Virginia Dale Community Club

     Mr. Holladay hired Jack Slade, purported outlaw, to build the Virginia Dale Stage Station in June of 1862.  Jack named the station Virginia Dale in honor of his wife, and it became  a bustling place of activity.  It was not unusual to have fifty to one-hundred wagons with their loads of merchandise and freight camped at Virginia Dale.  The popularity of Virginia Dale as well as the notoriety of Jack Slade were spread from coast to coast by Overland Stage travelers, emigrants, magazine writers, and newspaper correspondents. For more information on Jack Slade, please see The Death of a Gunfighter.  In 1866, Ben Holladay sold the line to Wells Fargo, who continued to operate the stage line until 1868.

     The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad to Cheyenne in 1866 halted stage coach travel, and the Overland Trail and the Virginia Dale Stage Station were abandoned.  In subsequent years, the building has been used as a residence, general store, post office, and now a community hall.  It is the only Stage Station on the Overland Trail still standing in its original location and has been referred to as one of "Colorado's Legendary Treasures" and  "Larimer County's Most Important Historical Site."