Larimer County, Colorado
Encyclopedia
Larimer County is the seventh most populous and the ninth most extensive of the 64 counties
Colorado counties
The U.S state of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Counties are important units of government in Colorado since the state has no secondary civil subdivisions, such as townships...

 of the State of Colorado of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The county is located at the northern end of the Front Range
Front Range
The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across...

, at the edge of the Colorado Eastern Plains
Colorado Eastern Plains
The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and east of the population centers of the Front Range.-Geography:...

 along the border with Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. Larimer County was named for William Larimer, Jr.
William Larimer, Jr.
William Larimer, Jr. was a Kansas state senator, American settler, and land developer who is best known as the founder of Denver, Colorado in 1858. Larimer often went by "General Larimer", having acquired the title in the Pennsylvania Militia....

, the founder of Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, who is believed to have never have set foot in the county. The United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 estimates that the county population was 276,253 in 2006, a 9.84% increase since U.S. Census 2000. The county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 and most populous city is Fort Collins
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...

. The Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area
Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area
The Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area is a United States Census Bureau defined Metropolitan Statistical Area located in the Fort Collins and Loveland region of the U.S. state of Colorado. The Fort Collins-Loveland MSA is defined as Larimer County, Colorado. The Census Bureau...

 comprises Larimer County.

History

Larimer County was created in 1861 as one of seventeen original counties in the Colorado Territory
Colorado Territory
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado....

; however, its western boundary was disputed. Controversy existed as to whether Larimer County ended at the Medicine Bow Range or at the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...

 thirty miles further west. An 1886 Colorado Supreme Court decision set the boundary at the Continental Divide, although the land between the Medicine Bow Range and the divide was made part of Jackson County
Jackson County, Colorado
Jackson County is the fourth-least densely populated of the Colorado 64 counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. The county population was 1,577 at the 2000 Census. The county seat and the only municipality in the county is the Town of Walden.- History :...

 in 1909.

Unlike that of much of Colorado, which was founded on the mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

, the settlement of Larimer County was based almost entirely on agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, an industry that few thought possible in the region during the initial days of the Colorado Gold Rush
Colorado Gold Rush
The Pike's Peak Gold Rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861...

. The mining boom almost entirely passed the county by. It would take the introduction of irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 to the region in the 1860s to bring the first widespread settlement to the area.

Early history

At the time of the arrival of Europeans in the early 19th century, the present-day county was occupied by Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

s, with the Utes
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...

 occupying the mountainous areas and the Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...

 and Arapaho
Arapaho
The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Sioux. Arapaho is an Algonquian language closely related to Gros Ventre, whose people are seen as an early...

 living on the piedmont
Colorado Piedmont
The Colorado Piedmont is the geologic term for an area along the base of the foothills of the Front Range in north central Colorado in the United States...

 areas along the base of the foothills. French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 fur trappers
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

 infiltrated the area in the early decades of the 19th century, soon after the area became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...

 and was organized as part of the Missouri Territory
Missouri Territory
The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri.-History:...

. In 1828 William H. Ashley ascended the Cache la Poudre River
Cache La Poudre River
The Cache la Poudre River is in the state of Colorado in the United States.Its headwaters are in the Front Range in Larimer County, in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park. The river descends eastward in the mountains through the Roosevelt National Forest in Poudre Canyon...

 on his way to the Green River
Green River (Utah)
The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Green River is long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing...

 in present-day Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. The river itself received its name in the middle 1830s from an obscure incident in which French-speaking trappers hid gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 along its banks, somewhere near present-day Laporte
Laporte, Colorado
Laporte is a census-designated place in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,691 at the 2000 census...

 or Bellvue
Bellvue, Colorado
Bellvue is an unincorporated town and U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado. It is a small agricultural community located in Pleasant Valley, a narrow valley just northwest of Fort Collins near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon between the Dakota Hogback ridge and the foothills of the Rocky...

. In 1848 a group of Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 crossed through the county following the North Fork of the Poudre to the Laramie Plains
Laramie Plains
The Laramie Plains is an arid highland in south central Wyoming in the United States. The plains extend along the upper basin of the Laramie River on the east side of the Medicine Bow Range. The city of Laramie is the largest community in the valley...

 on their way to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 along a route that became known as the Cherokee Trail
Cherokee Trail
The Cherokee Trail was a historic overland trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train headed to the gold fields in California...

.

The area of county was officially opened to white settlement following negotiations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho in the 1858 Treaty of Fort Laramie
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Treaty of Fort Laramie may refer to:*Treaty of Fort Laramie *Treaty of Fort Laramie...

, by which time the area was part of the Nebraska Territory
Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854...

. The first U.S. settlers arrived that same year in a party led by Antoine Janis
Antoine Janis
Antoine Janis was a 19th-century French-American fur trader and an early white homesteader in Larimer County, Colorado, in the United States. The first recorded permanent white settler in northern Colorado, he founded the town of Laporte in 1858.-Biography:Janis was born inMissouri to a French...

 from Fort Laramie. Janis, who had visited the area near Bellvue in 1844 and proclaimed it "the most beautiful place on earth", returned to file his official claim and helped found the first U.S. settlement in present-day Colorado, called Colona, just west of Laporte. Nearly simultaneously, Mariana Medina established Namaqua
Namaqua
Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama now speak Afrikaans. The Nama are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have largely disappeared as a group,...

 along the Big Thompson River
Big Thompson River
The Big Thompson River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 78 miles long, in the U.S. state of Colorado.- Course of the river :...

 just west of present-day Loveland
Loveland, Colorado
Loveland is a Home Rule Municipality that is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Loveland is the 14th most populous city in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau that in 2010 the...

. The first irrigation canals were established along the Poudre in the 1860s.

In 1862 the settlement established by Janis became a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 stop along the Overland Stage Route which was established because of threats of attacks from Native Americans on the northern trails in Wyoming. In 1861, Laporte was designated as the first county seat after the organization of the Colorado Territory
Colorado Territory
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado....

. In 1862, the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 established an outpost near Laporte that was designated as Camp Collins
Camp Collins
Camp Collins was a 19th century outpost of the United States Army in the Colorado Territory. The fort was commissioned in the summer of 1862 to protect the Overland Trail from attacks by Native Americans in a conflict that later became known as the Colorado War...

. A devastating flood in June 1864 wiped out the outpost, forcing the Army to seek a better location. At the urging of Joseph Mason
Joseph Mason (settler)
Joseph Mason, known as the "Father of Fort Collins, Colorado", was an early white homesteader in Larimer County, Colorado in the 1860s. Mason settled a large tract of land along the Cache la Poudre River in present-day north Fort Collins, and he played in an instrumental role in persuading the...

, who had settled along the Poudre in 1860, the Army relocated its post downstream adjacent to Mason's land along the Overland stage route. The site of the new post became the nucleus of the town of Fort Collins
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...

, incorporated in 1873 after the withdrawal of the Army. By that time, Mason and others had convinced the Colorado Territorial Legislature to designate the new town as the county seat. In 1870, the legislature designated Fort Collins as the location of the state agricultural college (later Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...

), although the institution would exist only on paper for another decade while local residents sought money to construct the first campus buildings. In 1873, Robert A. Cameron and other members of the Greeley Colony
Union Colony of Colorado
The Union Colony of Colorado was a 19th century U.S. private enterprise formed to promote agricultural settlement in the South Platte River valley in the Colorado Territory...

 established the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony
Fort Collins Agricultural Colony
The Fort Collins Agricultural Colony was a 19th century enterprise in Larimer County, Colorado to promote new agricultural and commercial settlement in and around the town of Fort Collins...

, which greatly expanded the grid plan
Grid plan
The grid plan, grid street plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid...

 and population of Fort Collins.

Railroads

One of the primary goals of the early citizens of the county was the courting of railroads. County residents were disappointed when the Denver Pacific Railroad bypassed the county in 1870 in favor of Greeley
Greeley, Colorado
The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...

. The first railroad finally arrived in the county in 1877 when the Colorado Central Railroad
Colorado Central Railroad
The Colorado Central Railroad was a U.S. railroad company that operated in Colorado and southeastern Wyoming in the late 19th century. Originally founded in the Colorado Territory in the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush to ship gold from the mountains, it eventually expanded from its initial...

 extended a line north from Golden
Golden, Colorado
The City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...

 via Longmont
Longmont, Colorado
Longmont is a Home Rule Municipality in Boulder and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Longmont is located in Northern Colorado. Longmont is the 13th most populous city in the State of Colorado. The word "Longmont" comes from Longs Peak, a prominent mountain named for explorer Stephen H....

 to Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...

. The town council of Fort Collins designated right-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...

 through the center of town (and through the campus of the unbuilt college) for the line, creating a contentious issue to this day.

Along the new railroad sprung up the new plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted towns of Loveland
Loveland, Colorado
Loveland is a Home Rule Municipality that is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Loveland is the 14th most populous city in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau that in 2010 the...

 and Berthoud
Berthoud, Colorado
Berthoud is a Statutory Town in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Berthoud is situated north of the Little Thompson River, approximately halfway between the cities of Fort Collins, Colorado and Denver, Colorado along the Front Range Urban Corridor...

, named respectively after the president and chief surveyor
Edward L. Berthoud
Captain Edward Louis Berthoud was a military officer, statesman and engineer in the western United States during the late 19th century. He is primarily known as the chief engineer and secretary of the Colorado Central Railroad during its expansion throughout Colorado in the 1870s...

 of the Colorado Central. Likewise Wellington
Wellington, Colorado
Wellington is a Statutory Town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 6,289 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Wellington is located at ....

 (founded in 1903) was named for a railroad employee. The Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad
Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad
The Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railway was a railroad that operated in northern Colorado in the United States during the 1880s. Founded with heavy backing with the Union Pacific Railroad, it was controlled by the Union Pacific from its inception, but was incorporated into the new Colorado and...

 arrived three years later as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

, with the intention of creating a transcontinental line over Cameron Pass
Cameron Pass (Colorado)
Cameron Pass is a elevation mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains in north central Colorado in the United States. The pass is a gap between the south end of the Medicine Bow Mountains and the north end of the Never Summer Mountains. It sits on the border between Jackson County and Larimer County,...

. Although the line was never extended over the mountains, it opened up the quarrying of stone for the railroad at Stout
Stout, Colorado
Stout is a former town in southern Larimer County, Colorado in the United States. The town was located in foothills southwest of Fort Collins, just west of the Dakota Hogback. It was established in the 1880s as a camp for workers at the nearby stone quarries in the area...

, furnishing another industry for the region. The brief attempt at the mining of gold in the region centered at the now ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 of Manhattan
Manhattan, Colorado
Manhattan is a ghost town located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded in 1886 as a gold mining camp, during the height of the Colorado Silver Boom. The town never experienced great prosperity, however, and had largely...

 in the Poudre Canyon
Poudre Canyon
The Poudre Canyon is a narrow verdant canyon, approximately 40 mi long, on the upper Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County, Colorado in the United States...

.

Agriculture

The early growth of agriculture, which depended highly on direct river irrigation, experienced a second boom in 1902 with the introduction of the cultivation of sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...

s, accompanied by the construction of the large processing plant of the Great Western Sugar Co. in Loveland. In the following decade, the sugar beet industry brought large numbers of German emigrants from the Russian Empire
History of Germans in Russia and the Soviet Union
The German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...

 to the county. The neighborhoods of Fort Collins northeast of the Poudre were constructed largely to house these new families.

A significant increase in the agricultural productivity of the region came in the 1930s with the construction of the Colorado Big Thompson Project following the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, sort of a third boom for the agricultural industry around Fort Collins. This project collected and captured Western Slope
Colorado Western Slope
The Western Slope of Colorado refers to a region of the U.S. state of Colorado incorporating everything in the state west of the Continental Divide. The Colorado River and its tributaries divide the region into north and south at Grand Junction, Colorado...

 water, and carried it over to the Front Range
Front Range
The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across...

 Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 counties of Boulder
Boulder County, Colorado
Boulder County is the sixth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county seat is Boulder. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is the City of Boulder...

, Larimer and Weld
Weld
Weld most commonly refers to a joint formed by welding.Weld may also refer to:-People:* Weld family, an extended family of New England** Theodore Dwight Weld** Tuesday Weld* Weld-Blundell family* Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester...

, along with an extensive water storage and distribution system, which significantly extended the irrigable growing season and brought substantial additional land under irrigation for the first time.

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 2633.86 square miles (6,821.7 km²), of which 2601.3 square miles (6,737.3 km²) (or 98.76%) is land and 32.56 square miles (84.3 km²) (or 1.24%) is water.

Adjacent counties

  • Laramie County
    Laramie County, Wyoming
    Laramie County is the most populous of the 23 counties of the U.S. state of Wyoming. The county is located in the southeastern corner of the state. The county's population was 91,738 at the 2010 census. The county seat is Cheyenne, the state capital...

    , Wyoming
    Wyoming
    Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

     - northeast
  • Weld County
    Weld County, Colorado
    As of the census of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The population density was 45 people per square mile . There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...

    , Colorado
    Colorado
    Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

     - east
  • Boulder County
    Boulder County, Colorado
    Boulder County is the sixth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county seat is Boulder. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is the City of Boulder...

    , Colorado
    Colorado
    Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

     - south
  • Grand County
    Grand County, Colorado
    Grand County is the 21st largest of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 12,442 at U.S. Census 2000...

    , Colorado
    Colorado
    Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

     - southwest
  • Jackson County
    Jackson County, Colorado
    Jackson County is the fourth-least densely populated of the Colorado 64 counties of the U.S. state of Colorado. The county population was 1,577 at the 2000 Census. The county seat and the only municipality in the county is the Town of Walden.- History :...

    , Colorado
    Colorado
    Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

     - west
  • Albany County, Wyoming
    Wyoming
    Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

     - northwest

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 251,494 people, 97,164 households, and 63,156 families residing in the county. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 97 people per square mile (37/km²). There were 105,392 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile (16/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 91.44% White
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, 0.66% Black
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

 or African American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, 0.66% Native American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, 1.56% Asian
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, 0.08% Pacific Islander
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, 3.41% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 2.19% from two or more races. 8.27% of the population were Hispanic
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

 or Latino
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

 of any race.

There were 97,164 households out of which 31.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.60% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.00% were non-families. 23.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.80% under the age of 18, 14.20% from 18 to 24, 30.70% from 25 to 44, 21.80% from 45 to 64, and 9.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 99.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,655, and the median income for a family was $58,866. Males had a median income of $40,829 versus $27,859 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the county was $23,689. About 4.30% of families and 9.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.80% of those under age 18 and 4.40% of those age 65 or over.

School districts

  • Park R3 (Estes Park
    Estes Park, Colorado
    Estes Park is a town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. A popular summer resort and the location of the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park lies along the Big Thompson River. Estes Park had a population of 5,858 at the 2010 census...

    )
  • Poudre R1
    Poudre School District
    The Poudre School District is K-12 public school district in Larimer County in northern Colorado. The district operates and manages the public schools in the city of Fort Collins, as well as in the towns of Wellington and Timnath, and unincorporated communities of Larimer County including Laporte...

     (Fort Collins
    Fort Collins, Colorado
    Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...

     & Surrounding Area)
  • Thompson R2-J
    Thompson R2-J School District
    The Thompson R2-J School District is located in Loveland, Colorado and covers schools in Loveland, Berthoud, Masonville, Drake, and the southern part of Fort Collins...

     (Berthoud
    Berthoud, Colorado
    Berthoud is a Statutory Town in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Berthoud is situated north of the Little Thompson River, approximately halfway between the cities of Fort Collins, Colorado and Denver, Colorado along the Front Range Urban Corridor...

     & Loveland
    Loveland, Colorado
    Loveland is a Home Rule Municipality that is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Loveland is the 14th most populous city in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau that in 2010 the...

    )

Incorporated communities

  • Berthoud
    Berthoud, Colorado
    Berthoud is a Statutory Town in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Berthoud is situated north of the Little Thompson River, approximately halfway between the cities of Fort Collins, Colorado and Denver, Colorado along the Front Range Urban Corridor...

     (town)
  • Estes Park
    Estes Park, Colorado
    Estes Park is a town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. A popular summer resort and the location of the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park lies along the Big Thompson River. Estes Park had a population of 5,858 at the 2010 census...

     (town)
  • Fort Collins
    Fort Collins, Colorado
    Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...

     (city)
  • Johnstown
    Johnstown, Colorado
    Johnstown is a Home Rule Municipality in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. The population was 3,827 at the 2000 census. As of 2010 the US Census Bureau estimates the population of Johnstown at 9,887.-Geography:...

     (town)
  • Loveland
    Loveland, Colorado
    Loveland is a Home Rule Municipality that is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Loveland is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Loveland is the 14th most populous city in Colorado. The United States Census Bureau that in 2010 the...

     (city)
  • Timnath
    Timnath, Colorado
    The Town of Timnath is a Statutory Town located in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1882, Timnath is a small agricultural/farming community located southeast of Fort Collins, Colorado, approximately one-half mile east of the Harmony Road/Interstate 25 interchange, on a small...

     (town)
  • Wellington
    Wellington, Colorado
    Wellington is a Statutory Town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 6,289 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Wellington is located at ....

     (town)
  • Windsor
    Windsor, Colorado
    The Town of Windsor is a Home Rule Municipality in Larimer and Weld counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town was 18,644. Windsor is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Windsor is situated north of the Colorado State Capitol in...

     (town, historically in Weld County
    Weld County, Colorado
    As of the census of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The population density was 45 people per square mile . There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...

    , but expanded into Larimer County in the 1990s).

Unincorporated communities

  • Bellvue
    Bellvue, Colorado
    Bellvue is an unincorporated town and U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado. It is a small agricultural community located in Pleasant Valley, a narrow valley just northwest of Fort Collins near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon between the Dakota Hogback ridge and the foothills of the Rocky...

  • Buckeye
    Buckeye, Colorado
    Buckeye is a farming and ranching community in an unincorporated area of north central Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Bounded on the west by the Roberts Ranch, the area includes Red Mountain Open Space to the north, Rawhide flats to the east, and extends south to Owl Canyon.The tallest...

  • Campion
    Campion, Colorado
    Campion is an unincorporated community in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,832 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a census-designated place ; the community was not enumerated separately in the 2010 census. Located between Loveland and Berthoud along U.S. Route...

  • Cherokee Park
  • Drake
    Drake, Colorado
    Drake is an unincorporated town in Larimer County, Colorado. A U.S. Post Office is also situated near Rocky Mountain National Park in the county. The population of Drake was 219. The Drake Post Office has the ZIP Code 80515.-Geography:...

  • Glendevey
  • Glen Haven
    Glen Haven, Colorado
    Glen Haven is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The Glen Haven Post Office has the ZIP Code 80532.-Geography:...

  • LaPorte
    Laporte, Colorado
    Laporte is a census-designated place in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,691 at the 2000 census...

  • Livermore
    Livermore, Colorado
    Livermore is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The Livermore Post Office has the ZIP Code 80536....

  • Kinikinik
    Kinikinik, Colorado
    Kinikinik is a small unincorporated community in western Larimer County, Colorado in the United States. It is located along State Highway 14 in the upper Poudre Canyon west of Fort Collins and on the east side of Cameron Pass. The community consists of a general store and neighboring summer...

  • Manhattan
    Manhattan, Colorado
    Manhattan is a ghost town located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded in 1886 as a gold mining camp, during the height of the Colorado Silver Boom. The town never experienced great prosperity, however, and had largely...

     (ghost town
    Ghost town
    A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

    )
  • Masonville
    Masonville, Colorado
    Masonville is an unincorporated town and a U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The Masonville Post Office has the ZIP Code 80541.-Geography:Masonville is located at ....

  • Old Roach
    Old Roach, Colorado
    Old Roach is a ghost town in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Once a company logging town, occupied roughly between 1923 and 1938, it lies in northern Colorado near the Wyoming border....

     (ghost town
    Ghost town
    A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

    )
  • Pinewood Springs
  • Pingree Park
    Pingree Park, Colorado
    Pingree Park, Colorado, is currently the mountain campus for Fort Collins, Colorado, based Colorado State University. Pingree Park is situated in the mountains of the Mummy Range at It is located northwest of the city of Fort Collins, up Highway 14 in the Poudre Canyon and then another on the...

  • Poudre Park
  • Red Feather Lakes
    Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
    Red Feather Lakes is a census-designated place in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The population was 525 at the 2000 census. The Red Feather Lakes Post Office has the ZIP Code 80545.-Geography:...

  • Rustic
  • Teds Place
  • Virginia Dale
    Virginia Dale, Colorado
    Virginia Dale is a tiny unincorporated town located in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Virginia Dale is situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on U.S. Highway 287, approximately 45 mi northwest of Ft. Collins and approximately 4 mi south of the Wyoming...

  • Waverly
    Waverly, Colorado
    Waverly is a small unincorporated community in rural eastern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. It is primarily an agricultural community, consisting of a group of houses along County Road 15 surrounded by ranchlands north of Fort Collins and west of Wellington...


National park

  • Rocky Mountain National Park
    Rocky Mountain National Park
    Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado.It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails...

     is headquartered in Estes Park
    Estes Park, Colorado
    Estes Park is a town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. A popular summer resort and the location of the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park lies along the Big Thompson River. Estes Park had a population of 5,858 at the 2010 census...


National forest and wilderness

  • Roosevelt National Forest
    Roosevelt National Forest
    The Roosevelt National Forest is a National Forest located in north central Colorado. It is contiguous with the Colorado State Forest as well as the Arapaho National Forest...

  • Cache La Poudre Wilderness
    Cache La Poudre Wilderness
    The Cache la Poudre Wilderness is administered by the USDA Forest Service. It is located on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District on the Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado. This wilderness is 9,258 acres  in size and is characterized by steep, rugged terrain along the Cache la Poudre River...

  • Comanche Peak Wilderness
    Comanche Peak Wilderness
    The Comanche Peak Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Roosevelt National Forest on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District in Colorado along the northern boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park. The wilderness named for its most prominent peak was established in 1980. There are of...

  • Neota Wilderness
    Neota Wilderness
    The Neota Wilderness is administered by the USDA Forest Service. It is located on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado. This wilderness area encompasses and is bordered on the south by Rocky Mountain National Park. Elevation ranges from 10,000 to in the...

  • Rawah Wilderness
    Rawah Wilderness
    The Rawah Wilderness is administered by the USDA Forest Service. It is located on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest in Colorado, near the Wyoming border, and also in the Routt National Forest to its south. It encompasses and includes 25 named lakes ranging in...


National trails

  • Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
  • Greyrock Mountain National Recreation Trail
    Greyrock Mountain National Recreation Trail
    Greyrock Mountain National Recreation Trail is a hiking trail in Roosevelt National Forest west of Laporte, Colorado. The trail was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and designated as a National Recreation Trail in 1979....

  • Mount McConnel National Recreation Trail
    Mount McConnel National Recreation Trail
    Mount McConnel National Recreation Trail is a hiking trail in Roosevelt National Forest west of Fort Collins, Colorado. The trail was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 and designated as a National Recreation Trail in 1981....

  • Round Mountain National Recreation Trail
    Round Mountain National Recreation Trail
    Round Mountain National Recreation Trail is a hiking trail in Roosevelt National Forest west of Loveland, Colorado. The trail was designated a National Recreation Trail in 1981....


Scenic byways

  • Cache La Poudre-North Park Scenic and Historic Byway
  • Peak to Peak Scenic and Historic Byway
  • Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway

Other features and attractions

  • Poudre Canyon
    Cache La Poudre River
    The Cache la Poudre River is in the state of Colorado in the United States.Its headwaters are in the Front Range in Larimer County, in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park. The river descends eastward in the mountains through the Roosevelt National Forest in Poudre Canyon...

  • Virginia Dale
    Virginia Dale, Colorado
    Virginia Dale is a tiny unincorporated town located in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Virginia Dale is situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on U.S. Highway 287, approximately 45 mi northwest of Ft. Collins and approximately 4 mi south of the Wyoming...

  • Colorado State University
    Colorado State University
    Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...

  • Horsetooth Mountain
    Horsetooth Mountain
    Horsetooth Mountain is a mountain in the foothills of the Front Range west of the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, from which it is easily visible.The mountain is easily distinguishable by the large rock formation on its summit known as Horsetooth Rock...

  • Medicine Bow Mountains
    Medicine Bow Mountains
    The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend for from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range...

  • Front Range
    Front Range
    The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the north-central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered moving west along the 40th parallel north across...


See also

  • Heele County, Jefferson Territory
    Heele County, Jefferson Territory
    Heele County was a county of the extralegal United States Territory of Jefferson that existed from November 28, 1859, until February 28, 1861. It may also have been known as Steele County.-History:...

  • Colorado census statistical areas
  • Colorado counties
    Colorado counties
    The U.S state of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Counties are important units of government in Colorado since the state has no secondary civil subdivisions, such as townships...

  • Colorado metropolitan areas
    Colorado metropolitan areas
    The metropolitan areas of the State of Colorado include the urban statistical areas defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget and regions of urban population defined by other organizations.-Census statistical areas:...

  • Colorado municipalities
    Colorado municipalities
    The U.S. state of Colorado currently has 271 active incorporated municipalities, including 196 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments.-Municipal government:...

  • Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area
    Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area
    The Fort Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Statistical Area is a United States Census Bureau defined Metropolitan Statistical Area located in the Fort Collins and Loveland region of the U.S. state of Colorado. The Fort Collins-Loveland MSA is defined as Larimer County, Colorado. The Census Bureau...

  • Front Range Urban Corridor
    Front Range Urban Corridor
    The Front Range Urban Corridor is an oblong region of urban population located along the eastern face of the Southern Rocky Mountains in the U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming. The corridor derives its name from the Front Range, the mountain range that defines the west central boundary of the...

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Larimer County, Colorado
    National Register of Historic Places listings in Larimer County, Colorado
    This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Larimer County, Colorado. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Larimer County, Colorado, United States...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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