Throwback Thursday: Historic Colorado- Fort Collins
Stout, Colorado
Looking for a trip back in time? Step into our time machine for this week’s #TBT on Stout, Colorado Many of you have probably not heard of the quarry town of Stout, Colorado. And for good reason, it no longer exists and the site is now under Horsetooth Reservoir. The former town in Southern Larimer County was located in the foothills southwest of Fort Collins. It was first established in the 1860s as a camp for the nearby stone quarries. The town derived its income from the sandstone quarries during the 1880s and 1890s. Fun fact: Many of the sidewalks in Denver, Omaha and Lincoln were made of Stout sandstone. The Colorado and Southern Railroad ended its northern terminal at the town. At one point the Union Pacific railroad invested in the quarrying operation and built a spur of their rail line to transport stone from Fort Collins to Stout for their own use. Stout became a ghost town 40 years ago to make way for the inundation of the valley by Horsetooth Reservoir as part of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. And for 25 years just laid in crumbling ruins.Check out these photos from what Stout looked like back in the day:
All of these photos are from the Denver Library Archive online.
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The Stout Boarding Hotel in 1885 (Call # X-13706)[/caption]
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Street scene in Stout, Colorado . The text on the library file states, “Street scene in Stout, Colorado, horse stalls in left foreground, chicken house in the back, part of Wather Ranch.” (Call # X-13705)[/caption]
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Stout, Colorado in 1885. The text from the library states, “Panoramic view over the railroad depot, water tank and tracks of the Colorado & Southern railroad at Stout (also known as Petra), Colorado in Larimer County; includes the quarry and boarding hotel.” (Call # X-13708)[/caption]
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The post office was located right next to the Wathen home. (Call # X-13707)[/caption]
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The school house in Stout. The text attached to the photo states, “Schoolchildren and their teacher, Nora Wathen, stand outside their one-room native stone schoolhouse, Stout (also known as Petra), Colorado in Larimer County.” (Call # X-13709)[/caption]
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Another photo of the Wathen Ranch. (Call # X-13715)[/caption]
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A Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railway train stands on the tracks in this 1893 photo of Stout, Colorado. (Call # Z-1856)[/caption]
The town of Stout may be gone now but the ruins of the hotel are still above water on the south end of the reservoir.
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The remains of the Stout hotel. (Courtesy of Anna Beth Gindler.)[/caption]
*ruins are on private property and are not accessible w/o permission from the owner, please do not go seeking out these ruins
