the Harmony Library and Front Range Community College. They “proved...
Loveland as seen from the 1886 Sanborn Map
The Sanborn Map & Publishing Company produced some of the earliest maps of our Colorado communities. In 1886/7, the company drew up a forty-one page map (plus an index page) of Denver. In comparison, Fort Collins and Greeley were granted 4-pages each. Loveland,...
Eva and James Howe… and their house.
In 1880, James and Eva Howe moved to Fort Collins where they eventually built a small one-story bungalow on Walnut street. Eva was a dark eyed beauty with a sweet and forgiving disposition. James was a millwright of great skill, but he had a penchant for drink. Though...
Indian Wedding
A friend recently loaned an old folder full of stories to me. It had been compiled in the 1970s from the scrapbook of the Society of Early Pioneer Women as well as from interviews with daughters of pioneers. Though I’ll write more about the booklet at another...
Loveland Mills – a Timeline
In an attempt to write an article about which buildings in Loveland remain that were featured in the 1886 Sanborn map, I have instead found myself mired in trying to figure out the history of the mills of Loveland. (For a peak at which buildings in Fort Collins remain...
Local History Books as Gift Ideas – 2017
Scrambling for last minute gift ideas for the holidays? There are several local history books that have come out in the past year that would make wonderful gifts. If you know of any I missed, please add them in the comments. Looking to learn more about the history of...
Thanksgiving Thoughts From the Past
Happy Thanksgiving, Northern Colorado! Here are a few glimpses back to Thanksgivings gone by. The Antlers Cafe served quite a spread on Thanksgiving day back in 1907. The Cafe was presumably located in the Antlers Hotel on Linden St. in Fort Collins (the building that...Meet / Contact Meg
Meg has been writing about Northern Colorado history since 2014. Learn more...
