Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

How Red Feather Lakes is governed

Red Feather Lakes appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Larimer County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Red Feather Lakes does have local officials.

Form of government not yet listed.

0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

  Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

      Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

  Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

  Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

    Not yet listed. Log in to add who holds this

    Presides over the municipal court.

Looking for your county, state and federal representatives too? See who represents 80545 or everyone in Colorado.

Population over time

From 525 in 2000 to 426 in 2020 (−18.9%).

History

Other than Native Americans, only occasional hunters and trappers passed through the Red Feather Lakes area until the middle of the 19th century. The first known settler was John Hardin, who built a cabin about 2 miles (3 km) from the current Red Feather Lakes village in 1871. Other settlers, many of them families of Hardin's eleven surviving children, homesteaded and built nearby. In these early years, the settlers were primarily ranchers, but another important activity was lumbering. The trails in the area, some of which eventually became roads, were built by tie hacks, who hauled their railroad ties down to what is now Tie Siding, Wyoming, where they were used in building the transcontinental railroad.

The first government survey, in 1879, showed only one lake in the region: what is now Creedmore Lake, several miles to the north of the present community. As the area developed, networks of toll roads, lakes and water ditches appeared. By the beginning of the twentieth century, water rights had become a major issue in the region, and who had ownership of the water in the various streams, man-made lakes, and diversions continued to spark legal battles until a Supreme Court decision in 1921 awarded a major portion of water being diverted from the Laramie River tributaries to competing claims in Wyoming.

In September 1886, gold was discovered a few miles south, and the town of Manhattan was platted at the site in 1887. Manhattan grew to a peak of 300 inhabitants in 1898, but substantial gold was never obtained, and it became a ghost town a few years later.

By 1895, the population was sufficient that a school district was established and a schoolhouse constructed. Timbering and sawmills grew in importance in the area, and in 1902, a National Forest Reserve (later to become part of Roosevelt National Forest) was established, principally to exercise some control over the helter-skelter timbering.

Recreation was not of much importance in the early years and first appeared when the Fort Collins YMCA built a camp in 1919. Interest in the area as a summer retreat for urban dwellers in Fort Collins and other Front Range communities grew rapidly, and in 1923, the name "Red Feather" made its first appearance when the Red Feather Mountain Lakes Association was formed with the objective of developing recreational homes (cabins) on 4,320 acres (6.75 sq mi; 17.5 km2). The name was stimulated by Princess Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone, a Native American girl who was touring in concert with the composer Charles Wakefield Cadman. Purportedly, the namesake was Princess Redfeather's grandfather, Chief Redfeather, whose grave was supposed to be in the area.

The Red Feather Mountain Lakes Association (whose assets were acquired by the Red Feather Investment Co. five years later) had grand plans. The planning map included a golf course, tennis courts, rodeo grounds, a ranch school, a rifle range, and many other recreational facilities. Of these, only a nine-hole golf course materialized. Several hotels were planned; one was built in 1924. A silver fox farm was also part of the plan, and this was begun early in the development with twenty pairs of foxes bought in New York. Though it did not succeed at the scale the developers envisioned, this development was responsible for the growth of Red Feather Lakes as a fishing and summer recreational area. In 1925, the investors claimed the sale of 1,900 lots and orders for 100 cabins. Most of these lots were one-eighth acre in size, which sufficed for a cabin and the requisite outhouse. Growth was slow and was impeded by the Great Depression and by World War II. Many of the original lots survive today, and original cabins can be found if one looks carefully behind and beneath various modern additions.

In 1933, President Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Several CCC camps operated in the region, including one on the site of the Manhattan ghost town and, starting in 1935, one not far from the village. Young men working in the camps improved roads, cleared forests, engaged in firefighting, and constructed the original fire tower at the top of Deadman Mountain. During World War II, as the CCC was phased out, the camp near the village was sold as salvage, and another became a POW camp.

The silver fox farm continued into the 1950s, by which time furs were in little demand. The property was sold around 1960 and is now a part of the Fox Acres Community (Golf Club and residences). The original fox farm caretaker's house, with its second-story cupola that overlooked the fox pens, is still in use on the property.

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) brought electricity to the Red Feather Lakes area in 1952. In the ensuing years, new buildings gradually changed the face of the village, including a fire station and library.

Detailed historical information is gathered and maintained by the Red Feather Historical Society. The group maintains a website and operates a museum in a historical cabin in the village.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Colorado

• Denver 715,522
• Colorado Springs 478,961
• Aurora 386,261
• Fort Collins 169,810
• Thornton 141,867
• Arvada 124,402
• Westminster 116,317
• Pueblo 111,876

All Colorado cities →