Berthoud Main Street Program

Description

In 1872, a Central City miner-turned-rancher by the name of Lewis Cross set the stage for the valley's first settlement when he staked a homestead claim where the Colorado Central railroad company planned to cross Little Thompson creek. When the tracks were laid through the valley in 1877, a depot, section house and water tank were installed at this strategic site and the tiny settlement once known as Little Thompson was renamed Berthoud in honor of civil engineer E.L. Berthoud who surveyed the rail route through the valley. Over the next few years the settlement grew to include a handful of homes, blacksmith shop, mercantile store, small grain elevator, and log cabin that served as school and church for the community. Lewis Cross operated the post office in the front room of his home. In the early 1880's, the Colorado Central Railroad recognized that Berthoud's location on the river bottom caused their steam-powered locomotives to labor excessively to ascend the grade out of the valley. At their urging, during the frigid winter months of 1883-84, the buildings of the tiny burg were loaded on skids and pulled by teams of draft animals to the town's present-day location on the bluff one mile north of the river. On Peter Turner's homestead, the relocated town sprang back to life. On September 29, 1883, the Fort Collins Courier reported, "Peter Turner, proprietor of the new town of Berthoud, which has just been laid out on the hill one mile north of the Little Thompson Creek,...

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