Power plants, Hotels, and National Park

 Thing of the past ...
Falls on Big Thompson, Estes Park
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: 1911-1920
From downstream, of waterfalls on the Big Thompson River near Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado.
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : glass ; 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 24 x 19 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Big Thompson River (Colo.) Larimer County (Colo.)Rivers--Colorado--Larimer County Waterfalls--Colorado--Larimer County
Geographic Area: Larimer County (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700072617
Type of Material: Glass negatives Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers, album VIII, 285
Original Material Found in Collection: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers
Notes: Title and signature hand-lettered on glass plate. Vintage photographic print. R7000726177

Thing of the past ...

Shoshone power plant

Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935

Date:1920-1930

The Shoshone power plant along the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon (Garfield County), Colorado. "Public Service Co.," is painted on the side of one of the buildings.

Physical Description: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)

Born-Digital or Analog:Analog

Subject: Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)

Glenwood Canyon (Colo.) Power plants--Colorado--Garfield County

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR700136393

Type of Material: Black & white photographs

Digital Version Created From: Photo loaned to Denver Public Library for digitization

Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs

Notes: Formerly HC1630. Image scanned from loaned collection. Title supplied. R71001363930

Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...

Roaster room from Golden Cycle power plant

Creator: Hale, Danforth R.

The roaster room from the power plant of the Gold Cycle Mill in El Paso County, Colorado. The machinery includes hoppers and roasting furnaces.

Physical Description: 1 copy negative : film ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.); 1 photoprint ; 17 x 12 cm (7 x 5 in.)

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: Golden Cycle Corporation Roasting (Metallurgy)--Colorado--El Paso County El Paso County (Colo.)Interiors--Colorado--El Paso County Mills--Colorado--El Paso County Mining--Colorado--El Paso County Smelters--Colorado--El Paso County

Geographic Area: El Paso County (Colo.)

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR710060812

Type of Material: Film negatives Black & white photographs Photographic prints

Digital Version Created From:D. R. Hale/Robert M. Ormes 8/15/84.

Original Material Found in Collection: Golden Cycle Mill series.

Notes: Formerly F44959. Photograph and caption in binder with other images in series. Title hand-written on back of print. R7100608126

Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...

Power plant, Bridal Veil Falls

Creator: Bachman, Al (Albert J.), 1910-2003 Date: 1963

The hydroelectric power plant atop Bridal Veil Falls on Bridal Veil Creek in San Miguel County, Colorado. Shows a concrete and wood structure with a pitched roof situated on a cliff.

Physical Description: 1 slide : Kodachrome

Born-Digital or Analog:Analog

Subject: Bridal Veil Falls (San Miguel County, Colo.)Cliffs--Colorado--San Miguel County Hydroelectric power--Colorado-San Miguel County Power plants--Colorado--San Miguel County Waterfalls--Colorado--San Miguel County Geographic Area San Miguel County (Colo.)

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR711012729

Type of Material: SlidesColor photographs

Notes: Title penciled on slide mount. R7110127295

Donor: Al Bachman; gift; 1998

 

Thing of the past ...
CreatorGonner & Leeka.
Date: 1892-1900
The four story Strater Hotel at 699 Main Avenue in Durango (La Plata County), Colorado. The American Victorian style hotel features decorative brickwork, arched windows with keystones, ornate bracketed cornices, finials, a balustrade, a cupola with oculi, coursing, bay windows and balconies. A carving in the facade reads "Strater." Men stand on the sidewalk in front of the building's corner entrance. A sign on an office window reads "Paul Geier, Architect."
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : albumen ; 10 x 14 cm (4 x 5 1/2 in.) mounted on sheet in album.
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Strater Hotel (Durango, Colo.)Durango (Colo.)Architects' offices--Colorado--Durango Hotels--Colorado--Durango
Geographic Area: Durango (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR711004853; Photographic print included in album: Views of Durango.Type of Material Albumen prints Photographic prints
Original Material Found in: Collection Views of Durango.
Notes: Album is damaged. Cover is loose, photos mounted on accordion folded sheet, sheet torn. Inked on photographic print: "9."; Title from contents sheet mounted on inside cover of album. R7110048530
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Brown Palace Hotel, Denver
Creator:Collier, Joseph
Date:1892-1910Summary
The Brown Palace was built on a triangle of land between Broadway, Tremont and 17th streets in downtown Denver, Colorado, in 1892 by Denver real estate developer Henry C. Brown, Maxcy Tabor (son of Horace Tabor) and Bill Bush, manager of the Windsor Hotel, also in Denver. Designed by architect Frank C. Edbrooke, the final cost of the granite and sandstone hotel was reportedly $2 million. The building was one of the first in America to be fireproof and, as such, appeared on the cover of Scientific American magazine. Shown here, striped awnings hang over the storefronts of the building. Two men walk across the intersection. A horse is in the left foreground. Lettering advertising the "Highlands Drug Store" is painted at the top of a building in the midground. Several cable cars are in the left background.
Physical Description:1 copy photonegative ; 8 x 12 cm (3 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photonegative : glass ; 17 x 22 cm (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint ; 15 x 22 cm (6 x 8 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Brown Palace Hotel (Denver, Colo.)Hotels--Colorado--Denver Street lights--Colorado--Denver
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700130179
Type of Material Film negatives Glass negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Emulsion is deteriorating on edges of glass plate. Title supplied by cataloger.
Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
Fifth and Main, looking northeast
Date1900SummaryView of First National Bank building, corner of Main and 5th (Fifth) Streets in Grand Junction (Mesa County), Colorado; shows a two-story stone and brick building with corner entrance, tower or turret, and finials. Men pose at the entrance where corner posts support the arched recessed entryway. A horse-drawn gig is in the dirt street. The background view includes Grand Junction High School, church spire or steeple of the Methodist Church, and a "First National Bank" sign atop the cornice. A window is lettered with "Doctor Ingersoll, physician and surgeon;" another with "Real estate." "Hotel Cranford" is on a two-story brick flat-roof building. The historic bank building was completed in 1887 and demolished in 1910.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 17 cm (4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Grand Junction (Colo.)Banks--Colorado--Grand Junction
Geographic Area: Grand Junction (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History Related Material Image File: ZZR710008679Type of Material Film negatives Photographic prints
Notes: Corner of photoprint is torn-off. Formerly copy negative F38936; Hand-written on back of photoprint: taken from same point as X, Grand Junction, Colo. Title from typed label attached to front of photoprint, date hand-written on same label. R7100086798
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Estes Park, Colorado
Date1920-1941
Five young women sit on rocks and look down the hill at Estes Park, Colorado. One woman holds a straw hat, the others wear or hold felt hats. Below, businesses are on both sides of Elkhorn Avenue; signs along the street include: "Monroe's," "Bank," "Kodaks & Film," Hotel Morris," "Market," "Estes Park Dry Goods Co., Shoes & Furnishings, Riding Clothes," "Somers Dainty Shop," "Josephine Hotel," "Cafe," and "National Park Hotel." The Lewiston Hotel, which was completed in 1920 and burned in 1941, is on a hill above the town. The Elkhorn Lodge, at the west end of the street, also overlooks the town; it was developed from the James family's ranch on the Fall River in 1878.
Physical Description1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 19 x 25 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog:
Subject: Estes Park (Colo.)
Geographic Area: Estes Park (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR710008268
Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Formerly F32267. Title hand-written on back of photoprint. Written in pencil on back of photoprint: "E-T-500" with illegible mark, possibly monogram. R7100082689.
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

Thing of the past ...
Girl with skis - Estes Park
Creator: Rule, Lloyd Date1950 February 26
A woman poses in Estes Park (Larimer County), Colorado with skis and poles. Her ski poles rest on a box that reads: "Glass Handle With Care." An aspen forest, meadow and mountains are in the distance.
Physical Description: 1 negative ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog:Analog
Subject: Estes Park (Colo.)Skiers--Colorado--Estes Park Women--Colorado--Estes Park
Geographic Area: Estes Park (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR711010318
Type of Material: Film negatives Black & white photographs
Digital Version Created From: WH1843
Original Material Found in Collection: WH1843. Lloyd Rule papers
Lloyd Rule photograph collection
Notes: Title penciled on envelope. R7110103186
Donor: Pierce O'Farrill, donor
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

 

 

KKK in Colorado

Thing of the past ...

Summit Pikes Peak

Date: 1923 July 4

Members of the KKK, in pointed hoods that cover the face and dark or white robes, stand around a tall cross in a boulder field on the summit of Pikes Peak in El Paso County, Colorado. They raise their arms in salute. Shows an American flag and the tops of automobiles.

Physical Description: 1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 19 x 23 cm (7 x 9 in.).

Born-Digital or Analog: Analog

Subject: Ku Klux Klan (1915-)--PeopleHate groups--Colorado--El Paso CountyEl Paso County (Colo.)Pikes Peak (Colo.) Costumes--Colorado--El Paso CountyCrossesFlags--American--Colorado--El Paso County Meetings--Colorado--El Paso County Organizations--Colorado--El Paso County Saluting--Colorado--El Paso County

Geographic Area: El Paso County (Colo.)

Collection: Photographs - Western History

Related Material: Image File: ZZR711001873

Type of Material: Film negatives Photographic prints.Black & white photographs

Digital Version Created From: Senter collection.

Notes: Condition: soiled. Penciled on back of photoprint: "KKK. Summit Pikes Peak. July 4, 1923."; Title inked on front of photoprint. R7110018739

Denver Public Library Special Collections

 

Thing of the past ...
KKK meeting on Table Top Mountain
Date: 1924-1925
Crosses burn at a KKK night ceremony held on Table Top Mountain in Golden (Jefferson County), Colorado. A row of men in white hoods that cover the face and robes encircles men in street clothes who kneel with their backs to the camera. Spectators sit in chairs outside the circle, some have on white hoods. Shows a flagpole and the American flag.
Physical Description; 1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 29 x 34 cm (12 x 14 in.) on mat board.
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Ku Klux Klan (1915-)--People Hate groups--Colorado--GoldenGolden (Colo.)Costumes--Colorado--Golden Crosses--Colorado--Golden Meetings--Colorado--Golden Night--Colorado--Golden Organizations--Colorado--Golden
Geographic Area: Golden (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR711001875
Type of Material: Night photographs: Photographic prints Black & white photographs
Notes: Condition: warped, edges worn. Title and "c. 1924-25" penciled on back of photoprint. R7110018755

Thing of the past ...
Ku Klux Klan march on 17th (Seventeenth) Street
Date: 1926 May 31
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members march by office buildings on 17th (Seventeenth) Street between Larimer and Lawrence streets in Denver, Colorado.
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 16 x 21 cm (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 15 cm (4 1/2 x 6 in.) on sheet 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Ku Klux Klan (1915- )Fraternal organizations--Colorado--Denver Parades--Colorado--Denver Streets--Colorado--Denver Racism--Colorado--Denver Racism against Black people--Colorado--Denver
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Type of Material: Film negatives: Photographic prints Digital Version Created From: Fuller, Edgar I. "The Visible of the Invisible Empire." Denver, 1925, p. 80.
Notes: Formerly F15034. Title supplied.
Denver Public Library Special Collections  

 

Thing of the past ...
Women of the Ku Klux Klan
Date: 1922-1925
Studio portrait of women members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The women pose in white hoods and robes with cross emblems. One woman wears a dark cape.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print : black-and-white ; 26 x 36 cm (10 x 14 in.) mounted on mat board.
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Ku Klux Klan (1915-)Hate groups Costumes Organizations Women
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR711001876
Type of Material: Group portraits Photographic prints Black & white photographs Portrait photographs
Notes: Condition: photograph pulled out of mat. Photographer imprint on photoprint illegible. Title supplied. R7110018763
Denver Public Library Special Collections

Thing of the past ...
Group @ Ken Caryl Ranch. Gov. Morley in center, Ed. Costigan on his right (?). E. L. Mitchell (large man)- Denver City Councilman associated w/ KKK, and possibly Mrs. Mitchell
Creator: Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975
Date: 1925-1927
Colorado Governor Clarence J. Morley poses at Ken Caryl Ranch (Jefferson County) Colorado with men and a woman. Physical Description: 1 photonegative : glass, black-and-white ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Jefferson County (Colo.)Costigan, Edward Prentiss, 1874-1939 Mitchell, E. LMorley, Clarence J.
Geographic Area: Jefferson County (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700185591
Type of Material: Glass negatives
Group portraits Photographic prints
Original Material Found in: Collection Harry M. Rhoads photograph collection
Notes: Formerly Engle #40657. Title hand written on back of print. R7001855911
Donor: Morey Engle
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

Thing of the past ...
Colorado Governor Clarence J. Morley
Creator: Rhoads, Harry Mellon, 1880 or 1881-1975
Date: 1925-1927: Governor Clarence J. Morely poses for a photo as he signs a document in the Governor's office. Morely served as Governor of Colorado from 1925 to 1927, he was known as the Ku Klux Klan Governor during the political peak of the Klan in the 1920's.
Physical Description: 1 photonegative : glass 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Born-Digital or Analog: Analog
Subject: Denver (Colo.)Document signings--Colorado--Denver Governors--Colorado Interiors--Colorado--Denver Morley, Clarence J.
Geographic Area: Denver (Colo.)
Collection: Photographs - Western History
Related Material: Image File: ZZR700185236
Type of Material: Glass negatives Photographic prints Original Material Found in Collection: Harry M. Rhoads photograph collection
Notes:Condition: Glass plate is cracked, reproduced in photoprint. Formerly Engle #40295; Inked on glass plate and reproduced on photoprint "40295". Title and "known as the "KKK Governor" from 1925 to 1927" hand-written on back of print. R7001852361
Donor: Morey Engle
Denver Public Library Special Collections 

  

Thing of the past ...

“The Ku Klux Klan in Garden of the Gods.” 1925. Klansmen hold ceremonies in the Gardens of the Gods, a landmark near Colorado Springs. Source:

“The Ku Klux Klan in Garden of the Gods.” 1925.  Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

 

Thing of the past ...

Klan parade in Steamboat Springs. History Colorado

 

I am only here for the beer

During student demands to have beer in student center, Date: October, 1968.
Students and police crowd a table at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado. A woman has a tag with the letters "S. F. O." pinned to her sleeve; officers wear helmets and arm patches reading "Colorado State University Police CSU."

Legal beer comes late for CSU

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

I don't know anything about other time frames, but going to school at Colorado State University (CSU)  in the early and mid 1980s,  the narrative had serious links to beer culture.

"Fat, drunk and stupid, may have been no way to go through life," as the Dean Wormer famously noted 1978 movie National Lampoon's Animal House, as delivered by Dean Wormer, played by John Vernon — but the local lifestyle had its proponents. 

After all, it had only been maybe a dozen years since it had become a legal option. 

In February, 2019, folks at CSU marked the 50th anniversary for the "Beer In" from 1968. An article in Colorado State University History by Jeff Dodge and Nicole Archambeau, tells the story.

"In Fall semester, Colorado State University celebrated the 50th anniversary of the “Beer-In” or “Drink-In,” which occurred on Oct. 18, 1968. In that politically volatile time, the ASCSU President Doug Phelps and other student protesters committed civil disobedience by drinking beer in the Student Center, at a time when alcohol was prohibited on campus policies."  

Participants in that historic “Beer-in” saw themselves as part of a “Student Center Liberation,” said CSU Department of History Professor, Dr. Thomas Cauvin, who helped organize the anniversary event and teaches a course on the history of brewing in Colorado. Students physically occupied the Student Center 24/7 with teach-in activities centered on the right of students to have a voice in all matters concerning their education and use of their fees. This was about much more than beer and included the right for female students to have equal rights on campus to male students. 

The Department of History, History Club and Associated Students of Colorado State University welcomed back to campus members of the group that led the 1968 protest. 

Speakers at the program, which was also held at the Ramskeller, included alumni Robert Evans, Bear Gebhardt, Bruce Russell, Dean Schachterle, Lola West and John Gascoyne. Former history faculty member Henry Weisser also sat on the panel. 

The panelists agreed that the protest was about more than just beer, it was about strengthening student rights on an array of issues. In response to a question from an audience member, Russell said he and his fellow organizers knew beer would attract a sizable crowd. 

“To organize students, sometimes you had to pick the lowest common denominator,” he said. “We used beer as a symbol; we knew we’d get students. This was our student center, so we said, ‘Let’s have some more control over our own lives.’” 

The members of the panel urged the crowd of students gathered for the anniversary to keep fighting for their rights on campus. “Fifty years later, the ‘Beer-In’ is honored for sparking change on a conservative campus which now enthusiastically embraces Fort Collins’ exploding beer culture,” said Dr. Cauvin. “That historic ‘Beer-In’ wasn’t about the beer then, and it isn’t about the pitcher now. It isn’t about your right to drink, it’s about your right to think.”

"Doug Phelps wore a suit and tie for pictures," says Erin Udell, of The Coloradoan, in November article in 2017,

"His light hair was always neatly cut and combed. Camera flashes bounced off the thick lenses of his black, plastic-rimmed glasses."

"At Colorado State University, he was the student who asked professors to mail him his final grades — on a postcard — at the end of each semester. He couldn’t wait for report cards."

"He didn’t drink, either. Not even beer."

"But in the fall of 1968, in front of 3,000 fellow classmates piled into CSU’s student center grand ballroom, Phelps stood behind a podium, cracked open a Coors and held it to his lips," wrote Udall.

The moment would go down in CSU history as the famed "drink-in" or "beer-in," which set changes into motion on a conservative campus that now embraces its town's exploding beer culture.

Nearing its 50th anniversary, the story is still retold. Pictures of Phelps at the beer-in were recently shared on CSU's Alumni Association's Facebook page. 

"Coors Banquet paved the way!" one commenter said.

For Phelps, that day was always about more than beer. 

It was the day he — the picture-perfect student body president — defied CSU and proved that the student activism of the 1960s had landed in Fort Collins.

He became the clean-shaven, bespectacled face of a rebellion.

When asked about his college activism days, Phelps chuckles. 

"The dean of students (at the time), Burns Crookston ... he always called the period when I was in student government, 'the revolution,'" said Phelps, now in his 70s and living in Denver in 2017. 

Though there were eventual protests against Vietnam and for civil rights, Colorado was a little slow to embrace issues like that, Phelps said.

The student revolution Phelps is known for focused more on CSU students' growing discontent over how they were treated, Phelps said. In a modernizing world, they felt held back by antiquated curfews and campus-wide beer bans. 

"It was a pretty old-fashioned agricultural school coming out of the early '60s," Phelps said. "So of course there were a lot of demands to liberalize policies on campus, "writes Udalll.

The beer-in was part of that student revolution and the culmination of a roughly week-long "liberation" of the university's student center in October 1968. 

In an effort to gain more say in the operations of the student-fee-funded student center, students moved into and slept in the building, holding meetings and workshops there among a "carnival-like" atmosphere led by outspoken members of student government and beyond.

But it didn't start there. 

Under the guidance of then-president William Morgan, the university had changed its name from Colorado A&M to Colorado State University in 1957.

It started receiving more federal funds and built up its graduate and undergraduate programs, according to Coloradoan reports.

New campus buildings shot up and enrollment skyrocketed, increasing nearly 200 percent from almost 4,000 students in 1955 to almost 12,000 in 1965.

That following fall, in 1966, thousands of students returned to CSU to another kind of change.

Over the summer, the State Board of Agriculture — the university's governing body — had inexplicably abolished the long-held practice of weekly co-ed visiting hours in its dorms. 

Male and female students could no longer visit each other in the residence halls on Sunday afternoons.

"Of course, the students hit the ceiling," Phelps said.

Male students planned to protest the change by going to female dormrooms anyway.

Before that could happen, President Morgan met with Phelps and conceded.

"We thought, 'This is easy,'" Phelps said. '"All we have to do is threaten to protest.'"

They next went after the university's curfew, which required female students to be in their dorm rooms by 11 p.m. on weeknights. Male students had no such curfew.

After rallying in Moby Gym past 11 p.m. in protest, students pushed the administration to reconsider, and the women-only curfew was loosened.

But their biggest undertaking was the student center.

Robert Evans was 18 and a freshman at CSU when he first heard the hubbub. 

Something was happening at the student center so, curious, he trekked over from his dorm room in Braiden Hall. 

"I went over and a helicopter was flying around campus," Evans said, adding that as it flew overhead, leaflets cascaded out. The flyers were promoting a liberation of the student center.

As the son of an Air Force officer, Evans was used to order. "Everything folded just right, you know? Straight-laced ... shirts always tucked in," he said.

"That was me at that moment, and here I come into an environment that's a carnival," Evans recalled from a Lory Student Center bench one recent October afternoon.

Described as a usually "sterile administrative office complex and showplace for visitors," student leaders believed the center didn't meet student needs and, in response, they organized a takeover.

Students moved in and slept there. Leaders hosted workshops and formed the Liberation Steering Committee, which released unified statements to the university and media. 

People draped parking meters with paper bags, decorated fire alarms and adorned walls with posters that read things like "Do Your Own Thing.

Notes the article,  "A Thirst for Freedom in a Dry Town" :  by Rose Gorrell, Colton Morton, and Keanu Squire, Colorado State University, "

"A long-brewing issue, the Fort Collins, Colorado City Council voted to permit the sale of beer, wine, and liquors on April 8, 1969 and passed Ordinance No. 14. The voices of the community, including local businessmen, politicians, and the Colorado State University student population, were integral in influencing this decision."

The repeal of prohibition in Fort Collins was not easily completed. In 1969 a petition was circulated for the third time to end prohibition. First in 1961 and again in 1965, the petition had been defeated due to strong moral opposition from religious organizations. Yet, as Dr. Thomas Bennett, Mayor of Fort Collins from 1967 to 1968 pointed out, there were two liquor stores within city limits that held liquor licenses from Larimer County. Outside city limits, there were establishments like Ladd’s Covered Wagon. In 1961, owner Lloyd Ladd was granted a liquor license from Larimer County for his restaurant just north of Fort Collins. Fort Collins residents who wished to drink had several options to do so.

"Dr. Thomas Bennett stepped down as mayor of Fort Collins in 1968 to serve as a councilman for the city and worked with others to end prohibition. Dr. Bennett felt passionately this was the moment to repeal prohibition. His primary argument was based on economics. The numerous bars and restaurants at the edge of city limits were proof of the profitability of alcohol sales. A new revenue stream, and the local jobs bars and liquor stores would generate, were appealing to the city council and the local community. Another source of pressure on the city council was the increase in student enrollment, specifically military veterans on the GI Bill, at Colorado State University (CSU). The 1968 Beer-In at CSU, referenced in the previous article, spoke volumes about the attitudes of college students towards prohibition. Two other college towns along the Front Range area were also in the process of repealing their own long-standing prohibition laws: Boulder, repealed in 1967 and Greeley in 1969."

"The first legally sold drink of spirituous liquor since 1896 was sold in Fort Collins on August 8, 1969, at 5:00 pm in the Top Restaurant, located on the top floor of the Rocky Mountain Bank and Trust building. Les Ware, the owner of the Top Restaurant, had photographers on hand to commemorate the event. Red Ferrell, owner of Campus West Liquors and Larimer County liquor inspector at the time of the Fort Collins prohibition repeal, received the first license to sell packaged liquors in the city. Nancy Kavastanjian, staff writer for The Coloradoan newspaper, interviewed Ferrell in 1977 for a piece on the end of prohibition in Fort Collins. Ferrell reflected on the growth of liquor stores within Fort Collins, commenting that he “didn’t think it was healthy for a community to have that many.”

After the repeal, the number of bars and liquor stores within city limits did increase quickly. According to Ferrell, the saturation of the market limited individual business earnings. The moral orientation of the town was still influential, limiting large-scale production and distribution of alcohol in Fort Collins for another two decades, when once again, it was the economic appeal of new businesses and new jobs that presented themselves in the form of beer production and breweries.

 ###