u/ilivewithaporia

id love to hear any stories of old Larimer county Colorado, share anything you find interesting.

Loveland has become the center of a growing debate over how the city handles homelessness.

Critics claims that loveland is removing shelter options while increasing enforcement, and that this is pushing people out instead of solving the problem. The “Loveland Hates” site claims this is a delliberate strategy rather then a policy failure
https://lovelandhates.com

The City however claims to be trying to find a different long term solution and that the issue is more complicated involving funding,saftey concerns and shelter models.
https://www.lovgov.org/community/addressing-homelessness

Why do i think the city might be doing this

-Some argue reducing visible homelessness is about keeping the city attractive for tourism, businesses, and property values.

-Another possibility is the city saw shelters as too expensive or hard to maintain and shifted toward a different approach.

-loveland official’s may genuinely think stricter enforcement is the solution.

Maybe I’m missing something, but none of these explanations make this situation look any better..

I found something about Fort Collins, Colorado's history from the early 1900’s that i found interesting.
The neighborhood now known as Buckingham Place used to be called by the nickname “The Jungles”. It was near the sugar beets factory and became known for things like saloons,gambling,fights and prostitution.

What got my attention is the fact it wasn’t just a random neighborhood with crime. It was a community of workers and families, including immigrant workers who were a huge part of the sugar beet industry that grew fort collins to what it is today.

The Jungles were outside of the main city boundaries, which meant it was under different local laws and had less city regulations than Fort Collins at the time.The Cache la Poudre River also helped separate the area from the rest of Fort Collins further making The Jungles feel like its own community. The area had developed its own businesses, families and culture. While almost acting as its own community it was also viewed differently from the rest of the city.

The more i look into it, the more complicated it becomes. The Jungles wasn’t just known for crime, it was a community vital to the growth of Fort Collins but also stayed separate from the main city for quite a bit.

Many of the people living in “The Jungles” were immigrant workers who were very important in making the city what it is today. And that brings up questions about how Fort Collins treated the people who helped build its economy.

The area’s reputation for liquor and saloons also gets more interesting when you look at Prohibition. Since The Jungles was outside the main city boundaries, I wonder how much the City is at fault for this.

TLDR: Fort Collins once had a neighborhood known as “The Jungles” (now Buckingham Place) that grew around the sugar beet industry in the early 1900s. It was home to many workers and immigrant families who helped build the city, but because it sat outside the main city limits, it developed its own identity. Over time, especially around Prohibition, the area became associated with saloons, crime, and liquor activity, which raises questions about how Fort Collins viewed a community that played such a big role in its history.

*Edit Update: Found a 1915 Library of Congress photo of “The Jungle” in Fort Collins, documented as the beet worker section of town.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018677868/

Loveland has become the center of a growing debate over how the city handles homelessness.

Critics claims that loveland is removing shelter options while increasing enforcement, and that this is pushing people out instead of solving the problem. The “Loveland Hates” site claims this is a delliberate strategy rather then a policy failure
https://lovelandhates.com

The City however claims to be trying to find a different long term solution and that the issue is more complicated involving funding,saftey concerns and shelter models.
https://www.lovgov.org/community/addressing-homelessness

Why do i think the city might be doing this

-Some argue reducing visible homelessness is about keeping the city attractive for tourism, businesses, and property values.

-Another possibility is the city saw shelters as too expensive or hard to maintain and shifted toward a different approach.

-loveland official’s may genuinely think stricter enforcement is the solution.

Maybe I’m missing something, but none of these explanations make this situation look any better..

I found a interesting rabbit hole while researching Emissaries of Divine Light / Sunrise Ranch over in Loveland.

The founder of the religious group or cult, Loyd Arthur Meeker died in a plane crash in 1954. After his death leadership was passed to Martin Cecil.

Martin Cecil was not just your average person at the ranch, he was born into the British Cecil and later became the 7th Marquess of Exeter This means he
was literally a member of the British aristocracy. ( the 2nd highest rank British nobility just below a duke )

a small spiritual movement or “cult” led by a British nobleman for decades was just very interesting to me and i bet some of you would find this interesting as well.

i originally posted this to a local subreddit but it was rejected so might as well put it here

I found a interesting rabbit hole while researching Emissaries of Divine Light / Sunrise Ranch over in Loveland.

The founder of the cult Emissaries of Divine Light Loyd Arthur Meeker died in a plane crash in 1954. After his death leadership was passed to Martin Cecil.

Martin Cecil was not just your average person, he was born into the British Cecil lineage and later became the **7th Marquess of Exeter This means he
was literally a member of the British aristocracy. ( the 2nd highest rank British nobility just below a duke )

a small spiritual movement or “cult” led by a British nobleman for decades was just very interesting to me and i bet some of you would find this interesting as well.