Longmont Library

In honor of Longmont’s 150th birthday, this self guided walking tour was developed to take you through the historic eastside neighborhood, talking about architecture, who lived in our homes, and connecting names to streets and places in and beyond Longmont. The whole tour takes about 3 hours to complete, but it can be broken down into smaller sections-- or you can binge and dedicate a half day walk to learning lots of our early history! There are lots of dates, but don’t worry, there is no test at the end!--although you will be a relative expert in the history of not only the eastside, but early Longmont in general, when we are done. The tour is identical to the one sponsored by the Historic Eastside Neighborhood Association, and includes all the sites in the guided tour of the Eastside sponsored by the museum.

To start the tour, we will start at the library. Did you know that Longmont has the oldest library in Colorado? Elizabeth Thompson was a Boston philanthropist and supporter of the colony, for whom Thompson park is named. She donated the library to the Chicago Colorado Colony, and also bought several plots in the settlement, to give away to colonists who couldn’t afford to buy them, thereby both helping the less well off, and financially supporting the early town--her contributions were celebrated with the 1st strawberry festival in 1871, and she visited from Boston to join the celebration. The strawberry festival has morphed into an annual antiques show, and the original library building is now a private residence, on the westside of town (on Pratt Street).