The Franz-Smith Cabin
The c.1882 Franz-Smith homestead cabin represents 70 years of agricultural tradition in Fort Collins. The cabin stood on South Shields near Harmony Road until it was displaced in 1987 by the Clarendon Hills subdivision. The Larimer County Historic Alliance (LCHA) moved the cabin to Livermore to save it from demolition, but their dream of an architectural park in Livermore was not realized.
The Fort Collins Museum relocated the Franz-Smith cabin to the Museum's Heritage Courtyard in June of 2000. Here it will be studied, restored, preserved and interpreted as part of our cultural heritage.
A Brief History
Henry and Caroline Franz, originally of Wurttemburg, Germany, came to the United States in 1867. They settled first in Trenton, NJ where their daughter Magdalena Louise was born, January 3, 1875. The family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado sometime after Magdalena was born and before their second child, William Henry, was born on August 28, 1881.
The Franz family initially lived in a dugout cellar until Henry could build a log house for his family. William Henry is reported to have been born in the sod cellar (Watrous, 221). The cabin was probably completed in late 1881 or 1882 and sat on South Shields where the Claredon Hills neighborhood exists today. Caroline died in 1895 and Henry married Sarah Meimeyer in 1896, a widow who had four daughters.
The family of eight lived in the cabin until the property was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Ward Smith, presumed sometime after the turn of the century. The Smiths resided in the cabin until 1948. These families probably grew alfalfa, sugar beets, and grains, common crops in the southern settlement communities of Fort Collins.
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