Fort Collins

Sister cities

• Alcalá de Henares

History

The Northern Arapaho were centered in the Cache la Poudre River Valley near present-day Fort Collins. Friday, who attended school in St. Louis, Missouri in his youth, was a leader of the band of Arapahos as well as an interpreter, negotiator, and peacemaker. He made friends of white settlers who moved into the area, but was pushed out of Colorado in the 1860s. Fort Collins was founded as a military outpost of the United States Army in 1864. It succeeded a previous encampment, known as Camp Collins, on the Cache la Poudre River, near what is known today as Laporte. Camp Collins was erected during the Indian wars of the mid-1860s to protect the Overland mail route that had been recently relocated through the region. Travelers crossing the county on the Overland Trail would camp there, but a flood destroyed the camp in June 1864. Afterward, the commander of the fort wrote to the commandant of Fort Laramie in southeast Wyoming, Colonel William O. Collins, suggesting that a site several miles farther down the river would make a good location for the fort. The post was manned originally by two companies of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and never had walls. Settlers began arriving in the vicinity of the fort nearly immediately. The fort was decommissioned in 1867. The original fort site is now adjacent to the present historic "Old Town" portion of the city. The first school and church opened in 1866, and the town was platted in 1867. The civilian population of Fort Collins, led by local businessman Joseph Mason, led an effort to relocate the county seat to Fort Collins from LaPorte, and they were successful in 1868. The city's first population boom came in 1872, with the establishment of an agricultural colony. Hundreds of settlers arrived, developing lots just south of…

Geography

Fort Collins is situated at the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills of the northern Front Range, approximately north of Denver, Colorado, and south of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Elevation is above sea level. Geographic landmarks include Horsetooth Reservoir and Horsetooth Mountain—so named because of a tooth-shaped granite rock that dominates the city's western skyline. Longs Peak can also clearly be seen on a clear day to the southwest of the city. The Cache La Poudre River and Spring Creek run through Fort Collins. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of including of water. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  40,430
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  39,934
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  38,960
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  36,030
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35,939
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  35,713
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  32,863
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  31,580

Largest nearby schools

• Rocky Mountain High School
  High · FORT COLLINS · 2,069 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• Fossil Ridge High School
  High · FORT COLLINS · 2,053 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Fort Collins High School
  High · FORT COLLINS · 1,903 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• Poudre High School
  High · FORT COLLINS · 1,663 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Loveland High School
  High · LOVELAND · 1,525 students · 20.9:1 ratio
• Liberty Common Charter School
  Other · FORT COLLINS · 1,359 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Colorado Early Colleges Fort Collins
  High · FORT COLLINS · 1,036 students · 19.2:1 ratio
• Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School
  Middle · FORT COLLINS · 748 students · 18.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-06-13
  7 km SE of Erie, Colorado
• M 2.9 — 2019-03-30
  7 km NE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 3 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.7 — 2016-11-06
  8 km ENE of Greeley, Colorado
• M 2.6 — 2016-08-23
  2 km SSE of Eaton, Colorado
• M 2.5 — 2014-06-23
  6 km NNE of Kersey, Colorado