Mead History
Centennial Exhibit Poster (October 2006)
Paul Mead's Railroad song to entice the farmers to grow sugar beets so the railroad will come.
The current histories of the Mead Community encompasses both letters and small family histories that individuals wrote. It is hard to separate what would be considered a letter or a history at this point, so I am including both under the heading of "Family Histories" Later if more items are donated to this are of the site I may divide them up into more categories.
In her memorial tribute to her mother, Areit Palmer Mead (wife of Paul Mead), Paul and Aret's oldest daughter, MyraImogene Mead Cope wrote,"I can remember the founding of the little town of Mead, Colorado in 1906, on one corner of the farm. The Great Western Sugar company was putting in a railroad for the transporting beets to the sugar mill, and had located a beet dump where the tracks cut across a corner of the farm. With all of the farmers coming there with their crop, it seemed the logical site for a town, and Mead, the logical name for it, as the land had been originally homesteaded by Grandpa Mead (Dr. Martin Luther Mead). Mother and father laid out the plans for the town, named the streets, and were active in developing the new community, as they had been in the older one (Highlandlake). They wanted it to be a good town, with no "evil element," and had it stipulated in the titles to all of the lots that they sold, that liquor was not to be sold on any of the property, ever." Remembrance of Things Past - by Myrogene (Mead) Cope. May 15, 1969.
New! Marriages
A Brief History of the Town
The Town
of Mead, Weld County Colorado, was originally founded in 1906 when the Great Western Railroad announced they were bypassing the growing community of Highlandlake, (founded in 1871-72),
and instead laying track a full mile east of the town. Additionally,
the promised beet dump was now to be located on the eastern border of
Paul Mead's (nephew of Highlandlake founder, L. C. Mead) farm. Read More
Town Government
The first town board meeting was held at Dalgetty's/Daughety's, (believed to be a dry goods store, others claim it was the local Pool Hall and barber shop), 13 April 1908. C. V. Holmes was elected Chairman Pro-Tem and I. F. Hays, Clerk Pro-Tem. The Mayor was M. S. Adams, (he had recently moved his general store from Highlandlake to the new town site). Read More
Law and Order
The first
Town Marshall was J. L. Ballinger hired May 13, 1908 with a salary of $26.00 a year. It
was later changed in 1910 to $10.00 a month. W. H. Wilson was the first Police Magistrate
appointed - June 1908.
The first jail was a building 12' x 10' x 7'. It was a wooden frame with a flat top.
The first lumber bill was for $105.00 and the land the jail stood on rented for $10.00 a
year. In about 1940, the old jail house was moved up on 4th street and was sold in 1943
for $35.00.
The second jail was abandoned sometime in the 1980's. All prisoner's now
go to the Weld County Jail in Greeley. One of the two old jail houses is located on
Boulder Scientific's' property. I'm not sure which one it is, some say it
is the original, others say it is the second one.
Businesses
For nearly 30 years, Mead was a bustling community. At its peak, Mead had
three general stores, a hotel, a combination grocery store and meat market, two saloons,
butcher shop, filling station Read More
Mead Post Office
The Mead Post Office was moved from Highlandlake to Mead in March of 1907. Cecil V. Holmes became the new postmaster. He ably handled the task at hand for three years, when Marion S. Adams assumed charge in October of 1910. Read More.
Newspapers
Mead had three different newspapers over the years, and a couple of more recent newsletters
that lasted only a few months. In addition, the Longmont papers, the Johnstown Breeze in
Johnstown, the Platteville newspaper and the Berthoud newspapers all carried news about
Mead. The Longmont Ledger carried Highlandlake and Mead column for years in the early part
of this century. Read More
Schools
Mead's first school was built just north of what is now the Mead Town Hall and fire station.. It was located on WCR 7, and was a two room wood-framed building. I have a couple pictures that show the school building in the far distance, but none close up. More coming soon.
Biographies, Letters and Histories
Paul Mead- Founder of Mead, Colorado - A Biography
Paul Mead was the son of Dr. Martin Luther and Myra Mahetabel Jenkins Mead.
Martin was the brother of Lorin C. Mead who founded Highlandlake. In the early
1880s Lorin contacted his younger brother, extolling the virtues of Highlandlake
and telling him of the urgent need for a physician in the area. In 1883. Read More
Backward Glances - Stories of Mead and Liberty, Colorado
Veva Turner Berg was the daughter, granddaughter, and niece of early Boulder, Larimer and Weld County pioneers. I am concentrating on the parts of her life that encompass the periods years when she lived in Weld County, and most specifically in the Mead and Liberty areas of Weld county. Read More
Mr. & Mrs. M.S. Adams - taken from our Spring 2009 Newsletter. Read
- Paul Mead Founder of Mead, Colorado
- Some
Memories of Mead & The Mead School 1919-1923 -- Hazel Elmquist Bullock
- A little history of the early days of Mead -- Homer L.
Gammill
- Growing up and living in Mead, a 70
history of the town -Nick Sekich Sr.
- Laura Celia Dreier Newton by Marcus Newton
Some news articles about Mead - Past and Present
- Longmont Daily Times-Call: Lasting Memories - Mead School Basketball Goes into the Hall of Fame (Jan 20, 2011)
- Greeley Tribune: What a team: Newton, Newton, Newton, Newton and Schaefer (Jan. 21, 2011 )
- Longmont Daily Times-Call: Mead Observing Centennial This Year. Community Started at Highland Lake
Mead News (Town of Mead's Newsletter)
Highlandlake church Receives Emergency Grant
Published June 2003. Vol. 2, Issue 4As you may have read in recent newspaper accounts, Highlandlake church, located northwest of Mead on WCR 5 between WCR 34 3/4 and WCR 36, suffered severe damage in the March blizzard due to the weight of the wet snow on the roof. The Town and many other interested citizens and groups wrote letters of support to the State Historical Fund so that the congregation* could obtain an emergency grant to have the funds to stabilize the building. The grant was recently awarded. Congratulations to Pauli Smith for her hard work on this. The organization will still need to do a major fundraising drive to actually restore the building. for further information or to volunteer your help, call Pauli Smith at 970 535-4936.
The church has an interesting website that has pictures of early Mead homes and settlers. The web address is: www.hollyhockfarms.com/historic_Highlandlake/hlkchurch/**
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* Editors note: The church building does NOT have a congregation in it. The building is owned by the Historic Highlandlake, Inc. a local historical, non-religious organization who also owns the Pioneer Highlandlake Cemetery on WCR 36.
** The correct website address is now: www.HistoricHighlandlake.org
This page was updated on April 10, 2011