Greeley, Colorado

Greeley is the home rule city that is the county seat of, and the most populous municipality in, Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 17.12% since the 2010 United States census. Greeley is the tenth most populous city in Colorado. Greeley is the principal city of the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Greeley is located in northern Colorado and is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. The city is a college town, home to the University of Northern Colorado and Aims Community College.

History

Union Colony

Greeley began as the Union Colony of Colorado, which was founded in 1869 by Nathan C. Meeker, an agricultural reporter for the New York Tribune, as an experimental utopian farming community "based on temperance, religion, agriculture, education and family values," with the backing of the Tribunes editor Horace Greeley, who had visited Colorado in the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush and had popularized the phrase "Go West, young man". A committee which included Meeker and former Civil War general Robert Alexander Cameron traveled to Colorado to find a suitable site, and purchased 12,000 acres at the confluence of the Cache la Poudre and South Platte Rivers. The site, formerly known as the "Island Grove Ranch", included the area of Latham, an Overland Trail station, and was halfway between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado along the tracks of the Denver Pacific Railroad.
By May, 500 people had arrived to take up residence in the new colony. The name Union Colony was later changed to Greeley in honor of Horace Greeley.

Latham

Greeley is located just west of the area previously occupied by the Overland Trail station originally called Cherokee City. The Cherokee City, Colorado, post office operated from November 25, 1862, until November 25, 1863, when the name was changed to Latham. The Latham station, which was also known as Fort Latham, was 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. It is believed that the birth of the first white child born in Colorado, a girl, occurred there. Fort Latham was the headquarters of the government troops during the Indian conflicts of 1860–1864. Latham served as the Weld County seat from 1868 to 1870, when the county seat was moved to Evans. The Latham post office was also moved to Evans on May 16, 1870.

Later history

The Greeley, Colorado, post office opened on April 21, 1870,
and the Town of Greeley was incorporated on November 15, 1885.
Greeley was built on farming and agriculture, but kept up with most modern technologies as they grew. Telephones were in town by 1883 with electric lights downtown by 1886. Automobiles were on the roads alongside horse drawn buggies by 1910. A Women's Citizens League was established there to support female suffrage.
In 1922, KFKA became one of the first radio stations to broadcast in the U.S. The Greeley Municipal Airport was built in 1928.
Greeley housed two prisoner of war camps in 1943, during World War II. One was for German POWs and the other was for Italian POWs.
A vote to allow the sale of alcohol passed by a mere 477 votes in 1969, thus ending temperance in the city.
The Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra was started in 1911. In 1958, Greeley became the first city to have a Department of Culture.
On December 12, 2006, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement staged a coordinated predawn raid at the Swift & Co. meat packing plant in Greeley and at five other Swift plants in western states, interviewing undocumented workers and transporting hundreds off in buses.
In June 2012, Greeley became the first city in the state of Colorado to implement SB11-273, known as the Law of Common Consumption, allowing for patrons of the Downtown Greeley Entertainment District to buy drinks in "Go-Cups" from participating downtown establishments.
On May 28, 2024, a severe hailstorm impacted the eastern side of the city, covering some areas in over one foot of hail and causing one fatality. Mayor John Gates signed a local disaster declaration due to major flooding and hail. City officials stated that the cost of damage to the city was over $1.45 million.

Geography

Greeley is located in the High Plains of northern Colorado about east of the Rocky Mountains and north of Denver.
Greeley is bordered on the south by the towns of Evans and Garden City. The Greeley/Evans area is bounded on the south by the South Platte River, and the Cache la Poudre River flows through north Greeley. The city is served by US Route 85 and US Route 34.
At the 2020 United States census, the city had a total area of including of water.
The nearest city with a population of over 100,000 is Fort Collins, in neighboring Larimer County.

Climate

Greeley experiences a semi-arid climate. High temperatures are generally around 90–95 °F in the summer and 40-45 °F in the winter, although significant variation occurs. The hottest days generally occur around the third week of July and the coldest in January. Nighttime lows are near 60 °F in the summer and around 15–20 °F in the winter. Record high temperatures of 112 °F have been recorded, as have record low temperatures of –25 °F. The first freeze typically occurs around October 4 and the last around May 4. Extratropical cyclones which disrupt the weather for the eastern two-thirds of the US often originate in or near Colorado, which means Greeley does not experience many fully developed storm systems. Warm fronts, sleet, and freezing rain are practically nonexistent here. In addition, the city's proximity to the Rocky Mountains and lower elevation, compared to the mountains west of the city, result in less precipitation and fewer thunderstorms. This is paradoxical, because adjacent areas experience between 7 and 9 hail days per year.
The climate in Greeley, as well as all of Colorado, is extremely dry. The Chinook winds coming off the mountains often raise temperatures to near 70 °F in January and February, and sometimes to near 90 °F in April. Greeley's elevation and low year-round humidity means that nighttime low temperatures are practically never above 68 °F, even in the hottest part of the summer. The diurnal temperature range is usually rather wide, with a 50-degree difference between daytime highs and nighttime lows not uncommon, especially in the spring and fall. Rapid day-to-day and diurnal fluctuation in temperature is also common.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2021 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, there were 109,340 people and 38,381 households in the city. The age distribution shows 80,882 residents are age 18 and older and 28,458 residents are under 18 years of age. The age distribution of the population showed 30.1% from 0 to 19, 8.8% from 20 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 21% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% ages 65+. The median age was 31.7 years old. The gender distribution was 48.2% male and 51.8% female. For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.
The racial makeup of the city was 64.1% White, 2.8% Black or African American, 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 13% from other races, and 17.3% who identified as two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 43.8% of the population.
Out of 38,381 total households, 26,460 were family households where at least one member of the household was related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. 11,921 households were non-family households consisting of people living alone and households which did not have any members related to the householder. Of the 26,460 family households, 12,578 had children under the age of 18 living with them.
The population density was. There were 40,510 housing units at an average density of.
The median income for a household in the city was $64,853, and the median income for a family was $75,477. Males had a median, full-time income of $52,730 versus $44,348 for females. The per capita income for the city was $30,195.
13.8% of families and 17.4% of the population had income below the poverty line during the 12 months prior to being surveyed. For people with incomes below the poverty line, 20.5% of those were under age 18 and 9.1% were age 65 or over.
Of Greeley residents age 25 and over, 23% were high school graduates and 26% had a bachelor's degree or higher.

Economy

Among the companies based in Greeley are the meatpacker JBS USA, the contractor Hensel Phelps Construction, and the Colorado/Kansas operations of natural gas utility Atmos Energy.
In August 2010, Leprino Foods announced plans for a new $270 million factory in Greeley. Construction began in July 2010, and consisted of three phases. The final phase was finished in 2017, and 500 people are currently employed at the facility.

Largest employers by numbers of employees

According to the city's annual list of top employers, the following are the largest employers in Greeley as of May 1, 2023:

#	Employer	# of employees
1	JBS USA	5,141
2	Banner Health / North Colorado Medical Center	4,558
3	Greeley-Evans School District 6	2,258
4	Weld County	1,823
5	University of Northern Colorado	1,221
6	City of Greeley	1,145
7	University of Colorado Health	1,030
8	State Farm	857
9	Aims Community College	817
10	North Range Behavioral Health	560