History Overview
Greeley was originally built and created for the purpose of becoming a farming town. As Horace Greeley once said, "the best business you can go into you will find on your father's farm or in his workshop". This city was specifically chosen to be located between both the Poudre River and the Platte River. This suggestion of location was made by Benjamin Eaton, who was honored to announce when Greeley became an official city on April 6, 1886. With the need of resources for watering the settlers' crops and gardens, ditches were then dug from those rivers. It was a man named Nathan Meeker, who is known for being the founder of the city of Greeley itself, who devised and implemented a plan for what he imagined this location to flourish into. From the beginning, seven main principles existed for what the founders originally wanted. As such, these principles were faith, family, education, irrigation, temperance, agriculture, and home. So, when it came to seeking new people to gather in the area, Meeker wrote an article in search of settlers and at least 3000 people responded. Eventually, Meeker had chosen 700 to be a part of this new community. So, it was by the time of April 1870 when the first settlers began to arrive. Horace Greeley also stated that "if you have no family or friends to aid you, and no prospect open to you there, turn your face to the great West and there build up your home and fortune". With education being important to the settlers, schools were being built early in development. Additionally, because religion was such an imperative aspect in their lives as well, there were several churches being built. Interestingly enough, Greeley was nicknamed "The City of Churches" because of the fact that there were so many and people were nicknamed "Greeley Saints" too. As far as the agriculture of the area, with the gardens and crops attracting so many cattle into the town, there was a fence built up around the entire city of Greeley. As many people can imagine, the intentions behind building this fence were debated. However, most of the fence was torn down by 1900, but apparently there are still some parts that remain today. With the amount of people in the area increasing, employment and educational opportunities advancing, and the city developing overall, Greeley has morphed into the more popular town that many people may be aware of today.
According to Nicole Huff, former student of the University of Northern Colorado from 1987 and 1989, "Greeley seems to have changed and advanced so much in terms of the campus life and courses, the Greeley community and city, as well as the overall businesses and industries around the location". She also mentioned how strange she imagines it to be for those who were in the Greeley area long before her time here and how it would seem to them as far as the changes that have occurred over time.