Union Colony

In December 1869 Nathan C. Meeker, the agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, sought fellow temperance advocates to establish a cooperative community in Colorado that would adhere to their conception of high moral standards. The Union Colony, with 450 residents, settled in the Cache la Poudre Valley, north of Denver, and, in 1870, established the town of Greeley, named for Horace Greeley, the editor of the Tribune. In return for fees that varied from $50 to $200, members received farming land, access to the system of Irrigation, and the right to buy lots in the colony town. The success of this semi cooperative venture stimulated similar undertakings. Greeley was incorporated as a city in 1885.

Bibliography

Willard, James F., ed. The Union Colony at Greeley, Colorado, 1869–1871. Boulder, Colo., 1918.