Then and Now Subscribe to Then and Now
F.I. Davis was Berthoud’s first mayor
By Mark French The Surveyor On Sept. 28, 2019, an event was held in Fickel Park to honor former Berthoud Mayor Dick Strachan. No Berthoud mayor came close to holding… Read more
Spartans played six-man football from 1947 through 1951
By Mark French The Surveyor From 1947 through 1951 the Berthoud High School (BHS) Spartans played six-man football. When BHS resumed an 11-man football program in September 1952, the local… Read more
Flapjack Queen elections highlighted Berthoud’s Labor Day celebrations
By Mark French The Surveyor From 1948 through 1958 Berthoud’s Flapjack Day was one of the biggest Labor Day celebrations in northern Colorado. In order to publicize the 1949 Flapjack… Read more
First night baseball game in Berthoud took place in 1947
By Mark French The Surveyor The big baseball park a short distance south of the intersection of Welch Avenue and Fifth Street in Berthoud was built in 1941. When electric… Read more
Donelan brothers closed Berthoud grocery store and enlisted in U.S. Air Corps
By Mark French The Surveyor Bill Donelan came to Berthoud in 1937 looking for an opportunity. Donelan and a Kansas grocer for whom he had worked for several years found… Read more
First baby born in Berthoud – 1884
By Mark French The Surveyor Berthoud was moved from its original location on the Little Thompson river bottom to its present-day site in the winter of 1883-84. The first baby… Read more
Local news topped newspaper’s best stories of 1948
By Mark French The Surveyor The front page of the December 30, 1948, edition of the Berthoud Bulletin recapped the year’s top stories. The paragraph heading the month-by-month list explained,… Read more
Wilber Ball won first Christmas home-decoration competition
By Mark French The Surveyor The Berthoud Lions Club sponsored its first annual Christmas home-decoration competition in December 1950. That year 867 residents lived within the town limits of Berthoud… Read more
Berthoud’s bachelors celebrated Thanksgiving at the Grandview Hotel
By Mark French The Surveyor In 1900 the Grandview Hotel hosted Berthoud’s “old bachelors” for Thanksgiving dinner. The Grandview Hotel (present-day City Apartments) was located at the northeast corner of… Read more
Shoveling sugar beets paid by the ton
By Mark French The Surveyor October is the month for harvesting sugar beets in Northern Colorado. Beginning in the early 1900s the Great Western Sugar Company conducted annual harvest campaigns… Read more
