Fort Collins, CO news and local guide

During the Indian wars of the mid-1860s the Army set up Camp Collins on the Cache la Poudre near today's Laporte to protect the newly relocated Overland mail route. A flood destroyed it in June 1864, and its commander suggested to Colonel William O. Collins at Fort Laramie a site several miles downriver. The new Fort Collins, founded in 1864, was manned by two companies of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and never had walls. Its post office opened on June 27, 1865. Settlers arrived almost at once, and the fort was decommissioned in 1867. Its site is next to the historic Old Town. The first school and church opened in 1866, and the town was platted in 1867. Led by the businessman Joseph Mason, residents won the county seat away from LaPorte in 1868. An agricultural colony founded in 1872 brought hundreds of settlers, and tension between them and earlier residents divided the town's politics. Wikipedia gives two incorporation dates, saying the town was incorporated in 1873 and also that the Town of Fort Collins was incorporated on February 12, 1883. Colorado Agricultural College was founded in 1870 and held its first classes in 1879. In the 1880s stone quarrying, sugar beets and sheep feeding supported the growing town. Sources Wikipedia: Fort Collins, Colorado