History of Greeley, Colorado, USA

Greeley, Weld, CO

...The fledgling town of 1200 was founded in 1870 by members of a joint stock colonization company called the Union Colony of Colorado, organized by Nathan Meeker, agricultural editor of Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. Meeker visited Colorado Territory in October, 1869, and his observations on the people and places in the West were published in the Tribune. Meeker was smitten with the Rocky Mountain scenery, the energy and friendliness of its citizens, and the opportunity to inexpensively purchase or homestead fertile tracts of land in a climate renowned for its pure air, moderate temperatures and "perpetual" sunshine. His dream of starting a utopian community based on temperance, religion, education, agriculture, irrigation, cooperation, and family values was rekindled. He penned an appealing article, "A Western Colony" for the Tribune’s December 14, 1869 edition, in which he encouraged literate and temperance individuals with high moral standards and money to join him in a colony venture in Colorado Territory...