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WELD COUNTY |
AultAULT HIGH SCHOOL Built in 1921, Ault High School served as the community’s only high school from 1921 until 1976, and then as a junior high school until 1992. The building is an important example of the work of prominent regional architect, Sidney G. Frazier. AULT PUMP HOUSE The 1907 pump house is important for its historic use as a major part
of the community infrastructure that provided an adequate water supply
to the town. The water system contributed to the town’s growth and
progress by elevating living conditions and assisting with fire protection.
(Photograph 2006) BriggsdaleELMER & ETTA BALL RANCH This cohesive group of agricultural buildings, including the main farm house, main barn, smaller barns, bunk house, chicken house, well, corral area, outhouse, and other minor structures, is representative of early 20th century dryland farming and ranching in rural Weld County. The main house is a 1½-story Bungalow Style dwelling built in 1914 and enlarged in 1929. The property is associated with the Historic Farms and Ranches of Weld County Multiple Property Submission. EatonAMAMDA K. ALGER MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH
(Eaton United Methodist Church) 
The 1925 Amanda K. Alger Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church is an
excellent example of the Late Gothic Revival style popular in the 1920s.
Designed by the architectural firm of Wilson and Wilson, the church exhibits
many of the characteristics of the style including a steeply pitched roof,
arched windows with tracery, quatrefoil elements, a crenellated parapet,
and simpler detailing. The church played an important community role in
hosting numerous dinners and basketball games over the decades. The
Ladies Aid Bazaar occurred here each year as a fundraiser for this active
women’s group. Additionally, the Ladies Aid prepared many dinners in the
kitchen and served meals for Rotary Club dinners, Masons, and other
organizations. Intramural and adult league basketball games also took
place in the Fellowship Hall. This large room has provided a place for
the community to gather, socialize, and celebrate. EATON HIGH SCHOOL The 1929 Eaton High School is important for its association with the history of education in Eaton. It is also architecturally significant as a good example of the Collegiate Gothic style and the work of an important Colorado architect, Robert Kenneth Fuller. AARON JAMES EATON HOUSE 
Aaron James Eaton, the “Father of Commerce” in Eaton,
moved into the new house with his family in 1888. Eaton was one
of the town founders, being active and influential in many aspects
of community and regional development. He established and operated
the town’s first general merchandise store, the First National
Bank of Eaton, and the Eaton Building and Loan Association. He secured
a sugar beet factory for the town, organized the local school district,
and served as postmaster and one of the first town trustees. Eaton
also took an interest in his father’s agricultural pursuits,
overseeing many area farms and irrigation projects. The Eaton House
was the town’s first two-story brick residence and is the
oldest, largest, and least altered example of the
Queen Anne style
in Eaton. The house displays representative elements in its asymmetrical
massing, variety of construction materials (brick, stone and decorative
shingles), and steeply pitched roof with complex forms. ErieLINCOLN SCHOOL / ERIE TOWN HALL This two-story brick building was constructed in 1906 and continued to operate as a school until 1966. It has a hip roof with flared eaves, and the entry is topped by a bell tower. Fort LuptonOTTESEN GRAIN CO. FEED MILL The 1920 Ottesen Grain Co. Feed Mill functioned as the sole grain buyer and livestock feed processor for the Fort Lupton area for over fifty years. The complex consists of three adjoining buildings and two tall silos which are tied together structurally at the roof line. The different materials used in their construction illustrate the shift from fire-prone wood structures to the use of brick, tile, steel, and concrete for such facilities. GreeleyCLUBHOUSE/ STUDENT UNION 
The 1916 Student Union stands as an important record of New Deal construction
programs in eastern Colorado, reflecting the extensive assistance the Colorado
State College of Education (now UNC) received from the PWA to remake its campus
during the 1930s. The building was the center of social life for the students of
the College hosting events such as teas, mixers, dances, and banquets. It was also
important in the history of the college as the first building constructed
specifically for women. The original Clubhouse reflects
Craftsman
design while the Student Union expansion in 1939 exhibits
Collegiate Gothic style.
The property is associated with the
New Deal Resources on Colorado’s Eastern Plains Multiple Property Submission. CORONADO BUILDING The 1905 Coronado Building is associated with the development and evolution of Greeley’s downtown and with Dr. Ella Mead and architect Bessie Smith, two women important to the community’s social history. Smith’s design is an important local example of early 20th century commercial architecture. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH The 1911 First Baptist Church, a rectangular plan building on a raised foundation, topped by an unenriched parapet in a Neoclassical style, was designed by architect T. Robert Wieger. FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
The 1915 First Methodist Episcopal Church in Windsor is an excellent ecclesiastical example of Classical Revival and a well-preserved example of high style architecture applied in a small town setting. Nebraska architect John R. Smith designed the building. The church interior contains typical design elements of the Akron Plan, along with an unusual and complex star-shaped coffered sanctuary ceiling with pendant lights and a central octagonal stained glass dome. The original building connects through a narrow passage to a sensitively designed 1995 Postmodern style addition. GLAZIER HOUSE The Glazier House is a two-story wood frame Queen Anne style residence built in 1902 by J.A. Woodbury, a talented builder and craftsman in Greeley, for I.O. Grazier, a Greeley jeweler. Glazier’s wife, Clara, is said to have designed the essentially unaltered residence. GREELEY DOWNTOWN The historic district represents much of the commercial history and development of Greeley. Downtown commercial activity began in earnest in 1880. The area formed the community’s hub as the home to restaurants, retail stores, hotels, law and medical offices, grocers, real estate offices, pharmacies, and other establishments, as well as the Weld County Courthouse, all significant to Greeley’s commercial development. From locally owned businesses to regional and national chain stores, the district reflects the evolution of Greeley from its establishment as a small rural town to a commercial center for northeastern Colorado. By 1958, the growth of the city and movement of businesses away from the downtown led to remodeling and new construction in downtown. Recent historic building restorations have accompanied renewed economic activity signaling the beginning of a new phase of commercial history in Greeley’s downtown district. (2007 photograph) GREELEY HIGH SCHOOL (Greeley Central) The 1927 three-story Late Gothic Revival style brick building was designed by Denver architect William N. Bowman, in conjunction with Greeley architect Sidney G. Frazier. The exterior remains virtually as constructed, and the building remains in use as part of the Greeley Central High School complex. GREELEY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL 
The 1938 Greeley Junior High School is the oldest surviving junior high school in the community. The Depression-era Public Works Administration, part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, partially funded the school’s construction. The building is the only known example of the Art Deco style Greeley. The school is distinguished by its high standards of construction craft and its extensive use of terra cotta ornamentation. The building is the work of Sidney G. Frazier, Greeley’s most significant historic architect. GREELEY MASONIC TEMPLE 
The Greeley Masonic Temple is an important design of architect
William N. Bowman.
The 1927 Masonic building is his only known commission
to have employed a modernist interpretation of Georgian Revival
architecture. The building is also associated with the social history
of a Masonic Lodge. As a fraternal order, the Masons participated
in numerous community betterment activities in Greeley. GREELEY SCHOOL / CENTRAL PLATOON SCHOOL The school is a combination of two building periods-1895, when the high school was constructed, and 1902, when the grade school building was added. The 1895 building constructed on a stone and red sandstone foundation has pressed brick walls set in red mortar, with red sandstone trimmings. It was designed by Harlan Thomas of Denver in a variation of the Romanesque style. The 1902 addition is similar, yet subordinate to, the high school. Very little ornamentation appears in the overall design, following a conservative "no frills" guideline. The building is significant in that it reflects the response to educational needs of a growing community in economically difficult times. GREELEY TRIBUNE BUILDING 
The Greeley Tribune newspaper operated out of this building from the
completion of construction in 1929 until 1986. The Tribune was the main
source of information for the rural agricultural region in and around Greeley,
providing not only local stories but also national and international news. The
newspaper saw significant expansion during its occupation of the building. The
Tribune is Weld County’s oldest newspaper and one of the oldest businesses in
Greeley, having been started in 1870.
Sidney Frazier, counted among Greeley’s
noted architects, designed the excellent local example of the Beaux Arts style.
The building exhibits many of the characteristic features of the style including
a symmetrical facade, terra cotta ornamentation in the pilasters and cartouche,
the semi-circular ironwork canopy, and an entablature with dentils and egg-and-dart
molding topped with decorative urns. (Photograph 2006) GREELEY UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT Architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the 1929 Greeley depot. Underwood is best known for the Rustic style buildings he designed for the Union Pacific and the National Park Service in Bryce Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks. The Greeley depot is the only known example of Underwood’s work in Colorado. The property is associated with the Railroads in Colorado, 1858-1948 Multiple Multiple Property Submission. MEEKER HOUSE (Meeker Memorial Museum) Nathan C. Meeker, founder of Union Colony, later known as Greeley, built the two-story adobe structure in 1870. Meeker had been the agricultural editor for Horace Greeley's newspaper, the New York Tribune, and he acted on his supervisor’s famous pronouncement "to go west young man." NETTLETON-MEAD HOUSE 
The two-story wood frame Italianate style house is one of the few intact residences dating from the early years of the Union Colony established by Nathan Meeker in 1870. Edwin S. Nettleton designed several early canals that brought critical irrigation water to the farmlands and urban homesteads of the colony. His canals, perhaps more than any other single factor, led to the initial success and sustained growth of the community. Dr. Ella Avery Mead, the first female doctor in the Greeley area, practiced from 1905 into the 1940s. She dedicated her professional life to the improvement of children’s and women’s health. As the City Health Officer for Greeley she enforced quarantine laws, instituted milk inspections, and implemented a health screening system in the area’s public schools. SLW RANCH The SLW ranch complex consists of a ranch house, coal house, ice house, barn, corral, storage, and feeding areas. The ranch house, a large, two-story frame dwelling over a stone cellar, was built in 1888 by Robert Hall for Lyulph Ogilvy. The ranch represents a variety of developments in the area from its association with the movement of Scottish investors in western ranch lands, the Percheron-Norman Horse Co., which supplied horses to meet the needs of farm and city dwellers, to the development of the cattle industry in the 20th century. The property is associated with the Historic Farms and Ranches of Weld County Multiple Property Submission. UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO CAMPUS RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT The district represents part of the evolution of the college from the Colorado Normal School to the University of Northern Colorado. Architecturally, the central campus area includes a variety of residential buildings, constructed between 1921-1936, employing Germanic half-timbering and Bavarian influenced styles as executed by a number of prominent architects, including: William Ittner, F.W. Ireland, Jr., Robert Lindstadt, and William Bowman. WELD COUNTY COURTHOUSE Designed by Denver architect William Norman Bowman this impressive four-story building of Indiana limestone and marble was completed in 1917. Its Neoclassical design is unique in the Greeley area. WHITE-PLUMB FARM Listed as a Colorado Centennial Farm in 1986, the property is associated
with the history of agricultural development in Greeley and Weld
County. Several farm related structures remain on the site. The
1904 farmhouse is a well preserved example of the work of Bessie
Smith, Greeley’s first woman architect. JOSEPH A. WOODBURY HOUSE The Woodbury House is one of the best examples of a Gothic cottage in Greeley. The one-and-one-half-story wood frame residence, with a projecting central bay extending above the first floor to become a projecting gable, was constructed in 1870-1871. Joseph Woodbury worked as a builder, became Greeley’s first fire chief, and was elected mayor in 1890 and 1897. GroverGROVER DEPOT (Grover Museum) The Grover Depot, a two-story rectangular frame building with a gable roof, was built in 1887 by the Burlington Railroad Company. The building is a rare Colorado example of a first generation, two-story railroad depot and may well be the only surviving example of its type in Colorado. It represents the important role played by rail transportation in the founding, growth, and long-term survival of many Colorado agricultural towns such as Grover. GROVER GRAIN ELEVATOR The circa 1916 Grover Grain Elevator, a well-preserved example of cribbed construction, stands as a reminder of the importance of the relationship between agriculture, commerce, and transportation to economic development in the Pawnee Grassland Region. The railroad right-of-way is still visible between the elevator and the Grover Depot. HOTEL GROVER The 1910 Hotel Grover played a role in the commercial development of the Grover community where it is both the longest continually operating and last surviving hotel building. It is also associated with education, having functioned as a district teacherage and informal educational center from 1950 until the early 1990s. JohnstownANDERSON BARN 
The 1913 barn is an excellent example of a gambrel-roofed barn
using plain-faced ornamental concrete block for its lower level.
Ornamental concrete block was a popular construction material in
the first three decades of the twentieth century and was often formed
with hand-operated machines on site. This concrete foundation formed
a strong base on which to erect the roof trusses for the complex
gambrel roof. The transformation of the lower level from its original
dairy operation to a horse barn resulted in the loss of some interior
materials. However, the original concrete floor and center passage
remain, as does the large hayloft. JARED L. BRUSH BARN The Jared L. Brush Ranch began in 1860 as one of the first ranches in the Big Thompson Valley. The barn was constructed in 1865 and continues to serve as an integral part of an operating agricultural complex. The vertical wood sided barn includes historic shed roofed additions on each side of the central bay, which is 2½-stories in height and has a steeply pitched gabled roof. The utilization of wood pegged posts and beams, in conjunction with native wood and stone, in the barn’s construction marks it as a rare surviving resource of its type dating from Colorado’s pre-railroad and territorial periods. The property is associated with the Historic Farms and Ranches of Weld County Multiple Property Submission. LITTLE THOMPSON RIVER BRIDGE Constructed over the Little Thompson River by Gardner Brothers in 1938, the bridge is associated with the development of US Highway 87 north of Denver. Subsequently becoming the route for today’s I-25, the highway served as a major north-south route, joining the major population centers along the western edge of Colorado’s high plains. Designed by the Colorado Department of Highways and fabricated by Midwest Steel & Iron Works, the single span rigid connected camelback pony truss runs for 104 feet. The property is associated with the the Highway Bridges in Colorado Multiple Multiple Property Submission. HARVEY J. PARISH HOUSE Harvey J. Parish commissioned the construction of this house at the apex of his career in 1914. In 1902, Parish platted the town of Johnstown, which he named in honor of his son, and he served as the community’s first mayor. The family residence is the most important local example of a Craftsman Bungalow style house.
KeenesburgPROSPECT VALLEY SCHOOL The circa 1903 Prospect Valley School, with circa 1920 and 1940 additions, provided elementary education for several generations of students in the Prospect Valley area of southern Weld County. The additions to the school building reflect the growth of the community and the adaptation of the original school to meet increased enrollments. KeotaKEOTA STONE CIRCLES ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISTRICT/SHULL TIPI RINGS The site has the potential to yield important information related to human associations with the area during the Middle Preceramic, Late Preceramic, and Late Ceramic Periods. KerseyJURGENS SITE The Jurgens Site, a Paleo-Indian Plano Period multiple activity site, is represented by a long-term camp or habitation site, short term camp site, and a butchering and processing area for animals obtained in a small mass kill. Information from this site provides a major basis for knowledge about campsites and butchering sites, as well as cultural complexes making up the Plano Period. The property is associated with the Prehistoric Paleo-Indian Cultures of the Colorado Plains Multiple Property Submission. LongmontSANDSTONE RANCH Morse H. Coffin built the ranch beginning in the early 1880s. The complex includes nine farm structures and a quarry. The vernacular Second Empire style house was built in the early 1880s using sandstone from the nearby quarry. The quarry supplied stone to Denver, other parts of the state, and as far east as Chicago. The ranch, one of the least altered in Weld County, represents a good combination of cultivation and grazing activities. LucerneMILNE FARM The Milne Farm is an historic agricultural complex that encompasses a farmhouse, agricultural buildings, and irrigated fields. The Edwardian Vernacular style two-story red brick farmhouse was built in 1892 by James Grant Milne, a Scottish emigrant. Milne raised sheep and sugar beets. He became a leader in irrigation activities, was instrumental in the construction of the Boyd Lateral from the Larimer and Weld Ditch, and was considered a leader in civic and business affairs of the community. The property is associated with the Historic Farms and Ranches of Weld County Multiple Property Submission. MeadUNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST OF HIGHLANDLAKE The building is an intact example of a vernacular wood frame church typical of those built on the eastern Colorado plains in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 1896 church is the only remaining public building in what once was a thriving agricultural community. MillikenDANIELS SCHOOL 
The 1911 school building served the educational needs of the agricultural
community near Milliken for almost fifty years. Its intact setting,
associated teacherage, itself a rare survivor of rural education,
and privy further enable the property to convey its rural heritage.
The building exhibits typical elements of rural schools, such as
the narrow windows, bell tower, one-room interior, and the entry
vestibule. The Daniels School is an unusual example of the Classical
Revival style as applied to a rural school, with its pedimented
porch, classical columns, and corner quoining. Daniels School is
the last surviving rural brick schoolhouse in Weld County. The property
is associated with the Rural School Buildings of Colorado
Multiple Property Submission. NunnNUNN MUNICIPAL HALL (Northern Drylanders Museum) Constructed in 1933-1934 as a Civil Works Administration Depression-Era project, the two-story building, of painted concrete housed the police station, fire department, and town clerk. Community dinners, school activities, and various other family gatherings took place in the building. No longer used as a town hall, the building is now a community museum. NUNN WATER TOWER The Nunn Water Tower, a 50,000-gallon steel tank on four steel legs with a platform and guard rails, was constructed in 1921 and distributes water to town water users. A beacon light on top of the tower once guided planes flying between Denver and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and it served as a light for the residents of Nunn. PierceFIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF PIERCE Constructed in 1909, First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pierce is a good local example of an early twentieth-century neighborhood church executed in the Late Gothic Revival style. Though the church has undergone a number of exterior and interior alterations, it still exhibits the main characteristics of the style in its steeply pitched roof, triangular arched windows, bell tower and masonry exterior. PlattevilleFORT ST. VRAIN MONUMENT 
The Centennial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a commemorative monument on the site of Fort St. Vrain near Platteville in 1911. The monument was the first in an ongoing series of over 100 commemorative markers in Colorado erected by the DAR through its local chapters. Such monuments served to remind local residents and visitors of past events and personages through direct association with specific sites of importance. Often the monument itself is the only physical connection to the event or personage. Such dedicated sites provide historical geographic context and help to establish and maintain community identity in the face of change. FORT VASQUEZ SITE Louis Vasquez and Andrew Sublette built an adobe fort on this site about 1835 as part of their fur trading enterprise. The two sold the fort in 1841 and it was abandoned a year later. In the late 1930s, the Works Progress Administration reconstructed the adobe fort using the small portions of the remaining walls and the limited information available regarding the size and plan of the original. The Colorado Historical Society operates the property as one of its regional museums. The property is associated with the New Deal Resources on Colorado’s Eastern Plains Multiple Property Submission. StonehamWEST STONEHAM ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISTRICT The district yielded, and continues to yield, important information regarding northeastern Colorado’s prehistoric and early historic periods, especially in relation to the use of rockshelters and stone rings. WigginsDEARFIELD The townsite is the only remaining Colorado example of the national African-American colonization movement inspired by Booker T. Washington. It was one of fourteen colonies, or rural towns, established in the West to provide Americans of African descent with the opportunity to own and work their own land. By 1917, sixty African-American families worked its 15,000 acres. The town boasted a boarding house, numerous stores, a concrete block factory, a blacksmith shop, churches, and its own telephone service. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl brought hard times, and many of its residents moved on. Oliver Toussaint Jackson, an African-American leader and entrepreneur in Colorado from the early 1900s until his death in 1948, founded Dearfield in 1910 when he filed a homestead claim for the initial 160 acres of land. WindsorFIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH The 1915 First Methodist Episcopal Church is an excellent ecclesiastical example of Classical Revival exterior detailing and of the interior design elements of the Akron Plan. WINDSOR MILL & ELEVATOR COMPANY BUILDING The 1899 mill is architecturally representative of a turn-of-the-century agricultural processing and storage facility typically found in rural Colorado communities. The complex includes a stacked lumber grain elevator, a brick mill building, a wood-frame warehouse, and a free-standing brick boiler house. WINDSOR TOWN HALL (Windsor Art and Heritage Center) The 1909 two-story building is a good example of an early 20th-century local government administrative center, combining offices for the town’s governing board, administrative offices, police station, city jail, fire station, and public meeting rooms. Its simplified Classical Revival style was common to public buildings of the period, particularly in smaller Colorado communities. The building currently houses the Windsor-Severance Historical Society and Museum and the Windsor Chamber of Commerce. |
420 Graefe Avenue, Ault
State Register 6/12/1996, National Register 7/27/2005, 5WL.322
National Register 4/14/2000, 5WL.3174
For information about the State Historical Fund’s participation
in the preservation of this property see the