There are several common names I hear in Greeley. One of those happens to be the last name Meeker. Nathan Meeker built an iconic two-story adobe house back in 1870 which happens to be Greeley’s first official museum.
Not only is Meeker’s home one of Greeley’s first Museums, but his home is also recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
It’s very cool to see Greeley being recognized in this light. Another reason why Meeker is so iconic is because he helped establish agriculture here in Greeley. Of course Greeley is well known for our agriculture, and it’s interesting to know that he helped establish this.
Without him, we may have not seen Greeley blossom into the agriculture economy that we have currently. Meeker worked very closely with Horace Greeley, and to be able to freely explore Meeker’s home, with all original furnishings is very insightful on how he lived.
Additionally, Meeker was a journalist, an Indian Agent for the federal government, and an entrepreneur.
On a more harsh note, in 1878 he was appointed as an Agent at the White River Indian agency. He was killed the following year, in an event called the Meeker Massacre. Both his daughter and wife were taken into captivity for three weeks.
While this is a sad story, Meeker did a-lot for our community and helped establish one of our first museums. I made this post because Nathan Meeker would be celebrating his 201stbirthday and the Meeker home is having special tours for this occasion.
“I never really knew about Meeker until I learned about him in our journalism class,” said Bailey Alberts, a Senior at UNC.
His legacy may not be the most well-known, but his impact is very well known. The town Meeker, Colorado was named after him, and there is a Mountain is the Rocky Mountain National Park that is named after him.
“Meeker is something that I’ve never really heard of until getting to Greeley, but his legacy is very intriguing in the sense that he really helped establish Greeley and the agriculture business here,” said Grace Vigliotti, a senior at UNC.
Once again, without Meeker Greeley might have been a very different community without his efforts. It’s very interesting to see where our history stems from and applying that to present day.
Through and through Meeker had the vision in order to make Greeley a better place. If you’re curious to check out his house, the address is 1324 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631.
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