Front Range Rising

We live in an expanding urban region stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, commonly called the Front Range. While this may seem a recent phenomenon, the Front Range has been attracting people for 14,000 years. Find out why, and explore Longmont’s role in this distinctive region, in the Longmont Museum’s permanent history exhibit, “Front Range Rising.”

Start your journey with the land. A large relief map at the exhibit’s entrance shows how the mountains rise abruptly from the Colorado plains. Watch a multimedia show on the growth of human settlement at the base of the mountains.

Now, go back in time: see a re-created brush shelter that was the state of the art Front Range residence seven thousand years ago. Try your hand at the “toolboxes” that people thousands of years ago used in this area to survive.

Watch the arrival of new groups, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians from the north, and traders from St. Louis. Explore a recreation of a trading fort and Cheyenne tipi. Learn how these two very different groups worked together to build a society in the Front Range.

See how the Colorado Gold Rush crushed the multicultural society of the Cheyenne and the traders, and led to the Sand Creek Massacre. See a goldseeker’s outfit, and hear the story of the Gold Rush from the Indian perspective in an object theatre.

Learn about the earliest settlement in the St. Vrain Valley, Burlington, and see the original school bell from the 1869 Burlington School.

Experience the arrival of the train, a revolution that led to the founding of the Chicago-Colorado Colony, later Longmont. See “The Rest” built to house the first settlers who came to Longmont, and hear the opinion of one traveler who visited the new settlement.

Explore the immigrant experience, and see how many steps it takes to grow sugar beets and turn them into sugar. Learn about Longmont’s agricultural heritage, and have fun with an interactive water map.

Visit a 1930s kitchen and living room to find out how Longmont weathered the Great Depression, and tune in to a 1930s radio for some authentic sounds of the period.

Discover how Longmont began to grow explosively with the arrival of high technology in the 1960s. Complete your journey by telling us what you think on a re-creation of a Longmont landmark, Cheaper Charlie’s Shed.

“Front Range Rising” is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency, and from the support of the City of Longmont and other foundations and businesses in the community.

Take an interactive 360 tour of the exhibit