Berthoud is a statutory town located in Larimer and Weld counties, Colorado, United States.

White settlers first came to the present-day Berthoud area in the early 1860s, following the Colorado Gold Rush.

Many settlers filed homestead claims, but most bellied up and left the valley to hardier souls who ranched and farmed the arid prairie that straddled the river bottom.

When the tracks were laid through the valley in 1877 a depot, section house, and water tank were installed at this strategic site.

[9] Over the next few years the settlement grew to include a handful of homes, a blacksmith shop, a mercantile store, a small grain elevator, and a log cabin that served as school and church for the community.

In the early 1880s, 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.

Farmers diverted water from the Little and Big Thompson Rivers into a network of reservoirs and ditches that allowed the arid uplands to be irrigated.

Harvests of alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat, corn, and barley were sold on the open market or used to fatten pens of sheep and cattle.

The town grew as merchants and shopkeepers set up businesses to serve farmers and ranchers from the nearby countryside.

In 1886, the Welch Addition doubled the size of the Berthoud as town boundaries extended south beyond present-day Mountain Avenue for the first time.

A year later a hose company was hastily formed to protect the town from fire after the Davis & Hartford Mercantile store burned to the ground.

[4] A town board was elected and within a short time they hired a marshal to keep the peace and light the street lamps.

"[11] This industry relied both on WWII German Prisoners of War as well as migrant farm workers from Mexico.

Average temperatures in the winter months range from the mid-30s to upper 40s Fahrenheit with lows occasionally dipping into the teens and single digits.

The service receives funding from Berthoud, the Larimer County Office on Aging and the city of Fort Collins.

FLEX is a regional bus route that serves the communities of Fort Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, Longmont, and Boulder.