Fort Collins Historical Society

08/20/2026

The Emma Malaby Grocery was one of Fort Collins many early neighborhood groceries. It's very exciting to see it get a new lease on life!

08/01/2026

Mike Viney recently published a transcript of Luther C. Bragg's 1905 diary, which is now available to read online through the CSU Archives and Special Collections. Mike added a well written and well researched biography of the man as well.

Bragg was an assistant professor in the Colorado Agricultural College where he was heavily involved in collecting and researching Colorado bugs.

"Bragg was 51 years old, his wife Emma 47, and daughter Lottie 21 when he accepted the job at CAC. Bragg had worked as a boot maker, taxidermist, photographer, and unpaid amateur research scientist at the University of Colorado with T.D.A. Cockerell. Bragg’s position at CAC would evolve from museum curator in 1905 to assistant entomologist in 1911 and while he did not have a college degree, he had attained professional status as a college-level museum curator and researcher."

Bragg's work was pretty cutting edge for the time. And yet the same research that he loved eventually led to his demise.

You can read through the biography by opening a page of Mike's book and then using the arrows at the upper right to move from page to page.

https://archives.mountainscholar.org/digital/collection/p17393coll282/id/144/rec/1

08/01/2026

Happy 150th Birthday, Colorado!

07/14/2026

While doing some quick research, this advertisement jumped out. There's a couple of odd things going on here. Thoughts?

This is an ad from the January 20, 1926 Fort Collins Express-Courier. And for anyone unfamiliar with W. Mountain, everything past St. Joe's (200 W. Mountain) is pretty darn residential (with occasional corner store exceptions... though this property at 611 W. Mountain isn't on a corner).

Did you notice the K*K Norway Herring? The Klan was at the height of its power in Colorado in 1926, but that's not where the fish came from. In Norway, the Krown (king) oversaw food safety. So a Triple Krown (K*K) label meant it was the highest quality fish.

07/04/2026

We had a great time at City Park today. Thanks to everyone that came out to say hello!

Happy Birthday, USA!

07/04/2026

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Read the full text here: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

07/02/2026

In 1976 we celebrated our Bicentennial as a nation with church bells ringing, air raid sirens sounding, and a cannon shot across Sheldon Lake at City Park! In 2026, we'll be celebrating our Semiquincentennial as a nation with a race, a Walk Through History, an expansive Revolutionary War display, kids festivities, historic and modern trucks, and flags, flags, flags!

The Fort Collins Historical Society will have a booth from 11 am - 2 pm at City Park. We hope to see you there!

06/29/2026

113 years ago there was some talk about removing the "Fort" from "Fort Collins." Here's what the newspapers had to say about that.

06/23/2026

We hope to see you at City Park on the Fourth of July!

Don't miss us in the Walk Through History.

06/23/2026

If you attended the Historical Society meeting tonight and now you're looking for Betty's movie, "Fort Collins, Choice City for Whom" here's a link:

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