Laporte (originally spelled La Porte and alternatively spelled LaPorte) is an unincorporated town, a make known office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a allocation of the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Laporte say office has the ZIP Code 80535. At the United States Census 2010, the population of the Laporte CDP was 2,450, while the population of the 80535 ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 2,636 including bordering areas.

The town was first approved by French-Canadian fur trappers and mountain men. It was the gateway to everything the mountainous region lying north of the South Platte River and extending from the Plains to the Continental Divide. The trappers built cabins here along the Cache la Poudre River as to come as 1828, making it the first pact in Larimer County. According to legend, a organization of fur traders had earlier stashed supplies (including gunpowder) in a cache along the river near Laporte, and that is how the river got its name. It became the house of Antoine Janis in 1844, who is often noted as the first unshakable settler north of the Arkansas River. A band of mountaineers, hunters and trappers made LaPorte their headquarters for fur catching and trading operations. The harmony increased in numbers, including 150 lodges of Arapaho Indians who decided peacefully along the river and in the valley. The town was named by the fur trappers, many behind Native American wives, who approved in the Place in the mid-19th century. The name la porte means “the door” in French.

The winter of 1849 brought Kit Carson and his company of trappers to the Cache la Poudre, where they set occurring camp. In 1860 a town company was organized, originally called “Colona”. Between fifty and sixty log dwellings were erected that year along the banks of the Cache la Poudre River in the valley, and in November 1861 the territorial legislature designated Laporte as the county seat. In 1862, the town of Colona misrepresented its state to “LaPorte”, and was named the headquarters of the Mountain Division of the Overland Trail Stage Route. The first herald office opened, and a stage stop was built upon the Overland Trail. A station was erected right along the river, very close where the gift Overland Trail crosses the river. Mrs. Taylor, wife of the first stationmaster, was a “good cook” and “gracious hostess”, and as described by one diarist, knows “what to accomplish with beans and dried apples.” The stage fare from Denver to LaPorte was $20.00.^{[citation needed]} The first bridge more than the Cache la Poudre River was built as a toll bridge, and during the rush to California, numerous wagons and stage coaches crossed it every day. The toll charged was anywhere from $.50 to $8.00, depending on what source of recommendation is used. In 1864, the bridge was washed away by a flood, and a ferry was rigged taking place and used for several years until the county built marginal bridge.^{[citation needed]}

LaPorte soon became a bustling situation and supply center for emigrants, with wagon trains and stagecoaches permanently passing through. There were four saloons, a brewery, a butcher shop, two blacksmith shops, a general stock and a hotel. The gathering was a wealthy business, sometimes making as much as $1,000 per day. LaPorte was the most important agreement north of Denver, housing performing arts station, the county court house, the military, Indians, and trappers. In 1862, Camp Collins was usual by the U.S. Army along the river to guard the stage origin from belligerence by Native Americans. Also that thesame year, the Laporte Townsite Company claimed 1,280 acres (5.2 km) of land for the town. In 1863 the 13th Kansas volunteer infantry was stationed to Laporte, acting as escort for the Overland Stage on the trail to Virginia Dale. During the flood of 1864, the army camp was covered following water, and the soldiers had to tersely flee to superior ground. In August of that year, Col. Collins came down from Laramie, Wyoming, on an inspection tour, and settled to impinge on the army camp to Fort Collins, downriver roughly 6 miles (10 km).