In 1869, New York Tribune agricultural editor Nathan Meeker packed up his family—and righteous family values—and took his boss’ advice to go west, young man (advice his boss, Horace Greeley, never followed beyond a visit).

In the plains of Colorado Territory, Meeker built the Union Colony, a “utopian society” steeped in guiding principles like temperance, cooperation, education, and faith. Meeker’s sensibilities also “stocked” the town, like Noah did his ark, ensuring one of every species: farmer, doctor, tailor, cobbler, etc.

I settled into the Union Colony (long since renamed Greeley) in 1970, at age 2, for that formative decade-and-a-half that brands a place home and grew to know a town of incongruities.

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