Most of Laporte was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 8 buildings between them. Below: old-book passages.
The Laporte post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Colona (1860), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 2,409164 years
How historic is Laporte?
C+
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Laporte post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Laporte’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laporte is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Laporte’s overall grade.
Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Laporte’s 45.2 sits above most of its state (86% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Laporte’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was first settled by French-Canadian fur trappers and mountain men. It was the gateway to all the mountainous region lying north of the South Platte River and extending from the Plains to the Continental Divide. The trappers built cabins here along the Cache la Poudre River as early as 1828, making it the first settlement in Larimer County. According to legend, a group of fur traders had earlier stashed supplies (including gunpowder) in a cache along the river near Laporte, and that is how the river got its name. It became the home of Antoine Janis in 1844, who is often noted as the first permanent settler north of the Arkansas River. A band of mountaineers, hunters and trappers made Laporte their headquarters for fur catching and trading operations. The settlement increased in numbers, including 150 lodges of Arapaho Indians who settled peacefully along the river and in the va…
the North Platte route to the South Platte, the line following the latter stream from Julesburg to Denver, thence north through Larimer county via Little Thompson, Big Thompson, Laporte, Virginia Dale to the Laramie Plains, and thence west to a junction with the old North Platte route. That year postoffices were established at Mariana's, on the Big Thompson, and at Laporte. The office at Mar-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1867, after the Union Pacific railroad had been completed to Cheyenne, and the stage line had been changed to run from Denver to Cheyenne, he took charge of the hotel and station at Laporte, remaining there for several years. Here he had the pleasure of entertaining General Grant and party as it passed through the country in 1868; and on Sunday, June 21st, 1865, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, after-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Laporte, 1860 to 1862
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Laporte’s post office has been open since 1862. Another post office, Colona, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Colona
1860–1861
Laporte
1862–today
18601940today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Laporte’s history
What year was Laporte founded?
The Laporte post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Laporte rank for history?
Laporte is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Laporte?
Two places: the Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad-Stout Branch (listed 2008) and the Provost Homestead-Herring Farm Rural Historic Landscape (2010).
How old are the homes in Laporte?
3% of Laporte’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1977.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
