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Windsor History

“It was not with any flourish or fan-fare that the Town of Windsor was founded. No pomp or ceremony marked the beginning.” (Highlights in the History of Windsor, Roy Ray 1940)

And so Windsor started quietly, thanks to its serene environment and convenient resources. The Windsor Lake, known for many years as Hollister Lake, did not exist when the first settler decided to build a home. The lake was a swale used by buffalo as a wallow, though it eventually became the site of a reservoir and an important water storage basin.

The original settlers of Windsor were of German-Russian descent, and traveled to Northern Colorado to work in the surrounding sugar beet fields. The town was founded in 1882, and was subsequently incorporated on April 2, 1890.

It is not totally clear how Windsor was given its name. It is suggested that a visiting pastor from Fort Collins named Rev. Samuel Asa Windsor was conducting a service for the First Methodist church. He overheard a conversation on what to name the town, and jokingly said to name it after him.

The town’s first industry was a flourmill, and in 1903, a sugar beet processing plant was established (eventually the plant became part of the Great Western Sugar Company). The sugar beet plant was responsible for a majority of Windsor’s early growth, and it employed a large percentage of the local labor force until it closed in 1967.

Windsor is also notable in history as the first town in Weld County to have a paved street. The streets in the older part of Windsor are much wider when compared to the roadways of many towns developed in the same era. Local lore has it that the extra wide streets were built so that the beet wagons traveling to and from the sugar factory could turn around more easily.

Windsor has experienced several growth spurts over the years, and one of the largest population increases was due to the arrival of the Kodak company facility. The opening of Kodak in 1969 signaled the transition from an agricultural-based economy to a more diversified economy, which reflects today’s contemporary trend of urbanization.