A largely forgotten place with an important history in Weld County is gaining attention in Colorado as groups work to spread that awareness even further.
Dearfield, once a small Black agricultural community east of Greeley, is the site of ongoing discovery and study led by two University of Northern Colorado professors who want the former town to one day assume a national profile.
“It’s like a rolling a log downhill,” retired UNC anthropology professor Robert Brunswig said. “It took a bit to get it started, but I think we’re on a roll now.”
For about 30 years, Brunswig and UNC colleague George Junne, a professor of Africana Studies, have invested their time and sweat into learning more about Dearfield and founder O.T. Jackson, who established the town in 1910. By 1930, Dearfield was mostly deserted, a ghost town, because of drought and “dust bowl” conditions according to Brunswig, who wrote a 25-page guide on the town’s history.
“We’re trying to understand what the community was about and what the people were doing,” Junne said. “We have a general idea and a lot of it isn’t earth-shaking.”
In time, Dearfield might become a National Historic Site like Nicodemus, Kansas, because of the significance of the six Black Homestead communities in Great Plains states — where residents were allowed the freedom to own land.
For now, Dearfield is being seen and understood in greater depth at the state level with the hope of financially benefitting the archeological, historical and environmental studies of the colony, which spans 20 square miles.
Dearfield is the subject of the Dearfield Dream Project, a collaborative research effort by multiple organizations and groups dedicated to the town’s preservation.
On Wednesday, representatives from those groups along with local and state officials came to Dearfield to learn about its past, see it in the present and hear plans for its future. Dearfield is located on U.S. 34, about 2 miles from the South Platte River and 12 miles from Wiggins.
Among the leaders and officials who attended the nearly three-hour-long event were UNC president Andy Feinstein; Weld County Commissioners Perry Buck, Scott James and Lori Saine; the six members of the legislative Capital Development Committee; Daphne Rice Allen and Denise Leadon from the American Black West Museum in Denver; and Greeley City Councilman Tommy Butler.
Representatives from History Colorado, which is a charitable organization and agency of the state, as well as nonprofit Colorado Preservation Inc. also attended.
“This means people are paying attention and starting to understand there is more than one culture in America,” said Leadon, the vice chair of the American Black West Museum. “It’s an eye-opener. With the past that’s gone on, with George Floyd, things are not equitable. If we invest in other people’s cultures, we can come together for the U.S.”
The other prominent Black homesteading communities in the Great Plains were DeWitty, Nebraska; Sully County, South Dakota; Empire, Wyoming; and Blackdom, New Mexico. Dearfield and Nicodemus are the only former Black Homestead communities where structures still remain, according to the National Park Service.
The NPS also reports about 3,500 Black homesteaders succeeded in claiming their titles from the General Land Office. The office granted them ownership of about 650,000 acres, where as many as 15,000 people lived on the homesteads, including family members.
Most Black homesteaders settled in clusters or colonies with other Black families, the NPS said.
“They also pooled their resources to construct rich cultural and civic lives for themselves,” according to information on the NPS website. “They exuberantly built churches and schools and organized baseball teams, reading circles, choral groups, newspapers, investment clubs, sewing circles and dances and celebrations.”
In late February, Jackson was honored by The Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder for his work as the organization’s dining hall manager, according to the Daily Camera in Boulder.
The story points out the tribute to Jackson came about to celebrate Black History Month, and to permanently “pay homage to the businessman — a son of former slaves — who played a significant role in not only the beginning stages of Chautauqua, but in the Front Range’s culinary scene, local government, Black-based independent homesteading and community development within Colorado.”
Junne outlined the rougher side of settling Dearfield. He said when people started there in 1910, they had to go to the South Platte River for water. The winter of 1910-11 was brutally cold, leading to the death of several horses.
“That’s how desperate they were to have a place of their own,” Junne said.
In a 2017 UNC magazine story, Junne said the town’s name was attributed to a Denver physician who explained the land and the colony were “very dear” to the residents.
Saine, a former state representative, organized the event and brought Dearfield to the attention of state Rep. Edie Hooton, who chairs the Capitol Development Committee, a committee responsible for reviewing funding requests for capital projects from all state agencies and making prioritize recommendations to the Joint Budget Committee.
Saine credited Brunswig and Junne with taking charge of the restoration and preservation at Dearfield.
“They are two men who saw beyond the remnants of a dream,” she said.
One of the goals and objectives is to generate more sources of funding to pay for needed preservation work on Dearfield’s remaining structures, including a house that belonged to Jackson. Jackson, who was born in Ohio, went on to work as a messenger for Colorado Gov. John Shafroth in the early 1900s before finding his way to Weld County.
There is also a former filling station and lunchroom on the site. In 2000, a bill was passed in the state senate appropriating $250,000 to create a plan for the Dearfield site and to stabilize Jackson’s home.
Some of the money donated to this point has been marked for security measures, including the fences and protection on windows, Brunswig said. All the Dearfield-era structures stand behind locked fencing to prevent additional vandalism.
PDC Energy donated $15,000 to the American Black West Museum, which owns land in the area, and Occidental Petroleum contributed $7,500 to the museum.
Additionally, Dearfield advocates are waiting to hear about an application for a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service.
The Dearfield Dream Project grew out of a grassroots, Greeley-based group called the Dearfield Committee that formed in 2008. The committee serves as an advisory group to the Black American West Museum, according to Brunswig’s guide. The committee represents several public and private organizations including Weld County government, UNC, the city of Greeley Museums, Colorado State University and Colorado Preservation, Inc.
One of the committee members is former Weld County Commissioner Bill Garcia, who said the Dearfield history and story “needs to be told.”
“This is a unique story,” Garcia said. “A Weld County story, an American story. Of independence and entrepreneurship, of people who want to better themselves.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of UNC professor George Junne’s last name.
