Colorado State University’s Pingree Park Campus Receives $25,000 Grant to Preserve Historic Ranch

Colorado State University’s Pingree Park Mountain Campus recently received a $25,000 grant from the Colorado Historical Society to continue preservation work on the Koenig-Ramsey Ranch Historic District.

The Pingree Park Mountain Campus, which includes the Koenig-Ramsey Homestead, was acquired from the Koenig family in 1974 and designated as a state historic district in 1996. The ranch land and structures, located 53 miles west of Colorado State’s Fort Collins campus, are physical representations of the lives of mountain homesteaders in the early 1900s.

The new grant will help create visitor access to the site’s historic buildings by creating an interpretive plan, which will guide visitors through the site with stories about homesteading and life on the ranch. The grant also will aid in the development of a collections policy, which will classify and identify the historic artifacts donated by the Koenig family and neighbors. These artifacts will be included in future exhibits.

"We hope that visitors one day will be able to access the buildings and get a feel for the homesteader experience in the early 1900s by means of the furnishings and exhibits," said Bill Bertschy, director of Pingree Park.

Previous Colorado Historical Society grant monies have helped with the stabilization and restoration of several buildings on the site, including the bar, homestead structure, chicken coop, root cellar, tool shed, garage, three fishing cabins and a one-room school.

More than 6,000 visitors come to Pingree Park each year, including Elderhostel participants, ECO-Week students from the Poudre School District in Fort Collins and Colorado State natural resource students who receive part of their academic training at the park.

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