Ft Collins as well as the larger towns of Greeley and Loveland were agricultural based communities featuring cattle and the sugar beet industry. All of the towns around Northern Colorado still have their large sugar beet factories obvious on the horizon. Ft Collins  sugar factory remains but the towers have come down so if you do not know where it is, it is hard to find as it looks very modern now and houses city offices and shops. We have a history from as far back as 12,000 years if you would like to read it. It is broken down into major time frames and makes for good reading. The history story includes most everything up until 1941 the beginning of World War II.

After the war the town centered around it's college then named Colorado A&M and it had about 4000 students. Although CSU did not at first grow as fast as the larger University down the road in Boulder (Colorado University) there was a large influx of students after the war because of the GI Bill. See history. The big growth started with the arrival of President Morgan in the early 50's.  Morgan as a leader was also responsible in changing the school from an ag based university to a fully rounded world class facility. It has never lost it's roots however, as it is still a leading Vet Medicine school, Forestry School and still the leader in Agricultural Research and agricultural teaching. The University graduated it's first class under CSU in 1960-61. It had about 6,000 students then and now has close to 25,000 as the town and the university have grown.

Ft Collins was developing along at a leisurely pace in the late 50' and early 60's. In a second floor office on the corner of College & Mountain on of Ft Collins's first major companies was born with the invention of the Water Pik Oral Hygiene Appliance. This company founded by a local dentist, with an engineer friend started a company which is still here today and employs many hundreds of people. Then due primarily we feel to the Universities influence and the surrounding environmental advantages Ft Collins really began to grow. In 1969 Kodak came to Windsor and that was the start of it in a major way. HP was already in Loveland with a small facility and the US manufacturing division of Lego was also in Loveland.

In 1975 HP came to Ft Collins and continually expanded to the campus you see today. As these major US corporations arrived the small companies and the spin off companies turned Ft Collins into a regional power house. The first mall was built in the 60's on College Avenue where the big box mall and Whole Foods are now located. In the early 70's Foothills Mall was built and became the regional shopping center for a four state area.