Long before Transfort buses were rolling through the Downtown Transit Center (DTC), the Colorado & Southern (C & S) Freight depot, built in 1906, served as the transportation hub for the region’s livestock, sugar beet and lumber industries.
Not far away, in Timnath, C & S crew members found a sick, pregnant dog at a blacksmith shop in 1934. They brought her to Fort Collins, nursed her back to health and were able to find homes for all her puppies. They named her Annie and she became known as “the railroad dog,” greeting trains and people daily until her death in 1948. The railway crew buried her next to the depot and made a headstone to mark the grave.
Annie’s gravesite was incorporated into the site plan when Transfort took over the space in 2001.
Over the years, the gravesite has become rundown and overgrown with weeds. However, all of that is about to change as multiple City departments come together to refresh and restore the site where Annie is buried at DTC!
Nature in the City is funding the majority of the project, with Transfort, Community Development & Neighborhood Services, Forestry, Historic Preservation and Streets all pitching in to help with time and resources, including:
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removing a large concrete slab
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providing new topsoil ahead of planting
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relocating the memorial sign to a safer location and purchasing and planting new native species for the space
Stay tuned for updates once planting begins!
Fun Fact! August 27 is officially known as Annie the Railroad Dog Day.
