Southeast Colorado's Sugar City was aptly named for its former sugar beet factory. At one time the factory town on the Missouri Pacific Railroad housed saloons, a newspaper, a hotel, and other business and boasted a population of 1500. Although the National Sugar Beet Company closed its factory in 1967, the town remains true to its hardworking agricultural roots, even in modern times.
The lands around Sugar City were once called some of the finest and most productive irrigated land in the West. To learn more about the history of Crowley County, head west to the Heritage Center in Crowley. For years residents collected historical items from around the county, and the museum is a shining example of their passion for preserving the past.
The well-irrigated land around Sugar City owes its healthy harvests to Lake Meredith, above which the town is perched. The beautiful lake breaks the raw prairie landscape with its five-by-two-mile shoreline and offers fishing, unstructured camping, and bird watching. To the north of Sugar City is Lake Henry, a smaller watering hole fit for similar recreational pursuits.