UPDATE 1-1-05... Hours of operation may have changed to
Wed-Fri 1pm-4pm (winter hours??), you may want to call ahead to
check if they are open if you want the tour.
Nathan Meeker, the agricultural editor for the New York Tribune,
envisioned an idea of a Union Colony, a cooperative farming
community, in the West. He gathered people with trades,
professions and enough wealth to survive the initial hardships of
the frontier.
Meeker's goal was to establish an agricultural colony that would
become a model for settling the remainder of the territory.
The backing for Nathan Meeker's Union Colony came from Horace
Greeley.
In April 1870 the first Union Colonists arrived via railway cars
to settle the land purchased by the company. Within one year
the venture was a huge success. In 1871 the town boasted a
population of 1,500, 36 miles of irrigation canals, beautiful
homes, businesses and land under cultivation.
Meeker said the "highest ambition of a family should be to have
a comfortable, and if possible, an elegant home." He built
this home in 1870. It is filled with many Meeker family
belongings and furnishings of the 19th century.
In 1878, Nathan Meeker was appointed Indian Agent on the White
River Ute Reservation. Incapable of being an Indian Agent or
dealing with Indian people, Nathan Meeker and all of his staff were
killed in the gruesome White River Massacre in 1879.
Along the sidewalk in front of the home are historical markers that
detail more of the history of Greeley.
The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and
the Greeley Historic Register.
The home became Greeley's first museum when it was purchased by
the City in 1929 and opened as the Meeker Memorial Museum. In
1959 it was renovated into an historic house museum and underwent
another renovation and restoration in 1995.
To claim credit for this find
click here to E-Mail me the answer to the following
questions.
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- What unusual building material is this home made of?
- How many historical markers are along the sidewalk?