Biography of Place - Old Town, Fort Collins

For my biography of place assignment, I would like to focus on the historical district in the city I grew up in. Fort Collins is rich with history surrounding the military fort that stood there in post Civil War America, including the gun powder cache's that lined the banks of the Poudre River. It was also an agricultural hub, and even held the title of the largest sheep farming city in America for a short period. I want to explore how the physical landscape changed to reflect the socio-political landscape throughout the late 1800's and into the 1900's, emphasizing key moments in history such as social movements and movements during major wars. Even in more recent times, the city has undergone a huge growth spurt that has transformed it from the place that I know from my youth to a place that I can hardly recognize when I return home. Essentially, I want to explore just how this external landscape transformed to reflect the internal landscape that I associate it with when I think of what it was like to grow up in Fort Collins.