Best Web Design in Fort Collins, CO (2026)

Web Design for Fort Collins, Colorado

Fort Collins is a university city on the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County, sitting against the Rocky Mountain foothills about 65 miles north of Denver, and is Colorado's fourth-largest city with roughly 170,000 residents. It began as an 1864 Army post and grew around Colorado State University into a hub for craft brewing, high-tech manufacturing, and outdoor recreation. Its picture-book Old Town helped inspire Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A., and its beer scene earned it the tag 'The Napa Valley of Beer.'

AppWT works with Fort Collins, CO businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Fort Collins

Also known as. The Choice City. FoCo. The Napa Valley of Beer. Fort Fun.

History. The settlement began in 1864 as a U.S. Army post, Camp Collins, named for Lieutenant Colonel William O. Collins; after an 1864 flood, the camp moved downriver to the present townsite. Following the military post's closure, Fort Collins was surveyed and platted in 1867. In 1870 it was selected as the site of Colorado's only land-grant college, the Colorado Agricultural College, now Colorado State University. Fort Collins passed its own prohibition ordinance in 1896, decades before national Prohibition, and remained a 'dry' city banning full-strength liquor until April 8, 1969. The craft-beer era began in 1989 when Scott Smith opened CooperSmith's brewpub in Old Town, followed by Jeff Lebesch's New Belgium Brewing in 1991.

Local economy. Craft brewing is a defining industry: Fort Collins produces about 70 percent of Colorado's craft beer and hosts 20-plus breweries, including New Belgium and Odell, plus a large Anheuser-Busch brewery. Colorado State University is a top employer and drives research, education, and student population. Advanced manufacturing and technology firms include Woodward, Water Pik, Advanced Energy, and OtterBox, alongside Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel operations. Health care (UCHealth, Columbine Health Systems) and food producers such as Noosa Yoghurt add to the employment base. The metro area supports an estimated 375,000 residents and a diversified economy of tech, brewing, agriculture, and education.

Culture and community. Tour de Fat is a long-running summer festival of costumed cyclists and beer, one of the city's signature events blending its love of bikes and brewing. FoCoMX (the Fort Collins Music eXperiment) showcases 400-plus Northern Colorado bands across 30-plus venues over two days each spring. The Tour de Corgi sends hundreds of costumed corgis parading through Old Town. Bohemian Nights Thursday Night Live brings free live music to Old Town Square in summer. Fort Collins is a Platinum-level bike-friendly city with wide bike lanes and a community bike library.

What makes Fort Collins distinct. The Cache la Poudre is Colorado's only nationally designated 'Wild and Scenic' river; its French name comes from trappers who hid ('cache') gunpowder ('poudre') during a blizzard. Fort Collins enacted local prohibition in 1896, a full 24 years before the nation, and stayed dry until 1969, which is why its craft-beer fame arrived relatively late but boomed. The reservoir town of Stout was mostly relocated before flooding, but old foundations, including the schoolhouse, still sit underwater in Horsetooth Reservoir. The 'A' on Horsetooth's foothills is a recognized landmark that appears on FAA aeronautical charts.

Fort Collins Landmarks and Local Life

• Old Town Fort Collins - a National Register historic district (listed 1978) whose Victorian storefronts inspired Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. via Hollywood art director Harper Goff
• Horsetooth Reservoir - a roughly 6.5-mile foothills reservoir west of the city drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly, built over the submerged former town of Stout
• Colorado State University's campus and the 'A' on the foothills marking its Aggie roots.
• Old Town Square - voted among the best public squares in the nation
• The Cache la Poudre River corridor running through the city.