• Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 – Oct. 15!
  • Did you know that there are two self-guided walking tours related to our local Hispanic/Latinx history from Historic Preservation Services? Check them out!
  • Mujeres de Colores and the Center for Creativity at the Historic Carnegie Library will be honoring our local early Hispanic and Mexican baseball players, many who came out of the beet fields of Fort Collins, in an exhibit this September. Info about exhibit dates and times are available under the September exhibit listing.
  • Explore other ways to celebrate Hispanic heritage, such as joining in "Read and Seed" programs with the Gardens on Spring Creek, on the City's event page!
• October Historic Preservation Commission Work Session and Regular Meeting – Canceled due to lack of business. See you in November!

Are you a historic property owner?

Contact Historic Preservation Services (preservation@fcgov.com; 970-224-6078) to learn more about financial support programs for qualifying rehabilitation work and for information on required design review.

Last Month's Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) Decisions

Meeting Date: Sept. 17, 2025

• Consent Agenda (APPROVED)
  • Minutes of Aug. 20, 2025 
• Discussion Agenda: 
  • Staff Activity Report
  • Report on Recent Nominations to the State Register of Historic Properties - Fort Collins Hispanic History (Romero House and Hispanic Leagues Baseball Field at City Park)
  • Conceptual Development Review - 1000 W. Prospect Rd., Coffin House - Proposed 6-story student housing project with adaptive reuse of main house and other site features (FEEDBACK ONLY)
  • Conceptual Landmark Design Review - 100 N. College Ave., First National Bank Building - Detached patio pergolas - (APPLICATION WITHDRAWN - REMOVED FROM AGENDA)

Sometimes important stories are hiding just beneath the surface of places we see every day, just waiting to be discovered. That’s certainly true of one of the City’s recent research projects to document sections of the downtown area. Using a grant from the State Historical Fund, the City hired local historian Ron Sladek to complete a research project for fifty properties in the downtown area. Through a tremendous amount of research, Mr. Sladek uncovered dozens of fascinating stories about buildings downtown, and made some recommendations for future preservation of some of those places. As with all historic survey projects, our goal is to share information with property owners to better prepare and plan for the future.

Over the past several years, Mr. Sladek documented fifty properties along College Avenue and its side streets between Mulberry Street and Laporte Avenue. Sladek spent time in the archives researching each property and its history, the people who made those places special, and how those places have evolved over time. Several already designated buildings received more in-depth documentation about what makes them important to the city. Several new potential Landmarks were identified that could be designated in the future if the property owner chooses. And the project even identified the potential for an expanded historic district designation for portions of the downtown area. Details can be found in the full survey report.

The project’s study area is one that has transitioned several times since the Fort Collins’ foundation as a community in the 1870s. While what is now the 100 block of North College Avenue has always been more of a commercial center, many of its buildings looked very different fifty or a hundred years ago than they do today. South of Mountain Avenue, most of this area was residential with some of the finest homes in the city until after 1900 when commercial development began creeping down the street. By the 1950s, it was exclusively commercial all the way to Mulberry Street. The project documented all of these transitions, and identified some of the key reflections from each period of transition.

Want to learn more about this and other survey projects and the stories they uncovered? Check out our survey website. Want to know if your property is historic? Check out this map or contact us at preservation@fcgov.com.

New State Register Listings

Two City-owned properties—the baseball field at City Park associated with the Hispanic League teams and the Romero House—have been added to the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties as part of the “Colorado Heritage For All” initiative. This project aims to include and celebrate the histories of all Colorado communities, including underrepresented groups, to correct historical oversights and ensure the Register reflects the state’s rich history. As of 2020, only about 5% of properties in the State Register directly related to the history of women and underrepresented communities.

The Romero House at 425 10th St. is an adobe residence in the Andersonville neighborhood that was designated a Fort Collins Landmark in 2001 and currently serves as the Museo de las Tres Colonias. The baseball field at City Park was an important site that between 1946 and 1969 served as the home field of the Fort Collins Legionnaires, a sugar beet league team composed of Hispanic and Mexican workers. The State Register listing is the first formal recognition of the baseball field’s significance as a historic property.

The Colorado State Register of Historic Properties is a listing of the state’s significant cultural resources worthy of preservation for the future education and enjoyment of Colorado’s residents and visitors. Properties listed in the Colorado State Register include individual buildings, structures, objects, districts and historic and archaeological sites. The Colorado State Register program is administered by the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation within History Colorado. Dr. Mali Leyva of History Colorado completed the State Register nominations for the City Park Baseball Field and the Romero House.

(Photo: Baseball field at City Park)

OCTOBER HPC WORK SESSION AND REGULAR MEETING CANCELED DUE TO LACK OF BUSINESS

Next Work Session: Nov. 12, 2025, at 5:30 p.m., in person at City Hall (300 Laporte Ave., CIC Room). Public may attend, but no public participation occurs at work sessions.

Next Regular Meeting: Nov. 19, at 5:30 p.m., in person at City Hall (300 Laporte Ave., Council Chambers) or virtually via Zoom. Public may attend and provide comment.

Agenda:

• TBD

Surveys in Progress:
We are currently researching the following properties to determine if they are eligible to be Fort Collins Landmarks in association with a current development review application. Determinations of eligibility are based on the best available information today and are valid for five years. Members of the public with information regarding the history of these properties should contact Historic Preservation Services asap at preservation@fcgov.com.

• 1900 Laporte Ave. - c. 1900 single-unit dwelling - Inventory of City-owned property (no planned development)

Recent Survey Results: 

• 5630 Tilden St, single-family dwelling, built 1974 - survey of City-owned property initiated by Social Sustainability; Not Landmark Eligible
• 4305 & 4325 E. Harmony Rd. - 1920 farmhouse & 1971 gas station - Development Review - demolition proposed for new development; Not Landmark Eligible
• 622 S. Grant Ave, duplex built in 1940 - Proposed ADU; Not Landmark Eligible
• 237-241 Linden St, built in 1964 - facade modifications proposed; Not Landmark Eligible
• 1215 S. Shields St. - 1914 single-unit dwelling - Development Review - demolition proposed to accommodate multi-unit building; Not Landmark Eligible

The City of Fort Collins requires public notification prior to the demolition of single-unit residences over 50 years of age. These notifications occur to inform neighbors of a potential change coming to their neighborhood and because certain groups can nominate a property for Landmark designation against the wishes of a property owner under Municipal Code Sec. 14-31 (the HPC by motion, a City Councilmember by written request, or three residents together by petition). Public noticing is considered complete the day after the HPC meeting for which it is noticed. Written public comments can be submitted to preservation@fcgov.com up to 48 hours prior to the HPC meeting for inclusion with the meeting packet. These notifications appear on the commission's discussion agenda, and an opportunity for spoken public comment will also be provided at the meeting. Visit the recently updated Single-Unit Dwelling Demolition Notification webpage for more detailed information on this process.

Active Demolition Notices:

• None

Recently Completed Demolition Notices:

• 1617 Person Ct., built c. 1947; (no public comment at 8/20/2025 HPC Meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 408 N. Loomis Ave., built c. 1906; (no public comment at 5/21/2025 HPC Meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 121 N. Whitcomb St., built c. 1895; (no public comment at 5/21/2025 HPC Meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 712 Scenic Dr., built 1975; (no public comment at 4/16/2025 HPC meeting; no action taken by HPC)
• 125 W. Trilby Rd., built 1963; (no public comment at 4/16/2025 HPC meeting; no action taken by HPC)

For Halloween in 1951, a group of Bluebirds (younger Camp Fire Girls) surprised some residents of Veterans Village by reverse trick-or-treating. The girls handed out "suckers and apples at homes where there were children," entrusting the Veterans Village mayor to distribute the remainder of their goodies to residents. 

Located south of Laurel Street between Loomis Avenue and Shields Street, Veterans Village was a neighborhood of half and full-sized Quonset Huts built at the end of World War II to provide housing for returning veterans and their families. Learn more about Veterans Village from Colorado State University's Building and Grounds History.

(Image: "Bluebirds Distribute Treats," Fort Collins Coloradoan, Nov. 2, 1951.)