parade ground, standard for forts of its type, was centered at the present intersection of Willow and Linden Streets, approximately one block from the river. The site included the standard configuration of barracks and mess halls for enlisted men, an officer's quarters, camp headquarters, guard houses, storehouses, and stables. The buildings were of log construction typically for that era and region. A city-authorized sign near the intersection provides a guide to the location of the original camp buildings, none of which survive today. The first commercial buildings were built on the southwest side of the Denver Road (Jefferson Street), including the two-story inn owned by early settler "Auntie" Elizabeth Stone. The structure was relocated in the 20th century to the grounds of the Fort Collins Museum. The subsiding of the conflict with Native Americans, in particular their complete removal from the Colorado Territory after 1865, increasingly made the fort irrelevant. In September 1866 the post was completely abandoned and was officially decommissioned the following year by order of General William T. Sherman. Site of the town of Fort Collins Almost immediately, local business owners and residents stepped into the vacuum left by the abandonment, claiming the land for commercial purposes, despite a clerical error by the Army that kept the land officially in government hands until 1872. By 1869, Stone and Henry C. Peterson constructed the first flour mill on the south bank of the Poudre, as well as 1.5-mile (2.5 km) mill race to supply water power. The first white child in Fort Collins, Agnes Mason, was born in the former camp headquarters on October 31, 1867. In 1870 the Colorado Territorial Legislature designated the fledgling town as the location for the Agricultural College (present-day Colorado State University). The military reservation was officially relinquished on May 15, 1872, by presidential order, officially opening the land to settlement claims. The townsite of Fort Collins was officially platted on the former site of the camp in January 1873. The original plat includes all the "tilted" streets in present-day Old Town north of Mountain Avenue and east of College Avenue. The town grew rapidly as an agricultural center in the 1870s, and the town plat was rapidly expanded by the founding of the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony in 1873. References Historical Contexts for the Old Fort Site, Fort Collins, Colorado, 1864–2002, Jason Marmor, June 2002 (prepared for the City of Fort Collins