The bronze bust of Nathan C Meeker is dressed in period clothing (1880s). He is wearing a coarse cloth button up shirt, buttoned vest and woolen open coat with notched collar. A narrow scarf is tied in a bow at his throat. He is gazing into the distance. The plinth is rectangular covered in stucco. There is an adjacent flagpole. A bronze plaque is affixed to the plinth that reads...
In memory of
NATHAN COOK MEEKER
Founder of the Union Colony of
Colorado and the City of Greeley
Erected by friends and Admirers,
and dedicated by the Society of
Union Colony Pioneers A.D. 1918
"I propose to unite with the proper persons
in the establishment of a colony on Colorado
Territory with persons whom I would
be willing to associate must be temperance
men and ambitious to establish good society."
N.C.Meeker in New York Tribune, Dec. 4, A.D. 1869
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"Individuals may rise or fall, may live
or die, property may be lost or gained.
But the colony, as a whole, will prosper,
and the spot on which we labor, shall,
as long as the world stands, be the
center of intelligence and activity."
Mr. Meeker in first issue of The Greeley Tribune, Nov. 16, A.D. 1870
"Nathan Cook Meeker (July 12, 1817 – September 30, 1879) was a 19th-century American journalist, homesteader, entrepreneur, and Indian agent for the federal government. He is noted for his founding in 1870 of the Union Colony, a cooperative agricultural colony in present-day Greeley, Colorado.
In 1878, he was appointed U.S. Agent at the White River Indian Agency in western Colorado. The next year, he was killed by Ute warriors in what became known as the Meeker Massacre. His wife and adult daughter were taken captive for about three weeks. In 1880, the United States Congress passed punitive legislation to remove the Ute from Colorado to Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in present-day Utah, and take away most of the land guaranteed them by treaty.
The town of Meeker, Colorado and Mount Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park are named for him. (from (
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The Bloody End Of Meeker’s Utopia (written in 1957-may contain outdated stereotypes) (
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Much more information about Meeker's death may be found at this Waymark - Battle of Milk Creek/River - Thornburgh, CO, USA (https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wmYDN5_Battle_of_Milk_Creek_River_Thornburgh_CO_USA ) and Meeker Massacre - Meeker, CO, USA (https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wmYDN8_Meeker_Massacre_Meeker_CO_USA ). As with any history, the actual events are much greater than just the killing of N.C. Meeker.