by Lesley Drayton, Curator, Local History Archive
Did you know the Fort Collins Local History Archive has nearly 50 historical maps that are scanned and available for viewing online at the Fort Collins History Connection website?
1881 Map of Fort Collins
If you search for “scanned maps” on the History Connection website, you’ll be able to explore maps dating from the 1880s to the 1980s that depict Colorado and Larimer County. You can also view a scanned aerial photograph of Fort Collins in 1977. Any guesses as to what and where this is?
One of my favorite scanned maps in the collection is entitled “Map of the Irrigated Farms of Northern Colorado, 1915.”
This map measures nearly 27 square feet and shows detailed property ownership for parts of Larimer, Weld, and Boulder County, and speaks to how critical farmland irrigation was and continues to be in our semi-arid climate. You can view this map, scanned in four pieces and indexed by owner name, right here!
More to Explore 
The object in the 1977 aerial photograph is a golf course, but I can’t guess which one. It can’t be City Park: the lake is too close to the golf course, the alignment of what would be Mulberry Street at the top is too far from the lake, and the area is not built up as it would have been in 1977.
The tip on searching for scanned maps is quite useful.
Very good, Doug! It is indeed a golf course…Collindale! Horsetooth Road runs along the top of the photo, with Warren Lake visible on the left. It’s amazing how built up this area is today; if you check Google Maps, you can see all the houses and businesses that are now tucked in the surrounding farmland. There are a lot more trees on the golf course, too!