Civic Center

The Fruita Civic Center building was constructed in 1912 as a school building and became known as the Fruita Central School. The building was expanded in 1935 with additions to both the north and south sides of the building by the Works Progress Administration. The building became simply known as Fruita Elementary School by the time most of the then-existing school districts in Mesa County voted to unite in a single district in 1951. The new district was named Mesa County School District 51 after the year it was founded. Decades later, when District 51 wanted to build a new elementary school to replace Fruita Elementary School, their intention was to do so on the same property, which would have required tearing down the older building. Citizen outcry prompted the Fruita City Council, in 1993, to trade the building and property with District 51, instead, for other land in the city. For a brief time, the building was used as the Fruita Natural History Museum, but it soon became the Fruita Civic Center, home to Fruita’s city government.

Today, the Fruita Civic Center houses the Administration, Engineering, Planning, and Human Resource Departments, as well as a branch office for the Mesa County Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Municipal Court Clerk’s office. The building also includes a variety of meeting rooms that are used to host City Council, Municipal Court, public meetings, or can be rented by members of the community. Room rentals can be coordinated through the City’s recreation staff at (970) 858-0360 or by filling out the room rental form. 

In addition to government functions, the building also has space dedicated to the FWorks Coworking space, which is a program operated by the Business Incubator Center to support the launch, growth, stabilization, and long-term success of business enterprises in Mesa County and the surrounding region.