Friday, who attended school in St. Louis, Missouri in his youth, was a leader of the band of Arapahos as well as an interpreter, negotiator, and peacemaker.

Camp Collins was erected during the Indian wars of the mid-1860s to protect the Overland mail route that had been recently relocated through the region.

Beet tops, an industry supported by the college and its associated agricultural experiment station, proved to be an excellent and abundant food for local sheep,[11] and by the early 1900s the area was being referred to as the "Lamb feeding capital of the world".

[12] Although the city was affected by the Great Depression and simultaneous drought,[13] it nevertheless experienced slow and steady growth throughout the early part of the twentieth century.

Along with revitalization came many changes, including the closing of the Great Western sugar factory in 1955, and a new city charter, adopting a council-manager form of government in 1954.

[15] Similarly, Colorado State University's enrollment doubled during the 1960s,[16] making it the city's primary economic force by the end of the century.

Fort Collins gained a reputation as a very conservative city in the twentieth century, with a prohibition of alcoholic beverages, a contentious political issue in the town's early decades,[17] being retained from the late 1890s until student activism helped bring it to an end in 1969.

[16] During that same period, civil rights activism and anti-war disturbances heightened tensions in the city, including the burning of several buildings on the CSU campus.

[18] During the late 20th century, Fort Collins expanded rapidly to the south, adding new development, including several regional malls.

[18] Management of city growth patterns became a political priority during the 1980s, as well as the revitalization of Fort Collins' Old Town with the creation of a Downtown Development Authority.

Hewlett-Packard, Intel, AMD, Broadcom, Beckman Coulter, Microsoft, Rubicon Water and Pelco all have offices in Fort Collins.

FortZED was a zero energy district encompassing the Downtown area of Fort Collins and the main campus of Colorado State University.

The city provides school year residences for its large college-age population; there is a local music circuit which is influenced by the college town atmosphere and is home to a number of well known microbreweries.

New Belgium Brewing Company hosts the Tour de Fat which draws over 20,000 people riding bikes and dressing in costume.

The Fort Collins Museum houses over 30,000 artifacts and features temporary and permanent exhibits, on-going educational programs and events, and is home to four historic structures located in the outdoor Heritage Courtyard.

The district operates and manages the public schools in the city of Fort Collins, as well as in the surrounding towns of Wellington, Timnath, Windsor, Laporte and Livermore.

The Poudre River Public Library District operates three branch locations in the city of Fort Collins—Old Town, Harmony, and Council Tree.

[47] The Library District was established in 2006 by voter approval, and aims to serve the more than 207,000 people in northern Larimer County, Colorado.

[47] The district is governed by a board of volunteer trustees, jointly appointed by the city of Fort Collins and Larimer County.

[49] The Harmony Library is a 30,000 square foot joint-use facility located on the Front Range Community College campus, at 4616 South Shield Street in Fort Collins.

[49] The library as an institution in Fort Collins dates back to the late 19th century, where reading rooms were established in churches or other rented locations.

[50] In 1937, the Library was awarded a grant from the Work Projects Administration for an annex to the building that would double its space, allowing for the construction of an auditorium/community room that opened in 1939.

[58] Fort Collins' downtown streets form a grid with Interstate 25 running north and south on the east side of the city.

The city bus system, known as Transfort, operates more than a dozen routes throughout Fort Collins Monday through Saturday, except major holidays.

Greeley-Evans Transit operates a service called the Poudre Express connecting Fort Collins with Windsor and Greeley.

Fort Collins would be an intermediate stop for the proposed north–south Front Range Passenger Rail corridor between Pueblo and Cheyenne, Wyoming, though it would be the northern terminus of most trips.

Front Range Passenger Rail is a current proposal to link the cities from Pueblo in the south, north to Fort Collins and possibly to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

[68] In 2009, the Fort Collins-Loveland metropolitan statistical area (MSA) ranked as the third highest in the United States for percentage of commuters who biked to work (5.6 percent).

[69] In 2013, the League of American Bicyclists designated Fort Collins a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community – one of four in the United States.

[73] in October 2019, The City of Fort Collins and CSU announced a 12-month e-scooter share pilot program partnering with Bird company.