Greeley, Colorado
Greeley is a city in
Weld County,
Colorado,
United States. The population was 76,930 at the 2000 census. It is the
county seat of
Weld County.
 |
Location of Greeley, Colorado |
Greeley is located at (40.415119, -104.723988).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 77.7
km² (30.0
mi²). 77.4 km² (29.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.30%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 76,930 people, 27,647 households, and 17,694 families residing in the city. The
population density was 993.4/km² (2,572.5/mi²). There were 28,972 housing units at an average density of 374.1/km² (968.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.4%
White, 0.87%
African American, 0.83%
Native American, 1.15%
Asian, 0.14%
Pacific Islander, 13.77% from
other races, and 2.84% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 29.49% of the population.
There were 27,647 households out of which 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were
married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 19.0% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $36,414, and the median income for a family was $45,904. Males had a median income of $32,800 versus $24,691 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $17,775. About 10.1% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 18.4% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.
Latham
Greeley is located in (or just west of) the area previously occupied by the Overland Trail station of Latham (originally called the Cherokee City Station). The Latham station (also known as Fort Latham) was built in 1862 and named in honor of Milton S. Latham, one of California's early senators. The stagecoach station was at the confluence of the South Platte River and the Cache la Poudre River. The web site www.Over-Land.com describes it as "probably the most important and busiest facility on the Overland Trail" (since it was a river crossing and a junction point for the spur of the Trail south to Denver). It is believed that here occurred the birth of the first white child born in Colorado, a girl. Fort Latham was the headquarters of the government troops during the Indian troubles of 1860-64 and the county seat (the post office being called Latham).
Union Colony
The official town of Greeley was originally organized as the
Union Colony in
1869 as an experimental utopian community of "high moral standards" by
Nathan C. Meeker, a newspaper reporter from
New York City. Meeker purchased a site at the confluence of the Cache la Poudre and
South Platte Rivers (that included the area of Latham, an Overland Trail station), half-way between
Cheyenne and
Denver along the tracks of the
Denver Pacific Railroad formerly known as the "Island Grove Ranch." The name Union Colony was later changed to Greeley in honor of
Horace Greeley (who was Meeker's editor at the
New York Tribune).
In recent years, the fact that
Sayyid Qutb (one of those who laid the intellectual groundwork for the
9/11 attacks) claimed to derive much of his
anti-Americanism from his perception of Greeley as a hotbed of moral debauchery (when he visited the
Colorado State College of Education there in the 1940s) has achieved a certain notoriety.
Greeley's public schools lie in
Weld County School District 6. Weld 6 consists of 17 elementary schools (Cameron, Centennial, Chappelow, Dos Rios, East Memorial, Heiman, Jackson, Jefferson, S. Christa McAuliffe, Madison, Billie Martinez, Meeker, Monfort, Romero, Scott, Shawsheen, Winograd), 5 middle schools (Brentwood, Franklin, Heath, John Evans, Maplewood), and 3 high schools (Greeley Central, Greeley West, Northridge). There are also 3 charter schools (University Schools, Frontier Academy, Union Colony Preparatory School).
Greeley is also home to Aims Community College and the
University of Northern Colorado.
*
City of Greeley*
Greeley Tribune*
The Overland Trail*
University of Northern Colorado*
Aims Community College*
Greeley Website Directory
