Meeker CO, The Beginning

After the massacre of Nathan C. Meeker, White River Indian agent, and his agency by the White River Ute Indians on September 29, 1879 the army moved up river to the present site of Meeker. Here they established a permanent military camp barracks, barns, officers’ quarters and other buildings. In the late summer of 1883, the Government started “pulling up stakes” and auctioned off all the buildings to settlers eager to homestead. The town was incorporated in 1885 and remained the only incorporated area in northwestern Colorado for the next twenty years. J.W. Hugus, John C. Davis, Newton Major and Dana Thayer (J.W. Hugus and Company) George S. Allsebrook, William H. Clark, James L. McHatton, Frank E. Sheridan and Mrs. S.C. Wright “the mother of Meeker” can all be credited to founding the historical and quaint town that still charms so many visitors even today.