USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 42
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election in 1876, as there were but twenty votes cast for town officers. The officers elected were: Trustees, D. Stanbury, W. F. Watrous, B. T. Whedbee, W. S. Vescelius and G. G. Blake; Clerk, J. E. Shipler; Street Supervisor, James Sweeney; Constable, F. N. B. Scott; B. T. Whedbee was chosen President of the Board of Trustees, Charles Howell appointed Constable and Collector for the year. On Feb. 13th, 1877, James W. Norvell and F. C. Avery were appointed members of the Board of Trustees to fill vacancies caused by resignations and removal from town, and on February 15th J. W. Norvell was chosen Town Attorney, and James A. Brown appointed Street Supervisor in place of James Sweeney, resigned. J. W. Barnes, S. D. Luke and David Patton were appointed Judges to conduct the annual spring election on April 2nd, 1877. No election for town offices appears to have been held in April, 1877, or at least the records are silent on that point, and the old officers held over. On June 6 a new saloon ordinance, fixing the license fee at $200, was passed and adopted. J. W. Barnes was appointed Town Clerk.
On June 28th, 1877, the Board of Trustees passed and adopted an ordinance granting to the Colorado Central Railroad Company right of way along Mason street from the southern to the north- ern limits of the corporation. H. L. Akard was appointed Town Marshal, and William Michaud Night Watchman on September 7th. At this time the Colorado Central Railroad was being built through the town and its employes caused disorder through a too free indulgence in strong drink, mak- ing it necessary to appoint additional officials to re- strain them.
It appears from the records that B. T. Whedbee, J. W. Norvell, F. C. Avery and David Patton were chosen Trustees on April 2nd, 1878, although there is no announcement recorded declaring them to be such. The records show, however, that they met and transacted business as a Board of Trustees until April 24th, when they granted the petition of citizens asking that an election be held to vote on the question of organizing the town under the pro- visions of the general laws of Colorado. No meet- ing was held after that until November 27th, when the names of B. T. Whedbee, F. C. Avery, D. Pat- ton and G. G. Blake appear as Trustees and Eph. Love as Clerk. No mention is made of an election being held in the meantime to vote upon the ques- tion of reorganizing. At this meeting saloon licenses were, by ordinance, fixed at $300 per annum. They
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remained at this figure until 1883, when the license fee was raised to $1,000 per annum.
On March 14th, 1879, in response to the petition of twenty citizens, President Whedbee of the Board of Trustees, called a special election to be held April 12th, 1879, to vote upon the question of or- ganizing the town of Fort Collins under the laws of the State of Colorado. This election was held on the date named, with Marcus Coon, Geo. H. Ab- bott and John W. Smith acting as judges. The vote was canvassed April 16th, when it was found that forty votes were cast for municipal organiza- tion and one against. President Whedbee of the Board of Trustees then called an election to be held May 16th, 1879, for the purpose of electing one Mayor, one Recorder, and four Trustees. Geo. H. Abbott, S. R. Lyon and John W. Smith were ap- pointed judges of the election. The votes cast at this election were canvassed May 17th and it was found that the following officers had been elected : Mayor, B. T. Whedbee; Recorder, L. E. Denslow ; Trustees, F. P. Stover, David Patton, Martin Van- dewark and H. C. Peterson. The new Board of Trustees met for the first time on May 24th, with Mayor Whedbee in the chair. L. R. Rhodes and L. E. Denslow were appointed a committee to re- vise the ordinances of the town, and the following standing committees were named by the Mayor :
On finance: Patton, Peterson and Vandewark. On streets, alleys and bridges: Stover, Patton and Vandewark. On public grounds, buildings and ditches: Peterson, Vandewark and Stover. On laws and ordinances: Denslow, Patton and Stover. William Morgan was appointed Marshal, and James L. Allen Street Supervisor.
The town having been duly incorporated under the laws of the state, entered upon a new and more prosperous period, and its public affairs were better and more systematically managed.
Reviewing the incidents and events that occurred from 1873, when the town was first organized, down to 1879, when it was duly incorporated, I find but little worthy of comment. Following the rush of 1873, after the colony became established, the growth of the town was slow and uncertain. Many of those who came here during the colony rush, becoming discouraged through the failure of the first bank and because of the havoc caused by the grasshoppers, moved away in 1874, 1875 and 1876, and but few of their places were taken by newcomers. Building was practically at a standstill and business of all kinds was in the dumps. In the fall of 1873, Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Yount, having
sold their mercantile business at Big Thompson, moved to Fort Collins and began the construction of a brick bank building at the corner of Jefferson and Linden streets. The building was completed in the spring of 1874 and A. K. & E. B. Yount opened a bank in the front room facing on Jefferson street. Money at that time commanded two per cent interest per month, and the bank did a good business. In 1875 Mr. Yount was elected a member of the convention which met in Denver Dec. 20th, 1875, to frame a State Constitution, and Charles H. Sheldon, a late arrival from the State of New York was employed to take his place in the bank. In September, 1876, shortly after Colorado had been admitted into the Union as a sovereign state, Mr. Yount was killed at Boulder while trying to board a train bound for Denver. He made a misstep in climbing into the car and was thrown under the train and run over, killing him instantly. The bank continued to do business under the manage- ment of Mrs. Yount, until 1883, when it was forced into liquidation. Mr. Sheldon remained in Mrs. Yount's employ until the fall of 1878, when he and W. C. Stover started the Poudre Valley Bank.
During the summer of 1873, M. E. Hocker came here from Wyoming and opened a drug store in the Old Grout building, continuing in business there until the Yount building was completed, when he moved his stock and fixtures into a room in the rear of the bank, facing Linden street. In September, 1874, Frank P. Stover, a brother of W. C. Stover, arrived from South Bend, Indiana, and being pleased with the country, bought an interest in the Hocker drug store and decided to remain. In the spring of 1874 Clark Bouton established a news- paper, called the Fort Collins Standard. It was the second newspaper started in the County. A few months later William W. Sullivan bought an in- terest in the plant and its business, and when Mr. Bouton died, in 1875, the publishnng firm became Sullivan & Myrick. The office was located on Col- lege avenue about where the Fort Collins Hardware Company's store now is. It was in this office that Herbert Myrick, son of one of the proprietors, learned the printer's trade. He is now president of the Phelps Publishing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, one of the famous publishing houses of the United States. In the fall of 1875 Mr. Sul- livan leased his interest in the Standard to his part- ner, H. L. Myrick, who continued its publication a few months and then suspended it.
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On the 14th of December, 1873, Collins Grange No. 7, Patrons of Husbandry, was organized with twenty-five members, in a hall on the second floor of a frame building which stood where Scott's drug store now stands. The first officers were R. Q. Tenney, Master, and E. F. Kerr, Secretary. This became the leading Grange in the State, and at one time had a membership of about 100. The Grange purchased the hall it met in and the building was known as Grange hall until it burned down, in 1883.
Fort Collins Lodge No. 19, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted October 14th by
UNLOADING BEETS AT A DUMP
Judge Omer O. Kent, special Grand Master of Denver. The charter members of the lodge were Jay H. Bouton, A. H. Remington, George G. Blake, David M. Harris, S. P. Holland, J. L. Johnson, and J. E. Remington. J. E. Remington was the first Noble Grand, and Jay H. Bouton the first Vice Grand. The lodge met in a room over B. T. Whedbee's store until 1882, when a brick building was erected for its use on Linden street. This hall is now owned by the Geo. H. Thomas Post No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic, the Odd Fellows having built a larger and better hall on East Mountain avenue in 1895. This hall is over W. A. Collins' furniture store. The lodge has now a large membership and is in a flourishing condition.
As early as 1870 the inhabitants of Fort Collins began to take an interest in social, educational and religious affairs. Before that, society was in an in- choate state and social functions of an elevating character few and far between. The small com- munity was made up of people who had come from different states, bringing with them the customs and
habits of the communities they had left. They pos- sessed divergent, political, social, educational and religious ideas and it took time for them to assimi- late and become moulded together into one harmon- ious whole. Then again, they were in a new coun- try, far from a base of supplies, and the problem of "how shall we solve the problem of existence, pro- vide ourselves, our wives and children, with food, shelter and raiment," first engrossed their attention to the exclusion of almost every other consideration. They could get along a few years without schools, without churches and without clubs and societies, but they could not get along without food and rai- ment. They were not heathen nor barbarians, for a large majority of them were educated, intelligent, law-abiding and God-fearing men and women, drawn from the best and more advanced communi- ties in the eastern states, but the first law of nature impelled them to provide, at the start, for their bodies, even though it be at the expense of their heads and hearts. It is not surprising, then, that but little attention was given to other than material things. They were but few in number at best, and, as stated, these few were lacking that homogeneity of sentiment which later characterized their inter- course as members of the same community.
In 1870, however, we find them getting together and organizing for mutual benefit, for progress and the promotion of higher aims than mere bodily com- fort. That year a Masonic lodge was instituted in the second story of the Grout building with H. C. Peterson, J. H. Bradstreet, J. R. Wills, B. H. Eaton, A. Loomis, C. J. McDivit, A. J. J. Davis and Geo. W. Swift as charter members. The first officers of the lodge were: W. M., H. C. Peter- son; S. W., J. R. Wills; J. W., B. H. Eaton; Treasurer, Abner Loomis; Secretary, J. H. Brad- street; S. D., Perry Downing; J. D., Harris Strat- ton ; S. S., C. J. McDivit; J. S., A. J. J. Davis; Tiler, T. M. Smith. The lodge held regular meet- ings, first in the attic of the mill, second, in the sec- ond story of B. T. Whedbee's store and then pur- chased the second story of Stover & Matthews' store building, where rooms were fitted up in which meetings were held until 1885.
That year the Masons leased the third floor of the Poudre Valley Bank block and converted it into a lodge room, which they occupied until 1902, when the Masonic temple was built on West Mountain avenue, in which lodge meetings have since been held.
The first school house was built in 1870 at a cost of $1,100 and the few people here then taxed them-
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selves heavily, to accomplish it, but they were proud of the feat and of the schools taught therein. It was a small frame building, but it was the beginning of better things and the precursor of progress. In 1872 the military reservation was thrown open to settlement and the Agricultural Colony es- tablished on its lands an enterprise that brought many new settlers to Fort Collins. The Pres- byterian church was organized that year. The fol- lowing year witnessed the founding of the first newspaper, the opening of a bank, the erection of a Methodist church and the Agricultural hotel, be- sides several business blocks and dwelling houses.
The years 1874-5-6 were gloomy ones for the little colony owing to the failure of the first bank and the ravages of the grasshoppers. But little building was done and business of all kinds was practically at a standstill. Many left the colony to seek homes elsewhere, so that the population of the town practically remained unchanged until 1877. The gold discovery in the Black Hills drew off quite a number of venturesome ones in 1875-6, the most of them returning later when the northern Indians became troublesome. Nevertheless, the town was not altogether lifeless during this period. The second newspaper, the Standard, was estab- lished, and the Yount bank opened for business in the spring of 1874. A Missionary Station of the Episcopal church was established in 1875, the first regular services being held on the first Sunday in May, in the frame building erected for the Lari- mer County bank. This building stood near where the Owl drug store now stands. It was purchased by the Episcopal congregation and used as a place of worship until 1883, when the new church was completed, ready for use. The old building stands now on East Oak street at the rear of St. Luke's church. Rev. Francis Byrne, who died a few years ago at the age of ninety-seven years, conducted the first Episcopal services held.
In 1876, M. E. Hocker, the pioneer druggist, sold his interest in the Stover-Hocker drug store to his partner, Frank P. Stover, and started for Dead- wood, in the Black Hills, with a stock of drugs. While crossing the Plains between Cheyenne and Deadwood his trains were raided by Indians and his teamsters barely escaped with their lives. This incident sickened him of the Black Hills country and he turned back and opened a drug store at Evanston, Wyoming.
The spring of 1877 opened with better prospects ahead for the farmers and townspeople. The grass- hoppers had run their race and had practically dis-
appeared, so that farmers were encouraged to seed all their tillable land to wheat, oats and potatoes, so far, at least, as the grasshoppers were concerned. New farms were located upon and new land broken out and seeded to crops, and the harvest that fall was a bountiful one. The first State Legislature, held during the winter of 1877, had appropriated money for the Agricultural college buildings, no great amount, to be sure, but large enuogh to en- courage the State Board of Agriculture to make a
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AS IT WAS IN 1883
beginning in the development of its plans. This appropriation would not be available until after the taxes of 1877 had been collected, nevertheless it had the effect of stiffening the courage and strengthen- ing the hopes of the people of Fort Collins, so that they began to look forward to a welcome change in the situation of material things.
The Colorado Agricultural college had been located at Fort Collins by an act of the Territorial Legislature passed in 1871. The location was con- firmed by the State Constitution, adopted in 1876, but until the first General assembly made the ap- propriation spoken of, the Board of Agriculture had no means at command for use in making prepara- tions for opening the school. They could not erect suitable buildings nor employ instructors without money. That is why practically nothing was done towards improving the site until 1878, when the money appropriated became available.
Beginning of a New Era
For several years the people of Larimer county had been wistfully looking forward to the time when a railroad should be built from Denver through the county to a connection with the Union Pacifiic at Cheyenne, over which they could ship marketable live stock and surplus agricultural prod-
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ucts without the long drive or long haul. The spring of 1877 opened with bright prospects for the fruition of their hopes. A subsidiary company of the Kansas Pacific Railroad company completed and opened for traffic on Sept. 23rd, 1870, a rail- road extending from Denver to Golden. Later the same company extended the road from Golden through Boulder to Longmont, which remained the terminus for two or three years. It was known as the Colorado Central road and in 1876 it passed from the control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad company into the possession of a new company known as the Colorado Central Railroad company, made up principally of Colorado men with W. A. H. Loveland of Golden, as President. Soon after getting possession of the road, Mr. Loveland went to New York for a conference with Jay Gould, then at the head of the Union Pacific system. The result of this conference was that Mr. Gould, act- ing for the Union Pacific, entered into an agree- ment with Mr. Loveland to furnish the means for extending and completing the road from Longmont to Cheyenne. Mr. Loveland returned to Golden in high spirits and was given an enthusiastic re- ception by his fellow-citizens. The line was sur- veyed and located in the winter of 1877 by Capt. E. L. Berthoud, chief engineer, and as soon as the frost left the ground in the spring the work of grading and building the road began at both ends simultaneously and was vigorously pushed forward. On June 28th the Board of Trustees of the town of Fort Collins passed an ordinance granting the Colo- rado Central Railroad company a right of way through the town along Mason street and certain other privileges, such as depot grounds, and lands for yards. The grading and bridging of the road, ready for the ties and rails was completed between Longmont and Hazard, five miles west of Chey- enne, in September and track laying from Hazard south was so far advanced by the end of that month that the smoke of the construction trains could be seen on the summit of the bluffs north of Fort Collins. Thomas J. Montgomery, a nephew of President Loveland, who had been assisting the agent at Longmont, was sent here to be the first station agent and telegraph operator at Fort Collins. He arrived on the 6th of October and on the 7th opened an office in Joseph Mason's store on Jefferson street. At that time the track layers had reached the bridge over the river and on the 8th of October the construction train rolled into the town of Fort Collins, signaling the event by a long blast of the locomotive whistle. Before the end
of October the track had been laid into Longmont, the road opened to traffic and communication by rail with Denver and Cheyenne established.
The arrival on the depot grounds of the construc- tion train on the morning of October 8th was greeted with great enthusiasm by the excited popu- lation of the town and congratulations over the fulfillment of their hopes long deferred passed from mouth to mouth. The people of the town and surrounding country were wild with delight, mak- ing the event an occasion for great rejoicing. A few days later the first shipment of freight ever brought into Fort Collins by rail arrived from the north and it consisted of one carload of merchan- dise for W. C. Stover and three carloads of Rock Springs coal for A. H. Patterson.
When Mr. Montgomery arrived here to take charge of the station, workingmen were engaged in laying the foundation walls of the depot building, a small brick structure containing a freight room, a small office for the station agent and telegraph operator, and a small waiting room. About the first of November the depot was far enough ad- vanced toward completion so that Mr. Mont- gomery could move his office from Mason's store into the freight room, where he remained until after the waiting room and his regular office had been completed and plastered. 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 benefited.
The winter and spring of 1878, following the completion of the railroad, witnessed an influx of new settlers, the most of them farmers from the middle west who came either to take up new land or purchase improved or partially improved farms. They brought their families, household goods and in many instances, their live stock with them, pre- pared to stay. Not a few cast their lot with the town and began building themselves homes and to establish themselves in business thus, by example, instilling new life and stimulating new energy among those already here. The entire year was a busy one, many new buildings being erected and several new lines of business established. The con-
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tract for the construction of the main Agricultural college building was let in June and the corner stone was laid July 27th and the structure com- pleted the following fall; bonds amounting to $7,500, drawing 12 per cent interest, principal and interest payable in gold, were voted by the school district and the proceeds used in erecting the front half of the Remington School building; contract let to John F. Colpitts and Joseph Coyte who began work in September, completing the building in February, 1879; Wilson's hall on Jefferson street, afterwards used for district court purposes, was com- pleted that fall. L. W. Welch built a $5,000 block on College avenue on the ground now occu- pied by the Murphy-Ready Clothing store; a small brick for the use of the Poudre Valley bank and a frame for the Parlor Drug store were erected on Linden street between Jefferson and Walnut; W. C. Stover and Tedmon Bros. each added a 50-foot brick extension to their stores, and Chris. Philippi and L. Flescher each had buildings erected on Jef- ferson street, one for a harness shop and the other for a tailor shop; D. M. Harris expended $2,500 in enlarging and refitting the Commercial hotel, which stood where the Express building now stands. In addition to these a number of dwelling houses were erected in different parts of the town that year, the total expenditures for new buildings and additions to old ones, amounting to upwards of $60,000.
The Courier was founded that year, the first number appearing on the 29th of June, with Watrous & Pelton as publishers and proprietors. It was issued from rooms on the second floor of the McConathy block which stood where the Antler's hotel now stands, and the Poudre Valley bank opened its doors for business on Saturday, Novem- ber 11th, in the Wilson block on Jefferson street, with William C. Stover as President and Charles H. Sheldon as Cashier. The bank occupied these quarters but a few weeks while awaiting the com- pletion of its new building on Linden street. In the fall of 1877 J. S. McClelland built a brick building on Linden street for the use of the Express newspaper. It stood next south of where the Gem Grocery is now and was burned down in the early 80's. During the month of October, 1878, 42 carloads of freight were dispatched and 31 carloads received, making a total of 73 carloads handled at the Fort Collins station, the total receipts amount- ing to $4,627.09. The railroad had then been in operation about a year.
The following paragraph appeared in the
Courier August 31st, 1878: "We have on exhibi- tion at our office (thanks to Mrs. Kate Trimble) a sample of Fort Collins-grown apples. They are of the variety known as 'Strawberry.' These were the first apples raised in Larimer county and they put to shame the croakers who had declared that apples could not be produced in Larimer county." They were grown on trees brought from Missouri by W. H. Trimble in 1875, and marked the begin- ning of an important industry. Others began experi- menting with fruit growing with the result that Larimer county fruit, berries, cherries, plums and apples are now staple products that are much sought after and command remunerative prices.
The Methodist church was moved that year from lots west of the depot to a new location on Moun- tain avenue. It was refitted and newly furnished and was occupied for church and Sunday school purposes until the new church was built on College avenue in 1896. There were then three resident clergymen in the town, Rev. C. A. Brooks of the Methodist church, Rev. D. E. Finks of the Presby- terian church, and Rev. Francis Byrne of St. Luke's Episcopal church. The Catholics held occasional services here, sometimes in the Grout building and at other times in the homes of private families, but they had no resident priest.
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