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This statue was dedicated in 1998.&nbsp;For 13 years, local organizers&nbsp;held an annual walk in honor of Annie. Citing declining participation, organizers ended this tradition in 2011.&nbsp;Annie was laid to rest at the old Colorado &amp; Southern Depot. Visitors can still see her gravestone at the Downtown Transit Center at 136 LaPorte Ave. There is a book written about her,&nbsp;Annie The Railroad Dog, A True Story.&nbsp;In fact, she is also featured in the collection titled&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.roadsideamerica.com/pet/owney.html">Owney the Post Office Dog</a>&nbsp;and Other Great Dog Stories.

This statue to Annie is located in front of the public library

Annie's final resting spot is marked by this headstone outside the Colorado & Southern Depot

Article about the Last Annie Walk in 2011

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In 1934, rail workers discovered a stray Collie and nursed her back to health. They named the dog Annie and she quickly became the unofficial mascot of the city as she greeted passengers arriving and departing Fort Collins for the next 15 years. This statue in front of the library pays tribute to a dog that was so beloved to the residents of Fort Collins that they often greeted her as they exited the train even before they reunited with family members. 

Statue of Annie the Railroad Dog

(Still in development, test tour) This tour will take you through many of the sites crucial to understanding the lives of communities based on immigration to Fort Collins.

The opening of the Great Western Sugar Company factory was a significant contributor to the population book of Fort Collins in the early 20th century. While not the beginning of immigration into Fort Collins, this sparked the largest movements of people to the town. Prior to the opening of the sugar beet factory, there was already a large population of Germans from Russia working in the fields.1&nbsp;The two neighborhoods of Buckingham and Andersonville in current-day Northeast Fort Collins became the two sugar factory neighborhoods for the Volga Germans. They faced racial prejudice and slurs from some other Fort Collins residents, but they were hard workers and used that hard work to quickly move from contracted labor positions to tenant farmers and&nbsp;even to owning their own land.2 This left many open contract labor positions open soon after the Great Western Sugar Company opened the Fort Collins factory in 1904.Hispanic families of many different origins moved to Fort Collins to fill the needs of the Great Western Sugar Company. Many of the people migrating to Fort Collins were American citizens who came from the New Mexico area where many families had lived long before the Mayflower landed in 1620.3&nbsp;At this time in American history, laborers from Mexico were attracted to the area by wartime employment opportunities and the ease of immigration granted by the United States government during World War I. While some families did initially move to Fort Collins, the large majority of the people who traveled to Fort Collins were single male migrant workers&nbsp;who only intended to stay for growing season and leave in the fall.4As a means of retaining skilled laborers, the Great Western Sugar Company built a community of adobe houses northeast of the factory for laborers to use year-round.5&nbsp;The ability to afford a house close to work allowed a lot of autonomy for these workers and family members and an ethnic community, even if the Great Western Sugar Company ultimately owned the house and could control who lived in the community.6 The development of the “Spanish colony,” la Colonia, what is now known as Alta Vista, became a de facto Hispanic community, though some Hispanic families lived in Andersonville as well.While this factory was demolished in the 1960s, it remains an important feature in Fort Collins history.7 The neighborhoods and religious spaces that were built to support the sugar beet industry's labor force still remain today as examples of living history. Visiting this site allows you to experience the isolation these communities felt from the rest of Fort Collins, something that greatly contributed to the prejudice many of these new residents felt. If you want to see a remaining piece of the factory, visit the sugar beet flume and bridge along the Cache la Poudre River.8

This is the location of the former Great Western Sugar Beet Factory, one of the leading companies in the Fort Collins area for many decades. In addition to its role in the economy, the factory led to increased opportunities for German immigrants from Russia who worked at this Fort Collins establishment as well as area beet farms. Soon after, Hispanic immigrants migrated to the region. This factory closed in 1960 and was demolished soon after. The historic plume bridge that used to be attached to the factory still stands today. 

A Tour through the History of Immigration in Fort Collins

Statue of Annie the Railroad Dog

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

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