In 1860, as the young boys of Hartford Connecticut ran through the streets, Mary and Alice Goodwin and Elizabeth Hammersley organized a club for them which they hoped would have a positive impact on their lives and their characters. The ladies’ cause: to create a place for local boys to gather safely, caught on. In 1906, the Federated Boys Clubs of Boston formed with 53 member organizations, and a national organization was born. On January 18, 2010, board members Dr. Robin Gooldy, Judy Lohnes, Gail McDermott, Valerie Moon, Callie Preston, and Sheri Trahern met for the first official meeting of... Read More

In 1862, William Lee planted the first apple orchard in Colorado but lost his twenty trees to a flood in the same year. In 1867, Jesse Frazer planted an orchard in Florence and kept his trees alive. He was the first man to successfully grow apple trees in Colorado. Throughout the 1800 and early 1900s, Colorado was a national apple-growing leader. A Cañon City Daily Record article dated April 14, 1905, tells of the Fruit Growers Association delivering five boxes of Fremont County apples to President Teddy Roosevelt while he camped in Colorado. But, Fremont County would not maintain its... Read More

In Cañon City, Colorado, the Hotel St. Cloud sits majestically on its lonely corner at 7th and Main, a beautiful Victorian building that was once dismantled and then lovingly transported, brick by brick, in horse-drawn wagons, and on short-gauge railroad train cars from its original home in Silver Cliff, Colorado to its current address. The hotel has had four names and too many owners to count.  It has housed the ticketing office for a local airline, a bus terminal, and the headquarters for the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.  In the silent film era, it was home to The... Read More

"When you get tech minded people in the same room together, they start to help each other's businesses grow faster and accelerate." Brad Rowland, Partner and GM Emergent Campus, at the Historic Florence High School  For nearly 100 years, the building at 215 Maple Avenue, Florence, Colorado was Florence High School, home of the Huskies. Today, this stately, classical era building is home to a different community of teachers, learners, builders, and dreamers. It is once again a place where people come together to create something bigger than themselves. Emergent Campus now lives at this address. Emergent Campus is the... Read More

“I want people down here. People walking. More music. More art. There are some great buildings that just need a little love and people with some cool ideas for businesses to come in.” Tom Dixon, Small Business and Main Street Program Manager for Cañon City Main Street: The Heart of Cañon City For those of us who have grown up in Cañon, we have watched Main Street expand and contract. Some of us cruised on Saturday nights, or went with our mothers to Shoes “N Things to buy school clothes. We walked into Ben Franklins with a fistful of change... Read More

“Cañon City has been building trails rapidly over the past few years and at last count, they now boast 139 miles of singletrack within 25 miles of downtown–and they aren’t done yet.” Greg Heil, Singetracks: ”10 Best US Mountain Bike Towns with the Lowest Cost of Living”  Amazing outdoor recreation opportunities are the “not-so-secret” secret that abound in the canyons, rivers, foothills, and waters that surround Cañon City. There are few outdoor enthusiasts who could come to Cañon and not find something to do. Those of us who grew up here knew how to find places in the river... Read More

“Art in Fremont County is alive and well, and it is for everyone.” Kevin Cundiff, Executive Director for Fremont Center For the ArtsSource Title Art Thrives In Fremont County For 74 years, The Fremont Center for the Arts has been collecting, curating, and teaching art for the Fremont County community. In the past, residents attended art shows at the Art Center at 4th and Royal Gorge Blvd. In 1992, the Center moved to the historic Post Office Building at 505 Macon where it remains today.  In these 74 years, FCA’s collection has grown and their outreach has increased. The... Read More