Why the historic Black community of Dearfield continues to fascinate

Just off Highway 34 outside of Greeley sits a ghost town dotted with a couple of deteriorating buildings and a sign. In the early 1900s, this area was home to Dearfield. The thriving agricultural community founded by O.T. Jackson was Colorado’s largest Black homesteading site. 

At its peak there were around 300 residents, and Dearfield boasted a number of businesses including a grocery store and a blacksmith shop, plus a school, several churches, and a dance hall. Settlers grew corn, winter wheat, melons and strawberries, and the community enjoyed great prosperity – until drought, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression forced most to leave and seek work elsewhere.

“I think it's been very, very important to have Dearfield be an example of what Black people could do and have done – and the future of what Black people could do,” said George Junne, a professor of Africana Studies at University of Northern Colorado who has studied Dearfield for decades. 

Junne sat down with In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole in February to discuss the community's importance, as the National Park Service announced it is studying Dearfield for potential inclusion in the park system. We're listening back to that conversation in today's episode.

This Saturday, May 18, the Dearfield Preservation Committee holds its annual conference on Dearfield from the Michener Library on the UNC campus. Attendees can participate in person or virtually.