Every place has a story, or many stories. Greeley’s tale began in 1870 with a group of determined settlers who sought to form an agriculturally based “utopian” community endowed with a rich culture and… a college.
Not every community, particularly one on Colorado’s High Plains, knows how to live with bears in their backyard. Greeley not only managed to do so, it begged to have them come.
Within 19 years, the colonists had successfully lobbied the state to establish a “Normal School” in the new town. Over the next 130+ years, the town would grow into a city, and the college into a university (Go, Bears!) weaving together their institutional DNA.
This book is all about how the town and the college grew up together.
It is a blend of historic records and articles, research, interviews and oral histories, photos and stories, lots of stories. The stories about the college and the neighborhoods that grew up around the school are ones you won’t find anywhere else. Where is ‘Witches Alley’? How were UNC students responsible for a new state housing law? Who wore ‘dinkies’ and why? What happened to the 1908 neighborhood commune envisioned by college professors?
This book, at 170+ pages, includes a narrative of the origins and evolution of the city, college and University District, maps, abundant photos, and a chapter dedicated to each of the six historic neighborhoods surrounding the school along with a walking tour of each area.
