A Brief History of Greeley
Greeley began in 1870 as the Union Colony, an agricultural settlement organized by Nathan Meeker with support from newspaper editor Horace Greeley. Colonists arrived that April, choosing land between the Cache la Poudre and South Platte rivers with access to the Denver Pacific Railroad. Cooperation, irrigation, education and temperance shaped their plans. Residents dug canals and established homes and businesses, while Meeker founded and edited the Greeley Tribune. The colony’s early irrigation work helped establish the agricultural economy of northern Colorado, and its ideal of a planned community left a lasting mark on the city.