HomeMy WebLinkAboutEAST VINE DRIVE STREETS FACILITY PUD PRELIMINARY - 30 91A - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - APPLICANT COMMUNICATIONTHE GREAT WESTERN SUGAR FACTORY
Fort Collins, Colorado
A Brief History
Prepared.for Dick Beardmore by Jim Reidhead
May 1, 1991
Background
From 1867, when President Andrew Johnson ordered the Camp
Collins army outpost closed, until the late 1870s, the future of
the town of Fort Collins was in question. A small ranching and
farming community, the town struggled to survive. Three events
helped ensure the town's future:
In 1868 the Larimer County Seat was moved from LaPorte to
Fort Collins.
In 1872 the Colorado State Legislature voted to make Fort
Collins the home of the new state land grant college under
the federal Morrill Act
appropriated to start th
by the fact that othe
college, joined forces:
240 acres of land south
John J. Ryan borrowed
collateral, to start the
1879.
of 1862. However, no money was
a college. Local citizens, prompted
r Colorado communities wanted the
John C. Mathews and others donated
of town and.William F. Watrous and
$3,000 in Denver, using their own
college.. Five students enrolled in
In 1877 the railroad came to town.
Two early areas of research for the new Colorado State
Agricultural Col lege_were_crop irrigation and sugar beet culture.
Charles Boettcher, having made money in mining in Leadville
(he had a small hardware business on Jefferson Street in Fort
Collins in 1874, but left because he had doubts about whether the
railroad would come to Fort Collins) started a sugar beet
processing plant in orand Junction in the early isoos, it
failed, but he and his colleagues (he was in business with a Mr.
Campion ---the little town south of Loveland is named after him)
learned from their experiences and, still believing in the future
of sugar beets, started an enterprise which later became the
Great Western Sugar Co.. Sugar beets were being grown in northern
Colorado at this time, but were being shipped by rail to Grand
Island, Nebraska for processing.
In 1899, in order to stimulate business, the Colorado and
Southern Railroad offered free seed to any farmer who wanted to
grow sugar beets. A few years later, another railroad, the Great
Western Railway, developed to serve the beet industry.
In 1901, the first beet processing plant in Colorado was
opened in Loveland by Great Western and the Fort Collins' beets
were shipped by rail to Loveland for processing.
The community of Fort Collins followed by opening their own
new plant in 1903. Originally a co-operative, the plant was
purchased a few years later by Great Western. It operated for
half a century and contributed much to Fort Collins' economic
growth, cultural development and character. The last sugar beet
campaign (the growing, harvesting, and refining of the beets) was
in 1954. The plant closed April 1, 1955 and most of the
buildings were razed in 1964.
Today Warehouse #3 remains. It was used for the storage of
processed sugar and was large enough to hold 325,000 100# bags of
refined beet sugar.
Other Facts. Snigpets. and Conjectures
The sugar industry gave northern Colorado a diversified crop
and "increased farm income 15% to 35%" and caused a commensurate
increase in land values ---(one of the early successes of CSU).
The Fort Collins sugar plant started out as a co-operative.
The citizens who were involved early on were:
Peter Anderson- early farmer and rancher, owner of hardware
store, vice-president of First National Bank, land around sugar
factory developed to house workers became known as Andersonville.
James B. Arthur- Irish immigrant, successful farmer in
Timnath, Fort Collins civic leader.
R. O. Tenney="with Gen.- Grant --at Appomattox; pioneer —water . --
developer, charter member of Larimer County Stockgrowers
Association, in 1894 led campaingn to create national forest in
upper Poudre Canyon.
i+ V_ saam&ft swear Ot aLilLnw ampahy ieoeted at site at
Ranchway Feeds. Water developer ---involved in suits establishing
early water law. He invested $25,000 in sugar factory (a lot of
money then) and was president of Poudre Valley Bank for a- number
of years.
J. S. McClelland- founder of Larimer County Express (forerunner
of the Coloradoan) and one of the first fruit growers in northern
Colorado.
i
Charles Boettcher, founder of the Boettcher fortune, was
disturbed that almost all of the mortar for the Loveland beet
plant was imported from Germany, even though all of the
ingredients for cement were found locally. The quality of local
cement was inconsistent. He purchase a small cement factory
north of LaPorte and started making his own portland cement. The
company was named Ideal Cement Co. and was the beginning of
Boettcher's Ideal Basic Industries.
The beet industry required many workers, both in the fields
and factory. Most aspects of the early sugar industry were labor
intensive. Many German -Russians and Hispanics came to Fort
Collins to work in the sugar industry. Alta Vista,
Andersonville, and Buckingham Place were all beet workers'
communities at one time.