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Real Estate & Homes in Fort Collins - Colorado - Fort Collins, Colorado homes and communities
Fort Collins
  
Recently named the Best Small Town in the West by Money Magazine, Fort Collins, Colorado, is a thriving city of about 125,000 permanent residents, as well as the approximately 24,000 students who study at Colorado State University. They enjoy a much milder climate than most of Colorado, with fairly low airborne humidity but ample ground moisture and seasonal rainfall to make Larimer County one of the most productive farming regions in the state. It makes a great deal of sense for Colorado State University, with its renowned programs of study in natural resource management and agricultural technology to be located in the midst of such fertile ground. The region is a western paradise for dedicated gardeners, and a joy to avid golfers, with its eight beautifully manicured courses. It is the sixteenth hottest housing market in the United States. As of this writing, in 2005, the average residential selling price has increased an average of eight percent per year for the past five years. Residential property taxes in Fort Collins are among some of the lowest in the nation. There are more restaurants per capita than in most major America cities. Despite these advantages, the area is not threatened by sprawl like so many western towns are. The population of Fort Collins increases by only about three percent annually. Despite relatively moderate growth in population, the Poudre Valley School District has built eleven new schools since 1986, more out of a desire to create excellent environments for learning than out of necessity. Twenty-nine percent of households in Fort Collins include children under the age of eighteen. The Poudre Valley Health System employs nearly two thousand healthcare professionals in thirty-seven specialties. Patients in need of advanced care are flown to Poudre Valley Hospital from as far north as Laramie, Wyoming, to benefit from the medical expertise available in Fort Collins.
History
In 1836, a group of French-speaking fur trappers in the employ of John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company traveled heavily-laden with wagonloads of supplies into modern-day Larimer County, Colorado, on their way to a rendezvous on the banks of the Green River in Wyoming. When they arrived at the Poudre River, it was nearly dark – too late in the day to attempt to ford the river. They awoke in the morning under a layer of snow from an early storm. They were trapped for more than a week and finally decided that they would not be able to move on unless they significantly lightened their load of cargo. They dug a large pit, lined it carefully with pelts and tree branches and buried everything they could not take with them, including several hundred pounds of gunpowder. In the spring, some members of the original party returned to the spot and retrieved all of the concealed items. They called the place, and eventually the river, Cache la Poudre; French for “Hide the powder”. Fort Collins was, as the name implies, first an army installation. A small army camp further up the Poudre River, Camp Collins, was destroyed in a flood in June 1864. The local Commander wrote to his superior, Colonel Collins at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, suggesting a more favorable spot to re-build. Fort Collins was built as suggested. It never had the reinforced walls popularly associated with the image of a frontier army fort. When the army decommissioned the camp in 1868, a small settlement remained on the banks of the Poudre River and eventually built a city center, today’s Old Town neighborhood over the remains of he old fort. The City of Fort Collins was founded in 1873, about the same time the railroad came through. The charming Old Town area dates from the city’s early days as a thriving railroad town. Many visitors enjoy the wonderful, self-guided, historic walking tours of this nineteenth century city center, which is now a vibrant arts, culture and retail area with abundant high-quality, interesting and affordable restaurants catering to the informal lives of students and families.
Outdoor Living
Sixty-five miles north of Denver and thirty-five miles south of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Fort Collins is nestled against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is the regional center for healthcare, culture, education and employment. With an average of three hundred days of sunshine per year, its residents enjoy extraordinary access both to natural and manmade outdoor amenities. With an average summertime high temperature of eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit and an average wintertime high temperature of forty-two degrees Fahrenheit, it is easy to see why the people of Fort Collins have made such a high civic priority of their system of Parks and Trails. The city maintains four trails for hiking and biking and cross-country skiing: a total off more than twenty miles of trails. In addition to numerous small, neighborhood playgrounds, the city parks department maintains four major recreation parks. The oldest and most central of these is Fort Collins City Park. Located in a well-established neighborhood of enormous trees and well-maintained homes with a lot of historic character, City Park offers playgrounds and picnic pavilions, basketball courts, quiet fishing spots, a golf course, horseshoes, soccer, softball, baseball, football, tennis courts, a fitness course, a batting cage, and, in the summertime, paddle boat rentals on the lake, a miniature train that operates daily, access to the Old Town neighborhood on the trolley system, a pool for wading and play with a water slide and other water features. In the winter, the trees sometimes glaze with ice in the morning, making them look as if they were made of lead crystal when they sparkle in the sunlight. City Park in winter is a place for ice-skating, sledding, and cross-country skiing.
Edora Park also offers picnic pavilions, playgrounds, basketball, fishing, horseshoes, softball, baseball, soccer, football, and a fitness course. One of the city’s hiking and biking trails starts at Edora Park. Other features of Edora Park include indoor swimming, a Frisbee gold course, a BMX track, a skate park, and an ice arena. Rolland Moore park is offers another trailhead, a racquet complex, platform tennis courts and sand volleyball. Lee Martinez Park belongs to the city as a result of the bequest of a farm on the northern edge of town. In addition to a trailhead and the usual park amenities, Lee Martinez Park is the home of The Farm. The Farm is a now twenty-year-old venue aimed intended mainly as an educational and enjoyable destination for children and their families. There are chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, geese, and cows to feed. Bags of oats are available for a small fee in the little shop in The Farm’s old silo. There is a hand operated water pump that children can use, a barn to explore, and, on summer weekends, ponies to ride. There is no admission fee and children are free to visit and revisit their favorite animals according to their own whims. In addition to the city parks, there are several county, state, and national forests and parks in the area. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland Visitor Center are right in the midst of Fort Collins, on College Avenue. One of the most popular destination areas within national lands in Poudre Canyon, in Roosevelt National Forest. Many trails can be accessed from the canyon for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The Poudre River, which runs through the Canyon, is one of the best trout streams in America, for both cutthroat and rainbow trout. Lory State Park is ten minutes west of Fort Collins and Horsetooth Reservoir and the adjacent Horsetooth Mountain Park (both named for the tooth-shaped granite formation at the top of – not surprisingly – Horsetooth Mountain. This stone formation is something of an informal symbol of the Fort Collins area.) border the city limits of Fort Collins and are managed by Larimer County Parks and Open Lands.
Gardening
Colorado State University operates several horticultural facilities primarily for research purposes, but they are open to the public. These include the CSU Annual Flower Trial Garden in front of the University Center for the Performing Arts (the old Fort Collins High School building), the CSU W.D. Holley Plant Environmental Research Center (PERC) which manages greenhouses that have been in use for nearly sixty years. Outside at the PERC, is the CSU Arboretum and Woody Plant Demonstration/Research area. In addition, a new eighteen acre, community based botanic garden has opened recently. While waiting for their own gardens to fill in, many new residents of the Fort Collins area enjoy visiting the LaPorte Farmer’s Market on Fridays, July through October, on a historic farm in front of the LaPorte Feed and Supply Store.
Attractions
Fort Collins, while a relatively small city, meets the needs of people of vastly different interests and backgrounds as the following listing of the area’s attractions will attest:
Swetzville Zoo - Featured in media outlets worldwide, the Swetzville Zoo is a unique privately managed Sculpture Park with over 150 metal artworks created of used auto parts and other bits of machinery. The subjects of the sculptures are diverse, but dinosaur themes predominate.
The Rocky Mountain Raptor Center - The Rocky Mountain Raptor Center rehabilitates and releases injured birds of prey and educates and informs the public about the birds and their habitats.
Stargazer Observatory - This astronomy venue has a 14-inch telescope and occasionally invites the public in to view the sky.
Great Stupa at Shambhala - This is widely viewed as the most spectacular example of Buddhist sacred architecture outside Asia. The Great Stupa houses sacred art and includes interpretive exhibits about Tibetan cultural heritage.
Fort Collins Museum - The Fort Collins Museum houses three galleries of local history and geology. The Heritage Courtyard shelters three historic cabins and the 1905 Upper Box Elder Schoolhouse, all of which have been relocated to the museum grounds for preservation. In the summertime, the museum offers day camp programs in which children in period costume attend abbreviated school programs in the one room schoolhouse.
Fort Collins Municipal Railway - This trolley line runs from City Park to Old Town. Car 21 is the only original, restored city streetcar in use in the American west.
Bingham Hill Cheese Company - This artisan cheeseworks is home of the renowned “Rustic Blue” and many other handcrafted Colorado cheeses. All told, their products have won more than twenty-five National and International awards at the World Cheese Awards, including “Best American Cheese.”
Breweries
Fort Collins has long been a regional center for the production and distribution of at least one major national brand of beer. In addition, it was one of the earliest markets to embrace the development of microbreweries and brewpubs in the United States. Every June, the Old Town neighborhood hosts a brewery festival, and, at any time of the year, it is a great place for the beer connoisseur to visit. Anheuser-Busch offers tours of their facilities, including an opportunity to meet the famous Clydesdales. The Big Horn Brewery specializes in handcrafted specialty beers, such as their “Total Disorder Porter.” Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant goes in mainly for traditional-style Irish brews. CooperSmith’s in Old Town is Northern Colorado’s oldest brewpub. In addition to a broad array of standards and some excellent seasonal favorites, CooperSmith’s is both famous and infamous for it’s “Sigda’s Green Chili Beer.” Fort Collins Brewery is the newest entry into the local brewing market. Odell Brewing Company is becoming well known throughout the Rocky Mountains for its “90 Shilling Ale.” New Belgium Brewing Company, which is known for its uniquely (in the U.S.) authentic renditions of Belgian Trappist style ale’s, among others. Their Fat Tire Ale is fast-becoming a standard of the artisan-style brewing world. New Belgium Brewing Company is gaining almost as much media attention for their deeply considered commitment to innovative management and construction ideas and responsible corporate citizenship.
Major employers
Major employers in and around Fort Collins include Colorado State University, Poudre Valley School District, Hewlett Packard, Poudre Valley Health System, Eastman Kodak, Larimer County, Agilent Technologies, the City of Fort Collins, Celestica Colorado (an electronics manufacturing company), LSI Logic, Advanced Energy Industries, Anheuser Busch, Woodward Governor (providing energy control solutions for aircraft and turbines), and Waterpik.
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