The City of Fruita is a house rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States Census. Fruita is a share of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and lies within the Grand Valley. The geography is identified by the next-door Colorado River (historically known as the Grand River) on the southern edge of town, the Uncompahgre Plateau known for its pinyon-juniper landscape, and the Book Cliffs range on the northern edge of the Grand Valley. Originally home to the Ute people, white farmers arranged the town after founder William Pabor in 1884. Ten years later, Fruita was incorporated.

Economically, it started out as a fruit-producing region, but today it is with ease known for its uncovered sports such as mountain biking, hiking, and rafting, its proximity to the Colorado National Monument, and its annual festivals. Fruita has been the winner of the Governor’s Bright Growth and Development Award for four consecutive years. The city wise saying is “Honor the Past, Envision the Future”.

Fruita has had steady population addition for exceeding a century, with descendants of many of the native pioneers still living in the area. The first permanent homesteaders in the Fruita area were possibly Mr. and Mrs. Albert Lapham who contracted in late 1882. They resided in a pre-existing cabin later than a dirt floor and a blanket door. They were followed by further settlers, nearly whatever of whom were farmers of one sort or another. The present town was established on May 1, 1884, by William E. Pabor, when he formed the Fruita Town and Land Company. In 1886, for the cost of $500 a farmer could buy five acres, 200 fruit trees and water. Pabor qualified the great promise of the Grand Valley and penned a 300-page volume, Colorado as an Agricultural State, in which he spoke of the fruit-growing potential of this area. Having worked gone the Horace Greeley Union Colony, he founded the town in a similar way, including the provision that no liquor be sold or manufactured in the town. This provision lasted until it was voted out in the late 1970s.

The original town site was planned for 80 acres (32 ha) with a park in the middle. The first water reached the town from the Colorado River in 1907. By 1909, the town middle was linked subsequently electricity. In the 1930s, Fruita participated in several running projects, including the Grand Valley Resettlement Project (later Western Slope Farms). Settled in groups of two or three families per area, 34 families were relocated by 1937. Later, the Rural Electrification Project brought electricity to regarding 800 or 900 farms. Fruita also had a Civilian Conservation Corps, several Works Progress Administration projects including the town library (now the Chamber of Commerce), a federal innovation for the supplementary central school (now the Civic Center) and the construction of the spectacular Rim Rock Drive to the summit of the Colorado National Monument, elevation 8,000 feet (2,400 m). Today, the historic deeds of Fruita are supported by the efforts of the Fruita Historic Preservation Board and the Lower Valley Heritage Chapter.