MEETING NOTICE: Due to the expected bad weather, our general meeting will be on Zoom only on Saturday, January 18 at 10 am! NO meeting will be conducted at the Fort Collins Senior Center!
We will have our annual elections during our business meeting. Our presentation is “Meet the Pioneering Averys!” Register below if you are a visitor!
Program Description
Coreen Boeding, Docent Chair for The Avery House and Arthur Lizotte, President of the Avery Friends, will be sharing a glimpse into the genealogical search and the many contributions of Franklin and Sara (EDSON) Avery made to not only Fort Collins, but also Larimer County as a whole.
Franklin Avery
Franklin Avery was, to quote Watrous’ History of Larimer County, “a leader who aided by his means, his example, and his influence those projects public and private, which were designed to promote the growth of the town and county and to add to the welfare of the people and advance their prosperity.” Thus, it is appropriate that the house which is preserved by the city of Fort Collins as an example of a Victorian home should be the house built by Franklin C. Avery.
Fort Collins has Franklin Avery to thank for the wide streets in Fort Collins; he took advantage of the open spaces when he surveyed the town in 1873. Avery later founded First National Bank and was instrumental in developing water projects that enabled agriculture to flourish in northern Colorado.
Avery House Fort Collins
In 1879, Franklin Avery and his wife Sara built a family home on the corner of Mountain Avenue and Meldrum Street, now known as the Avery House, and raised their children, Edgar, Ethel, and Louise, there. The original two-story home consisted of two rooms on the first floor, now the entry area and dining room; three bedrooms upstairs; and a basement. Constructed of sandstone from local quarries, the house cost $3,000 when it was built. During the ensuing years, the Averys added to the house several times; the final addition included the distinctive Queen Anne tower.
Members of the Avery family lived in the house until 1962 when it was sold. Poudre Landmarks Foundation, Inc., was formed in 1972. The group worked with the City of Fort Collins to purchase the home in 1974 at a cost of $79,000. PLF then took responsibility to oversee restoration of the house. In 1981, Poudre Landmarks Foundation organized the Avery House Historic District Guild to assist with the project. Our presenter will show the Avery House inside and out!
Presenter
Coreen Boeding & Arthur Lizotte are volunteers for Poudre Landmarks and are the hosts at the Avery House. Both have a passion for history and Art is an avid genealogist!
MAP TO THE FORT COLLINS SENIOR CENTER
Map for Fort Collins Senior Center
Reminder: Visitors are welcome and can attend in person or register below to receive the Zoom info and handout!
Be sure to use our Thursday afternoon (except holiday weeks) genealogy help session from 1 to 3 pm at the Fort Collins Downtown Library. Members or visitors: please send an email to [email protected] with your request, and if for an ancestor, please send your family tree info from Ancestry, MyHeritage or a family tree image from your genealogy software.
For more genealogy tips: please visit and ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page .
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Bookings
Registration is closed for this event.