Dearfield, CO: A Town Forgotten Kristal Wood Hist. 521 Dr. Anne Millbrooke October 8, 2012

Contents History History Continued Ghost town Preservation Efforts in the past Preservation Efforts today Dearfield Dream Project Bibliography

History Oliver Toussaint Jackson had a dream that African Americans would one day be independent from whites In 1910 he filed on a plat of land in northern Colorado that he wanted to use to start an all- black farming community In 1911 Dearfield was born

History Continued Seven families moved to Dearfield the first year, only two of which knew anything about farming The first winter was devastating to the community; three of six horses died (the others were too weak to even pull an empty wagon) and only two families had framed homes The settlers did not know to stock pile supplies and ran out of fresh produce by the middle of winter.

History Continued The next few years the settlers learned how to dry irrigate their farms (the river was over five miles away) and became marginally successful The Great War struck America in 1917 and this meant inflated prices on produce from farms. With a bolstered economy many settlers bought homes, equipment and other things on credit At the end of the war the economy went back down and many Dearfield residents went into default on their loans

History Continued In 1918 the Dearfield community reached its height and had over 700 settlers living in the area. There was a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, two churches, a lunchroom, lodge and every resident had a home. With many residents defaulting on their loans however, people started selling their farms and moving back to Denver or St. Louis

History Continued The community saw a steady dwindling of numbers until the Great Depression in With the crash of the economy most residents had to abandon their farms The Dust Bowl was the fatal blow to the community and by 1940 the US Census only listed Dearfield as having one resident, O.T. Jackson (he finally left in 1946).

Ghost Town A niece of O.T. Jackson’s moved into Dearfield in the 1950’s and stayed until her death in 1973 when Dearfield was officially abandoned and no living person resided there The filling station continued to be run and maintained by new buyers, but the town was abandoned and the buildings left to decay

Ghost Town With no living person at the town site the buildings became rotted and started falling in on themselves. The wells for the town dried up and are no longer visible, except by ground penetrating radar Most of the buildings collapsed although the lunchroom, blacksmith shop, filling station and O.T. Jackson’s house still stand

Preservation Efforts in the Past In the mid 90’s there was talk about making Dearfield into a living history museum, but funds were needed to accomplish that goal The Black American West Museum bought several parcels of the land that was Dearfield and planned to stabilize and reconstruct the buildings The site of Dearfield was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994

Preservation Efforts Today In 2008 a Dearfield Committee was formed with the intent of promoting the site of Dearfield for its centennial celebration in 2010 A commemorative stone was placed at the site at the ceremony and Dearfield finally had a marker telling people what the abandoned buildings represented Stabilizing beams and cables were placed on the lunchroom to keep the walls from further collapsing in on each other Plexi glass was put over the windows on O.T. Jackson’s house, as well as a new roof

Dearfield Dream Project In 2011 the University of Northern Colorado partnered with Colorado State University to start the Dearfield Dream Project The purpose of the project is to collect data, artifacts, documents and photographs of Dearfield to put into a collection at the library A field archaeology school was conducted at the site during June and July 2011

Dearfield Dream Project Goals of the project: – Preserve the Dearfield town site as an important cultural resource – Increase knowledge of Dearfields contribution to African American Independence between the Civil War and WWII – Communicate to school children the lessons that can be learned from O.T. Jackson about perseverance and fighting for a dream

Bibliography Brunswig, Bob, PhD. “Dearfield: Archaeological and Historic Guide to Town Buildings and Plan.” Paper presented at the Dearfield Dream Project at the UNC archaeological field school, Greeley, Colorado June and July 2012 Center for Engaged Research and Civic Action, “Dearfield Dream Project,” University of Northern Colorado, dearfield%20information.html (accessed October 8, 2012). dearfield%20information.html Jessen, Kenneth. Ghost Towns. Loveland, CO: J.V. Publications, National Register Bulletin. “How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation,” US. Department of the Interior, Park Service, (Accessed October 5, 2012). Waddell, Karen. “Dearfield…A Dream Deferred,” Colorado Heritage 2 (1988): 2-12.