'Founding mother' of Fort Collins to be inducted into Colorado Business Hall of Fame

A Fort Collins pioneer has been further inked into Colorado history.

"Auntie" Elizabeth Stone — an enterprising pioneer woman known for her contributions to early Fort Collins — will be inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame next month as part of this year's six-member class of business leaders from the past and present.

Stone, who was originally from Connecticut, moved to what is now Fort Collins with her second husband, Judge Lewis Stone, in 1864. They built the first civilian dwelling at Camp Collins — an Army outpost commissioned in 1862 to protect the Overland Trail. The building served as both their cabin and a mess hall for the camp's officers.

Two years later, when Judge Stone died and Camp Collins was abandoned, Auntie Stone stayed to help build Fort Collins. She opened the doors of her cabin and mess hall to the public as Fort Collins' first hotel and, later, for use as Fort Collins' first school. Stone also had a hand in the area's first brickyard and flour mill.

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Stone lived in Fort Collins until her death on Dec. 4, 1895. Her cabin, which originally sat in the 300 block of Jefferson Street, now rests behind a gate in the Heritage Courtyard at Library Park next to the Carnegie Creative Center at the Historic Carnegie Library, 200 Mathews St.

Stone is one of a few Colorado women whose 19th-century achievements landed them in the state's Business Hall of Fame. Previous inductees include Clara Brown, a formerly enslaved woman who used her investments made during Colorado's Gold Rush to help other formerly enslaved people move to Colorado; Mary Elitch Long, who opened Denver's Elitch Zoological Gardens in 1890; and Anne Evans, who helped develop cultural institutions like the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Public Library.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins pioneer being added to Colorado Business Hall of Fame