[1] In 1960, the four original founders, Gene Bernofsky ("Curly Benson"), JoAnn Bernofsky ("Drop Lady"), Richard Kallweit ("Larry Lard"), and Clark Richert ("Clard Svenson"), art students and filmmakers from the University of Kansas and University of Colorado, bought[2] a 7-acre (28,000 m2) tract of land about four miles (6 km) north of Trinidad, in southeastern Colorado.

Inspired by the architectural ideas of Buckminster Fuller and Steve Baer, residents constructed domes and zonohedra to house themselves, using geometric panels made from the metal of automobile roofs and other inexpensive materials.

The Firesign Theatre folks had a commercial—"kids, tear the top off your daddy's car, and send it, together with 10 cents in cash or coin, to Drop City, Colorado..." The community grew in reputation and size, accelerated by media attention, including news reports on national television networks.

[4] The peak of Drop City's fame was the Joy Festival in June 1967,[5] which attracted hundreds of hippies, some of whom stayed on.

[6] With the complex of eight domes and geometric buildings constructed, Curly and Jo, the only official owners of the property, signed it over to a non-profit corporation consisting of the entire core group (then about a dozen).

[citation needed] By 1970, many intentional communities had developed in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, some of which were inspired by Drop City.