While traveling in Colorado in 1871, fellow parlor car passengers warned author Grace Greenwood not to stop in Greeley: “You’ll die of dulness in less than five hours. There is nothing there but irrigation. Your host will invite you out to see him irrigate his potato-patch; your hostess will excuse herself to go and irrigate her pinks and dahlias. Every young one has a ditch of his own to manage; there is not a billiard-saloon in the whole camp, nor a drink of whiskey to be had for love or money. The place is humbug. Its morality and Greeleyisms will bust it up some day.” Spunky Greenwood took her chances on Greeley, praising the character of its citizens and their progress in transforming the “Great American Desert” into a “Garden of Eden.”

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.

More than 3000 responded to his persuasive prose. Over 700 of the best applicants were chosen as members, and a membership fee of $155 was collected from everyone whose name appeared on the list of selected colonists. This money was used to purchase land west of the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre Rivers. Some colonists were investors only; 90 had “second thoughts” and requested the colony “refund” their membership fees, but the majority settled on a new life in Greeley, C.T. They were a homogenous lot: white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, thrifty, conservative, hard-working, Union veterans, predominantly Republican, and committed to Nathan Meeker’s vision. They built two ditches and an expensive fence around the Colony to keep the open range cattle from destroying newly planted gardens and crops. Residences, businesses, schools, churches, hotels, buffalo-tanning factories, flour mills, produce warehouses and opera houses sprang up between 1870 and 1885. The colonists negotiated with the railroad for equitable rates to ship their famous Greeley spuds to market, “electrified” the downtown in 1886, installed telephones in 1893, and expanded the network of irrigation ditches and reservoirs for greater crop production and diversity. They survived the locust plaques and blizzards of the 1870s, the boom in businesses and more blizzards of the 1880's and the depression of the 1890s.

Culture and Civility at "Saint's Rest"

Greeley, with a population of 2,177 was incorporated as a city of the second class in 1886, and a mayor and board of aldermen elected. Streets, originally named after trees, and avenues, named for famous American men, were identified numerically in 1884, emulating the new “Philadelphia plan.” Construction of a teachers’ training institution, the State Normal School, began in 1890, and a new high school was built in 1895 to relieve overcrowding in the 1873 Meeker School. The “straight-laced,” respectable, and conservative colonists were proud of their success and prosperity, and remained unflappable when outsiders poked fun at their city, calling it the “City of Saints,” “Saints’ Rest,” “City of Churches,” or the “City of Hayseeds and High Morals.” In the 1870s, Greeley citizens were so law abiding that the new, but alas, empty jail was rented to store buffalo hides. To minimize the exposure of youth to “bad influences,” the Town Board passed an 1894 ordinance mandating all blinds be removed from billiard, pool and pigeon hole rooms and bowling alleys to deter minors from patronizing these businesses unless accompanied by a parent or guardian!

Greeley--The Garden Spot of the West

As the new century dawned, Greeley’s reputation as “The Garden Spot of the West,” was further strengthened by a second boom in agriculture. A sugar factory was built in 1902, a starch factory in 1906, and the Kuner-Empson Canning Company in 1907. The sugar beet industry dramatically changed the ethnic complexion of the city as Germans-from-Russia and Japanese immigrants were recruited as “stoop” laborers. Needless to say, the “old guard” felt the genteel character and reputation of Greeley would be inexorably changed by an influx of “illiterate” foreigners. In spite of prevailing fierce nationalism and President Teddy Roosevelt’s admonition that there was only room in America for “100 percent Americans” and not “hyphenated-Americans,” many migrant laborers soon became permanent residents, and a new neighborhood dubbed “Little Russia” sprang up between the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and the sugar factory in east Greeley. The 1900 - 1910 era was a halcyon time for businesses. D.A. “The Empire Builder” Camfield purchased downtown properties, including the historic Oasis Hotel which he remodeled, enlarged and renamed “The Camfield.” Two Weld County Hospitals, a “pay branch” located at 11th Ave. and 16th St. and the “indigent branch” at Island Grove Park were built in 1903 - 04. Weekly rates at the “pay branch” were $12.50 for double occupancy rooms, and $15.00 - $25.00 for private quarters.

A new city hall with an attached fire station was built north of Lincoln Park in 1907. Not wishing to take “hand outs” or be “beholden to anybody,” Greeleyites politely declined Andrew Carnegie’s offer of a free public library, and through “popular subscription” raised $20,000 between 1907 - 1909 to construct the town’s first library. Bessie Smith, a Greeley architect, designed many commercial and residential structures during this decade. Approximately 100 - 200 new homes were built annually in Greeley, reflecting the decade’s prosperity and growth. The population jumped from 3,023 in 1900 to 8,179 by 1910. With the boom in homes and population, a new municipal water system was built and included a 40-mile wooden transmission pipe by 1907 which delivered pure mountain water to Greeleyites.

Greeley--The Athens of the West

During the 1910 - 1919 era, Greeley boasted two new ward schools, six new buildings at the college, and a plethora of clubs and cultural activities. With five beautiful new neo-classical buildings--the 1910-1911 Sterling Hotel and Theater, 1911 Elks Lodge, 1912 High School, 1914 Post Office and 1917 Weld County Courthouse--residents boasted that Greeley was the “Athens of the West.” A June 12, 1912 Greeley Tribune editorial gushed its praise: “With the Teachers College as a nucleus, Greeley may well set up the claim as the Athens of the West. For the college here is the leading institution of its kind of the state. The public schools here are of the first rank. The various clubs devoted to the intellectual development, the public library of well chosen courses, the symphony orchestra concerts, the artists who are brought here during the season, the high class theatrical attractions, the summer Chautauqua, the progressive churches and the dozen and one fields offered for the intellectual exploration combine to place this little city in the lead of all in the state.”

“Skunk wagons” (autos) and streetcars competed with horse-drawn vehicles during Greeley’s second decade. According to one resident, autos in Greeley were “thick as flies. With 336 cars licensed in the city, the headlines of a Sept. 27, 1910 Greeley Tribune article proclaimed, “GREELEY HOMES ARE MORTGAGED TO THE EXTENT OF $75,000 FOR AUTOMOBILE PURCHASES.” Hitching posts disappeared from the downtown in 1915, and liveries gave way to service stations. Hupmobile, Locomobile and other auto dealerships, created Greeley’s first “Motor Row” district from 5th Street south to 16th Street along 8th Avenue. The Denver and Greeley Railroad Company, financed by local businessmen, opened in 1910 as the city’s only electric mass transit system. Unfortunately, a disastrous car barn fire in 1917 and diminished patronage due to the popularity of private autos doomed the company to bankruptcy by 1922. The company’s newspaper notices requested auto owners not give “free rides” to friends and strangers, as this drained potential riders and profits from the company.

Forty civic-minded Greeley women established the Mother’s Congress, and in 1910, writer J.W. Barrett noted the group had “. . .abolished the vulgar features of the moving picture shows; secured more sanitary conditions for children in the schools; reduced the expenses of high school social affairs; and secured more parks and playgrounds for school children. Today the Mother’s Congress is working for good roads; a change in the high school curriculum which would give less prominence to dead languages and more to domestic science and hygiene, reforms in dress for both young men and young women; and reforms in the matter of printing conspicuously the names of unfortunate girls in the newspapers.” City Hall worked with citizens and the W.C.T.U. to rid their “Athens of the West” of “undesirables” and bootleggers. In November 1918, members of Greeley’s W.C.T.U. were the guests of Chief of Police, David Camp, who hosted an afternoon “Destruction Party” at City Hall—confiscated bootleg booze was poured into the gutter!

Greeley--"One of the Two Prettiest Cities in the Nation"

On the surface, Greeley was a“squeaky clean” place, and a March 23, 1922 Greeley Tribune article reported that former Vice President Thomas R. Marshall named Phoenix, Arizona and Greeley, Colorado (population 10, 598 in 1920) as the “two prettiest cities in the U.S.” From the same edition of the paper, it was noted that “. . . over 50 clubs enliven Greeley’s social activities year round.” With 379 members, the Greeley Women’s Club was the largest organization of its kind in the state. In 1920, this club and the Greeley School Board financed an Americanization school. For 8 - 12 weeks annually, Greeley teachers were recruited to teach English, civics, reading, and writing to a growing population of Germans-from-Russia, Japanese, Hispanic-Americans and Mexican Nationals. However, there was another club of fervent members. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan sought economic and political control in Colorado’s municipal governments and KKK membership hovered between 750 - 1000 in Greeley and Weld County. Many of Greeley’s city employees were members or sympathizers of the Klan. Rallies, parades, cross-burnings, and lectures were held here, and the Klan purchased 18 acres of land at the southeast corner of 16th St. and 23rd Ave. Christian evangelist Rev. Owen W. Reese spoke to a standing-room only crowd at new Greeley High School on Oct. 8, 1927. An even larger group stood outside, listening to Reese over the P.A. system. “There is a good strong Ku Klux Klan in Greeley. . . . Some of your best doctors, physicians, businessmen and farmers are in the Greeley Klan,” boomed Reese.

In 1922, the Chamber of Commerce and local citizens produced the first Greeley Spud Rodeo, the predecessor of today’s popular Greeley Independence Stampede. During the 1920s, streets in the commercial section were paved, and the first stoplight installed at the intersection of 9th St. and 11th Ave. On Christmas Eve 1929, the Greeley City Council adopted its first zoning plan and ordinance prepared by S. R. DeBoer, City Planner and Landscape Architect for the City of Denver. It included residential, commercial, and industrial zones, transportation corridors with green belts, and parking lots “integrated” with commercial structures--- DeBoer said the automobile was here to stay and cities should plan for it! By 1926, members of Greeley’s Better Business Committee realized that 30% of Greeley’s citizens were spending their money outside of Greeley through mail order, peddlers, and in Ft. Collins and Loveland!. The committee’s “shop at home” ads called Greeleyites “cheap sneakerinos” who “impoverish Greeley by sending their money away from it.” There was, after all, a downside to the “auto go” shopping urge!

“Air time” took on new meaning when Greeley heard its first concert over the “wireless telephone” (radio) in February 1922 and KFKA was launched as one of the pioneer radio stations in the U.S. In 1928, the Greeley Municipal Airport was built at 8th Avenue and 25th St. Also, the 1870 two-story adobe home of Greeley’s founder was purchased by the city and civic organizations for a museum in 1929. On April 15, 1929, an official plat and map were filed at the Weld County Courthouse for Espanola Subdivision at O Street and 25th Avenue. This community was started in 1924 by the Great Western Sugar Company as a colony for its Hispanic laborers. Known as Spanish Colony today, many of the community’s original two-room adobe homes have been transformed through additions and remodeling, but some descendants of original colonists still reside and own property here. The Greeley Grays, a legendary local baseball team, consisted of the Spanish Colony’s talented athletes coached for many years by Alvin Garcia.

By 1920, Colorado was producing 25% of the nation’s sugar, and sugar beets, nicknamed “white gold” had surpassed potatoes as the region’s main crop. Beet tops and pulp, ensilage, and other crop surpluses were fed to sheep and cattle. In the 1930s, Warren Monfort experimented with the controlled feeding of cattle in pens to maximize weight gain, control disease, and ensure a steady supply of animals for market. Finishing cattle for market in controlled feedlots revolutionized the cattle industry from pasture to packing plant and laid the foundation for the agri-business boom in Greeley and Weld County in the 1960s.



Water for agriculture and “watering holes” for some Greeleyites were hot topics during the 1930s. The drought and Dust Bowl forced Greeley (population 12,202) and other northern Front Range towns to acknowledge the inevitability of wet and drought cycles and address water conservation. Charles Hansen, editor and publisher of the Greeley Tribune along with Harry Farr and many local businessmen, farmers, ranchers, and citizens lobbied for regional and Congressional support for a solution. In 1937, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project was approved. Completed in 1957, this system of high mountain reservoirs and a trans-mountain water diversion tunnel ensures water for northern Front Range agricultural, urban, and industrial use, even in periods of drought.

Following the repeal of the Prohibition Amendment, some wanted to legalize the sale of 3.2% beer within the city limits, but after heated debates, Greeley remained true to its temperance principles. To quench the thirst of local residents during the “dirty thirties,” two “wet” towns, Garden City and Rosedale, were platted just outside Greeley’s city limits. People soon joked that Greeley was located between “eatin’” (Eaton) on the north and “drinkin’” (Garden City, Rosedale, Evans) on the South!

Civic improvements by the Works Progress Administration during the Depression included a pavilion at Glenmere Park, new structures at the fair grounds at Island Grove Park, street grading and repairs, the painting of buildings at the college and the building of a new junior high school, which currently serves as the administrative offices for Greeley-Evans School District Six.

Colorado State Teachers College was renamed Colorado State College of Education in 1935, and nine new buildings built on campus during the ‘30s. Novelist James A. Michener was a graduate student and sociology teacher at CSCE, 1936 - 1941. Michener said Greeley had “. . . good libraries, very good churches, nice people. He participated in a discussion group called the Angell Club, and felt that many of its members “. . . offered me as vital an intellectual experience as I’ve ever had.. Greeley as I remember it was a great town.” Michener’s knowledge and affection for this area would later be immortalized in his popular 1974 novel, Centennial.

The World War II Era

The “great town’s” population had modestly grown to 15,995 by 1940. As World War II gripped the nation, 5,564 Greeley and Weld County men enlisted or were drafted. This created a labor shortage, so Mexican nationals were recruited through the Bracero (“strong arm”) program between 1941 - 45 as farm laborers. Victory gardens and home canning were encouraged.

Two prisoner of war facilities opened in Greeley in 1943. The Horace Mann School at 11th Ave and 12th St. briefly housed Italian prisoners. German soldiers taken prisoners during General Rommel’s African campaign, arrived on Sept. 27, 1943 at Camp 202 located eight miles west of Greeley north of U.S. Highway 34. This camp housed 2,000 Germans until it closed in 1946. German POW’s served as stoop laborers in local sugar beet, potato, onion, and cabbage fields and enjoyed amicable relations with their guards and the local farmers.

Because of materials rationing, commercial and residential construction slowed during the war years, but there was some progress. A new airport, named Crozier Field opened in 1944 and Arlington, a new elementary school opened in south Greeley in 1941. Following the war small ranch style tract homes were built in the Arlington area. Alles Acres, another post WWII subdivision permitted owners to keep livestock, combining the best of urban and rural life.

Greeley in the 1950s: Growth + Industry=Jobs

Greeley became a “home town boom town” during the 1950s, as the community discovered the magic formula for success: Growth + industry = jobs. New businesses, industries, residential subdivisions, schools, churches, parks and shopping districts transformed the city’s economy and character.

Visionary City Manager Ben Cruce laid the foundation for the future growth of the city during his tenure (1954 - 1971). Cruce accurately predicted Greeley was on the “launching pad of unprecedented growth,” and invited both citizens and the City Council to participate in long range planning. From 1954 - 1971, the City Council, under Cruce’s guidance, completed a new zoning plan, not only for the city but also for the area three miles beyond the city limits. Real estate developers and contractors working outside the city limits were required to obtain building permits and inspections. This prevented a “slum ring” of “unregulated” construction which didn’t meet official building and safety codes. An increase in building fees allowed the city to purchase land for new parks without using tax funds. A planning commission was created, as was a master street and road plan to address traffic flow, bypasses, and off-street parking in the downtown shopping district. Citizens, engineers, and the Council worked long range improvement plans for the water and sewer plants, traffic system, and recreational facilities. An additional 254 acre-foot units of water from the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District were secured for future growth.
In 1958, municipal government was reorganized under a home rule charter and became the first city in the nation to create a Department of Culture to coordinate the activities of the city’s museum, library, and recreation and educational programs for adults.

In 1952, the new $3,200,000 Weld County Public Hospital opened, with 164 two-bed rooms which ranged in price from $8.00 - $12.00 per day, and 16 deluxe private rooms available for $18.00 per day.

In 1955, Heath Jr. High School was built. Hillside Shopping Center at 25 St. and 11th Ave. opened in 1958 as Greeley’s first mall with 42,000 square feet of retail space on one level and adjacent parking for 350 cars.

Greeley’s population shot from 20,374 to 26,314 between 1950 and 1960. During the 1960s, the boundaries of the city expanded as new neighborhoods and shopping centers were built between 23rd and 35th Aves., and 16th to 28th Sts. Realizing the impact of suburban shopping malls, downtown merchants encased aging historic buildings in glass and aluminum facades in an effort to retain customer loyalty and interest. Many of Greeley’s architectural landmarks were razed during the 1950s and 1960s. U.S. Highway 85 bypass opened in 1963. Although this helped ease north-south traffic congestion through downtown Greeley, merchants complained that it created a way for people to “bypass” the commercial district. Also, the beloved Post Office at 8th and 8th–the hub of Greeley’s downtown—was razed, and a smaller and less beautiful “excuse” for a Post Office was built at 10th St. and 11th Ave. Many lamented that the bypass, the razing of the Post Office, and the growth of the town to the West foreshadowed the demise of Greeley’s downtown. The feed lots and new packing plant fueled the local economy, but offended many people’s noses! Greeley, known for its conservatism and traditions, would be forced to embrace even more changes as the “by-product” of growth.

Greeley--The "Steak Capital of Colorado"

In 1960, Greeley-Capitol Pack, Inc. opened on May 17 as one of the most technologically advanced cattle and lamb slaughtering facilities in the nation and was considered the biggest industrial development in Greeley since the 1902 sugar factory. The 92,000 square foot plant cost $2,000,000, employed about 300 people, and processed daily 600 cattle and 240 lambs, with weekly volume at $1,000,000. In 1964, a $1,800,000 addition to the Monfort-owned facility doubled its size with new coolers and freezers, and a fabricating center to break beef and lamb into boneless and primal cuts. In an 8-hour shift, 850 head of cattle were killed and processed. By 1966, Monfort employed about 425 people and contributed $85,000,000 a year to the local economy. Annually, 130,000 animals from the 150-acre Monfort feed lots north of Greeley, plus another 100,000 purchased elsewhere were processed at the plant. In 1966, the company had the town’s best hourly wages--- $3.21 for luggers and $3.89 for utility workers on the kill floor. With the boom in agri-business and several feedlots in close proximity to the town, many joked that Greeley’s “odor” was merely “the smell of money.” In 1964, an Odor and Air Pollution Committee was appointed to deal with the city’s odor problem, which has remained an ongoing issue.

Growth in Greeley continued in the 1960s, and for the first time, large multi-storied structures changed the Greeley skyline. Royal Gardens, the city’s first 3-story apartment building was built at 2101 22nd Ave. High-rise dorms and classrooms were built at CSC including the following residence halls: Troxel in 1960, McCowen in 1963, Harrison in 1966, Student Family Apartments in 1967, and Turner in 1968, plus a new K-12 laboratory school, Bishop-Lehr Hall in 1962, Ross Hall of Science in 1964, the University Center in 1965, McKee Hall of Education in 1968.
School facilities have been built in every decade of the city’s history and the ‘60s was no exception. John Evans Jr. High opened in 1964 and Greeley West High School in 1965. Aims Community College opened in 1969 in the old Lincoln (East Ward) School where many German-Russian children received their education in the opening years of the century. The building of six new schools–Sherwood (later renamed Scott), East Memorial, Madison, and Brentwood grade schools, John Evans Jr. High, and Greeley West High School broke the “traditional mold” in school design with a series of controversial, but uniquely-shaped buildings of round and hexagonal elements. Parents were concerned that high-tech lighting, carpeting, air conditioning, and moveable blackboards would create “spoiled students.” Some thought the buildings looked liked squashed farm silos, but teachers and students adapted nicely to the “upgrades.” The Greeley City Hall, Fire Station, and Public Library were bursting at the seams, so a new Civic Center was built in 1968-69, and the old buildings razed.

As the 1960s rocked to a close, Greeley’s time-honored tradition of temperance came to an end. For almost 100 years, Greeley had been a “dry” community. But the “liquor question” was on the ballot in the 1969 election. The Keep Greeley Great (dry) and the Help Greeley Grow (wet) Committees fervently lobbied for their respective points of view. In the end, the pro-liquor group won by a margin of 477 votes, just in time to toast the beginning of the 1970s.

Greeley--Centennial Traditions

The 1970s were marked by political activism, annexations, and more diversification in business and industry, and Greeley commemorated its Centennial, having grown from a town of 500 in 1870 to 38,902. In 1970, Colorado State College’s status was elevated when its name was changed, for the fifth time, to the University of Northern Colorado.

The Colorado Centennial and the U.S. Bicentennial sparked renewed interest in local history and the City donated ten acres of land adjacent to Island Grove Park in north Greeley to establish Centennial Village to interpret the agricultural, architectural, and cultural heritage of the region. In 1978, Hollywood invaded Greeley and many locals signed on as extra cast members for a 26-hour film production of James Michener’s epic work of fiction, Centennial. In 1971, the new library at UNC was named for the beloved author, and the following year, Cranford Hall, the first building on campus, was razed. Candelaria, a new classroom building was constructed in 1973, as was Lawrenson Residence Hall. A new gym, Butler-Hancock, opened in 1974. Two new elementary schools, Meeker and Shawsheen, opened in 1975.
The battle between the downtown and modern shopping malls with acres of free parking made its debut in the 1970s. In 1972, a new shopping center, Hillside Mall, opened in 1973 with 175,000 square feet of retail space, 23 stores, and 13 acres of parking. The Greeley Mall, an $8,000,000 facility with 500,000 square feet was built in 1973 on 56.5 acres south of the U.S. Highway 34 bypass between 17th and 23rd Aves. At the same time, many changes took place in Greeley’s downtown. Greeley National Bank built a six-story building opposite Lincoln Park. The Sterling Hotel and Theater building adjacent to the Courthouse, was razed and a new Weld County office building and jail were built on the site. Know as the Weld Centennial Center, this new complex was dedicated in 1976.

The growth City Manager Cruce spoke of in the 1950s was indeed happening, and the largest spurt in Greeley’s population occurred in the 1970s as 14,104 new residents pushed the city’s population to 53,006 by 1980. The old formula of “growth plus industries equals jobs” received maximum play in the 1980s as the City pursued diverse, environmentally friendly, and compatible industries. The decade, however, opened on an ominous note with worker’s strike at the Monfort of Colorado Packing Plant which lasted from Nov. 1, 1979 to Jan 14, 1980. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local #461 had filed grievances with the National Labor Relations Board. Not able to reach an agreement with the workers, and faced with millions of dollars in losses, management’s decision to close the plant on March 28 left1000 workers without jobs. Failing to negotiate the sale of the plant, it reopened on March 1, 1982 with capacity production that year of 2,800 cattle per day.
As early as 1965, a Blue Ribbon Committee of seven local residents was appointed by the City Council to address the downtown district. As retail activity lagged, a Downtown Development Corporation was formed in 1980. By 1981, a special tax district comprised of downtown property owners combined with $4,500,000 in bonds offered through a special improvement district launched the conversion of two one-block sections into pedestrian malls by 1983. The 8th and 9th Street Plazas between Lincoln Park and 8th Ave. attempted to recapture lost retailers and customers.

Greeley--From Cattle to Computers in the 1980s

In 1980, Hewlett-Packard purchased land in west Greeley and announced plans to build a computer manufacturing plant. The City spent $2,000,000 and extended utilities to the site. The building was started in April, 1982 and opened the following May with 500 employees. In 1989, Hewlett-Packard donated 70 acres to the City for Boomerang, an 18-hole municipal golf course, plus 20 acres for baseball fields. By 1988, the company was one of two Weld County employers listed in the top 50 on the Fortune 500 list. The other company, ConAgra, had acquired Monfort of Colorado, Inc. in a 1987 $356,500,000 stock merger. The diversity of the Greeley’s economy reflected in the production and processing of cattle on one hand, and computer chips on the other, launched the city into the global arena of agri-business and high tech industries.
In 1982, several Front Range cities wooed Anheuser-Busch Company which had expressed an interest in locating in Colorado. The Greeley City Council moved quickly to annex land north of the city and offered the company attractive incentives for development. However, the deal bottomed out when the owner of the mineral rights on the land being considered refused to relinquish them. Anheuser-Busch decided to build its new brewery in Ft. Collins. Although Ft. Collins got the beer, the University of Northern Colorado was successful in its bid to lure the Denver Broncos away from Ft. Collins and to Greeley for their annual summer training camp. Greeleyites are wild about the team, and practice sessions draw hundreds of fans.

In 1986, voters approved the construction of a new Civic Auditorium to replace an antiquated 1952 Community Building. Over half of the $9,500,000 price tag was privately financed. Completed in 1988, this state-of-the-art facility consists of the 1700-seat Monfort Concert Hall, 220-seat Hensel-Phelps Theater, plus art and reception galleries.

1990-2000

Greeley’s population in 1990 was 60,536 and the city has seen unprecedented growth due to the large migration of new residents into the State. Nathan Meeker’s community ideal of 1600 residents living happily within a one-square mile village has expanded to a city 41.79 square miles with a population of approximately 76,000 in 2002. Since 1970, Greeley’s population has doubled. Today, many of the city’s family farms have been sold and commercial franchises built in their place. Where crops once grew, several computer manufacturing companies now stand. Corn cribs have given way to computer chips, and strip farming has been supplanted by strip malls. New residents have created a booming construction market and the desire for large “upscale” homes, good neighborhoods, schools, city services and super retail outlets. And what does the future hold? According to former City Manager, Leonard Wiest, “The City of Greeley will move into the next millennium facing problems similar to those of the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Downtown Greeley will continue to get a lot of attention and, of course, water will always be a major concern for our area. The city’s growth to the west will provide many challenges, but the construction of State Farm’s new 500,000 square foot regional office in extreme west Greeley will provide the impetus to assure economic viability for the City into the new millennium.”

Perhaps Nathan Meeker’s vision for the town, written in the first edition of his new newspaper, the Greeley Tribune, November 16, 1870 is still valid today: “Individuals may rise or fall, property may be lost or gained, but the Colony as a whole will prosper, and the spot on which we labor, shall, as long as the world stands, be the center of intelligence and activity.”