Cabin and pond located at Cherokee Park Ranch in Larimer County, Colorado. (Photo by Meg Dunn, taken June 2020.)

In 2026, two anniversaries meet at a meaningful crossroads. The United States celebrates 250 years of nationhood, while Colorado marks 150 years since statehood. Together, these milestones invite us to reflect on our shared history, honor the people and places that shaped us, and look ahead with purpose to the future we are building.

Historic Larimer County will explore Larimer County’s place in both national and state history, examining how broader movements have shaped the county and how the county, in turn, has helped shape the larger story.

We kicked off the 2023-2024 year at the Bellvue Grange with our annual Preservation Celebration, members meeting, and tour. We held seven tours this year to places such as Red Feather Lakes, Harmony, the YMCA of the Rockies, Laporte, downtown Fort Collins, and downtown Loveland. We hosted three talks and kicked off a quarterly educational series called Preservation 101. Pioneer Women met monthly with several great speakers. The board held another retreat where it further refined the organizations mission and purpose. And workdays at the Emma Malaby Grocery became a regular thing as we prepared for a grand opening event at the store in June (2024).

This video was compiled by Meg Dunn with donations of photographs from several HLC members.  

We kicked off the 2022-2023 year at Tap & Handle in Fort Collins with our annual Preservation Celebration, members meeting, and tour (of Mid-Century Modern buildings in downtown Fort Collins). We held several tours throughout the year, as well as talks and other events. We continued to advocate for historic properties throughout Larimer County and best of all, we received the significant donation of a historic building located in downtown Fort Collins, the Emma Malaby Grocery!

This video was compiled by Meg Dunn with donations of photographs from several HLC members.  

Minerva Stoneburner stands on the porch of the Frank A. Collamer Grocery. (Photo courtesy of Jim Burrill.)

Jim Burrill, the great grandson of Jacob A. Collamer, and his wife Carol Burrill have donated the 1881 Emma Malaby Grocery that has been in the Collamer family since 1906 to the regional historic preservation advocacy organization, Historic Larimer County. The building was originally constructed in 1881 on N. College Avenue as a photography studio for George T. Wilkins. Wilkins, his wife and daughter all lived as well as worked in the building. From 1900-1906 the building contained a millinery shop and continued to also be used as a residence. In 1906, Jacob A. Collamer purchased the building and hauled it to 313 N. Meldrum near his family home. The Commercial Bank & Trust Company built a new building at 146 N. College, the former site of the photography studio. Once on Meldrum, Jacob Collamer opened the Jacob Collamer Grocery for several years. He passed the store down to his daughter, Emma, and she renamed it the Emma Malaby Grocery.

Historic Larimer County advocates for historic preservation through community-based collaborative projects, education, and interpretation in order to connect people to place. The organization, led by a thirteen-member board representing Fort Collins and Loveland and all of the county’s smaller communities from Estes Park to Wellington and Livermore to Berthoud, has had no headquarters since the organization’s founding in 1988. The Emma Malaby Grocery will become the organization’s headquarters which will include a grocery store museum; displays sharing the stories of the Wilkins, the Collamers, and others who have used the building; an architectural history and preservation library; office and meeting space.

Historic Larimer County began as the Larimer County Historic Alliance in 1988 when a group of local advocates banded together to save the Franz-Smith cabin, now on display in Heritage Park near the old Carnegie Library in Fort Collins. In February 2016, Ron Sladek and Meg Dunn rebooted the organization with an active team of board members from throughout the county. Today Historic Larimer County holds monthly tours or talks, helping residents connect with the wide variety of historic places within our county. The organization also provides training events for municipal leaders, staff, and advocates and provides assistance to owners of historic properties.

In 2014, the building was used as a backdrop in a small, locally made movie called “Forget Me Not,” by Christopher McKee. A trailer for the movie can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/105061660 (Photo from Jim Burrill.) 

After several wonderful tours in 2019, member events were temporarily put on hold as we all learned how to use Zoom and other online meeting applications. Once we got the hang of connecting virtually, member events started back up again. But even while member events had taken a back burner, the board of HLC was still plugging away — assisting in local preservation efforts, advocating for a county-wide preservation ordinance, and responding to concerns from residents throughout the county who have called our attention to at-risk historic sites.

Historic Larimer County’s annual Member’s Meeting was canceled in 2020, so for the 2021 meeting, a Year-in-Review video was put together that covered two years worth of events and activities. This short video is a great way to get a sense of all that Historic Larimer County does.

This video was compiled by Meg Dunn with donations of photographs from several HLC members including Ron Sladek, Ken Jessen, Sue Schneider, and others. The Scott Joplin music was downloaded from the Free Music Archive.