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 A
ski adventure that brings families closer together
creating memories that will never melt away. It's
a spur of the moment snowboarding trip with great
friends, great fun and great food without a great
big drive before and after. It's a celebration of
snow that lasts as long as you want an hour, a day,
or all season long.
Loveland
is 13,010 feet high atop the Continental Divide,
with wild black diamonds for the wily veterans.
Loveland
was founded in 1877 along the newly-constructed
line of the Colorado Central Railroad, near its
crossing of the Big Thompson River. It was named
in honor of William A.H. Loveland, the president
of the Colorado Central Railroad. The city was founded
one mile upstream from the existing small settlement
of St. Louis, the buildings of which were moved
to the site of Loveland. For the first half of the
20th century the town was dependent on agriculture.
The primary crops in the area were sugar beets and
sour cherries. In 1901, the Great Western Sugar
Company built a factory in Loveland, which remained
as a source of employment until its closure in 1985.
During the late 1920s the Spring Glade orchard was
the largest cherry orchard west of the Mississippi
River. At that time the cherry orchards produced
more than $1 million worth of cherries per year.
A series of droughts, attacks of blight and finally
a killer freeze destroyed the industry. By 1960
cherries were no longer farmed. In the late 20th
century, the economy diversified with the arrival
of manufacturing facilities by Hewlett-Packard,
Teledyne, and Hach, a water quality analysis equipment
manufacturer. A new medical center currently under
construction is expected to add a substantial amount
of employment in that sector as well.
 Loveland
is south of Fort Collins, its larger neighbor and
the county seat. The two cities have been steadily
growing towards each other over the last several
decades and are considered to be a single metropolitan
area by the U.S government. The establishment of
county-owned open space between the two communities
in the 1990s was intended to create a permanent
buffer to contiguous growth. Loveland has aggressively
expanded its incorporated limits eastward to embrace
the interchange of Interstate 25 and U.S. Route
34, and is currently developing the area. In the
last decade, the intersection has become a primary
commercial hub of northern Colorado, with the construction
of shopping centers and the Budweiser Events Center.
A new medical center and mall are currently under
construction. Loveland's northward city limits are
now contiguous with those of Windsor, which has
expanded westward from Weld County across Interstate
25.
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