Loveland

Loveland. Colorado. During its brief but colorful life, Mariano Medina's toll bridge and trading post overflowed with high living and tall tales from the proprietor's fur-trapping days. Built on the Big Thompson River in 1858, astride what would become the Overland Trail, Medina's river crossing was one of the first settlements in this region but hardly the last. When the pioneer trail moved three miles east in 1864, so did the settlers, converging around Andrew Douty's flour mill in a town called Old St. Louis. Yet another migration occurred in 1877, when the Colorado Central Railroad pushed through this area. Railroad owner W.A.H. Loveland routed the tracks over the property of his friend David Barnes, who founded his own town there and named it for his benefactor. And so, at last, did present-day Loveland come into being. , Initially a small agricultural town, Loveland grew into a city after the Great Western Sugar Company built a plant here in 1901. The factory employed hundreds of workers, gave local farmers a profitable market for sugar beets, and recruited waves of immigrants - first Germans from Russia, then Japanese and Hispanos - to work in the beet fields. Great Western dominated the town's economy until 1960, when Hewlett-Packard built a plant here; the high-tech giant soon emerged as the community's largest employer and gave rise to a booming technology sector. Artists have found a welcoming home in Loveland, whose public art program ranks among Colorado's most ambitious. But the city's national claim to fame comes every Valentine's Day, when millions of cards from across the country are routed through here to receive Loveland's distinctive "America's Sweetheart" postmark. , Picture Captions: , Seated Male - Mariano Medina was one of the few Mexicans who became a successful fur trapper in Colorado. He enjoyed a forty-year career as a mountain man before establishing his trading post and toll bridge here. (Colorado Historical Society) , Small right side photo - By 1900 Loveland was a major fruit-growing area - apple, cherry, and plum orchards like this one surrounded the town until the 1950s. (Loveland Museum/Gallery) , Left side photo - Farmers unloading sugar beets at Loveland's Great Western Sugar Factory, early 1900s. In its first year of operation, this factory produced 139,200 hundred-pound bags of granulated sugar.(Denver Public Library, Western History Collection) , Bottom photo - By the time this photo of Fourth and Cleveland Street was taken c. 1900, Loveland had developed into a substantial town. Today, this neighborhood remains the heart of the downtown business district and is home to government offices, art galleries, and restaurants as well as a number of historic houses and buildings. (Colorado Historical Society), Reverse side , "Loveland Country" Regional Map