Lore, whims live on in Greeley park names

Mike Peters

Greeley, Colo., May 5 - Greeley is known for its parks, and many of their namesakes played key roles in the history of the town. While many of the parks have a historical significance, others were simply named by the developer who built the housing subdivision that surrounds the park and wanted a catchy name.

The Greeley Tribune

 
 

Longtime Greeley home developer Clifford Clift said it best: "People want to be able to tell others where they live, using names with pizzazz, like Pheasant Run or Woodbriar or Westmoor. Names like Skunk Hollow Subdivision wouldn't go over very well."

Actually, we think Skunk Hollow Park would be an excellent name.

Allen Park, 49th Avenue and 9th Street: Built in 1987, the park was named for Grace Norcross Allen, a local poet and historian.

She wrote a series of articles in The Greeley Tribune from 1945-48 about historical characters and events in Weld County.

Anna Gimmestad Memorial Park, 19th Avenue and 31st Street: At only 2 years old, little Anna Gimmestad was a victim of E-coli from a non-pasteurized Odwalla drink. Her death got national attention, and Odwalla changed its processing system because of the incident. Her parents refused to sue the company, which was also big news, so the company paid for development of the park in Anna's name.

Bittersweet Park, 35th Avenue and 13th Street: One of Greeley's largest parks, its name first came from the Bittersweet Lateral irrigation ditch built in 1902. The entire area now goes by the same name, including the park, the subdivision and a shopping center. Speculation is that the two developers of the ditch 100 years ago ran into several problems, thus making it a "bittersweet" experience.

Brentwood Park, 24th Avenue and 25th Street Road: This is a park named after a housing division, Brentwood, which began in 1963. It's unknown where the developer came up with the name. Broadview Park, 28th Avenue and 6th Street: Another subdivision park, but this one could have received its name from the "broad view" of the park, which was at first just one large plot of grass. At the time, the city manager of Greeley in 1960 thought that trees merely interfered with a park, and so none were planted.

Centennial Park, 23rd Avenue and 22nd Street: Named in 1970, the name celebrated the 100th birthday, or centennial, of Greeley.

Cottonwood Park, 26th Avenue and 18th Street: Now surrounded by exclusive homes, the park was once just Cottonwood Lake, a lovers' lane for teens. Most likely, it was named for the numerous cottonwood trees that surround the pond. It officially became a city park in the early 1960s.

Delta Park, 2nd Avenue and 22nd Street: The "Delta" was an early name for the area of southeast Greeley between the Poudre and South Platte rivers. It began as a settlement called Agricola in 1859, 11 years before Greeley was founded. The settlement was eventually surrounded and incorporated into Greeley, but the name "Delta" is retained in the park.

East Memorial Park, 2100 Balsam Ave.: Next to the school of the same name, East Memorial's name is a tribute to the 20 students killed in a school bus-train accident in 1961, probably the worst disaster in Greeley history.

Epple Park, 43rd Avenue and 4th Street: Andy Epple was a longtime gardener in Greeley in the 1920s and he won over a lot of customers and friends. When the park was established in the 1970s, it was named in his honor.

Farr Park, 13th Avenue and 26th Street: Named for the Farr family in Greeley, owners of Farr Farm, which was in south Greeley. The area was purchased, and the Hillside Subdivision and Hillside Shopping Center were built. The Farr name was kept for the park.

Franklin Park, 31st Avenue and 6th Street: A park named for the school adjoining it. Of course, the school was named after Benjamin Frank-lin.

Glenmere Park, 14th Avenue and 19th Street: One of Greeley's oldest and most popular parks, the area was first suggested as a park in 1907. Two years later, a plan was adopted to dam up a stream in the area and use it for a steam generating plant to produce electricity. That didn't work, and the dam remained. Eventually, flowers, trees and grass were planted, and in the early 1930s, the Greeley Garden Club and Greeley Exchange Club promoted it to park status. The name "Glenmere" literally means a small, secluded valley.

Island Grove Regional Park, 14th Avenue and A Street: Even before Greeley was founded in 1870, the formation of an "island" created by the meandering Poudre River caused the area to be called Island Park. It was an American Indian burial site for many years, and people have found Indian beads in the area, apparently left over from the grave sites. Apparently, the "Grove" part of the name was added later because of the large number of trees in the area. It was named an official Greeley city park in 1873.

Josephine Jones Park, 2631 52nd Ave. Court: Jones was an active volunteer and leader in the Greeley community for many years. When she died in 1991, she donated her land to the city to be used as a city park. Her home on the east edge of the park is now the headquarters for the Greeley Forester's Office.

Kiwanis Park, 14th Avenue and 6th Street: This small park was established by the Greeley Kiwanis Club as a park for the people of north Greeley. It has basketball courts, a playground and picnic tables.

Leavy Park, 33rd Avenue and 22nd Street: The park is named for Greeley pioneer John Leavy, who was the Union Colony's first florist and nurseryman.

Lincoln Park, 10th Avenue and 9th Street: Named after President Abraham Lincoln, it was Greeley's first park and was plotted with the city's first plans in 1870. It once had a crescent shaped lake, called Lake Luna, but it was allowed to dry up when artesian wells were established in Greeley. Townspeople also filled the lake area with dirt to ward off a huge mosquito population downtown.

Luther Park, 21st Avenue and 10th Street: Albert Luther was the Weld County clerk and recorder from 1908-12. His family came to Greeley in 1892, and owned the property where the park is today. When Greeley City Councilman George Davis later bought the property, he donated four acres to the city for a park named after the Luther family.

Monfort Park, 47th Avenue and 21st Street: A new park, this one is characterized by the numerous large soccer balls and footballs surrounding it. The park, built for children's recreation programs, is very large and can hold several complete game fields. It is named for the Monfort School next to it, which was named in honor of Warren and Edith Monfort, both teachers in this area. Warren later started one of the largest cattle operations in the United States, Monfort Feedlots and Packing Plant.

Peak View Park, 56th Avenue and 13th Street Road: On a hill on the western edge of Greeley, this neighborhood park has an unobstructed view of Longs Peak. Hence, the name.

Pheasant Run Park, 47th Avenue and 4th Street: Developer Clifford Clift said he was looking at the area before building began in the 1970s and saw a pheasant in the cornfields there. "I'd heard of Quail Run and other subdivisions, so I thought Pheasant Run would sound nice. Besides, the name has pizzazz." When the park was built later, it took the name of the subdivision.

Rodarte Park, 9th Avenue and A Street: Jesus Rodarte, a Hispanic activist and north Greeley booster for many years, was honored when the Rodarte Center was named after him in the mid-1970s. The park next to the center also bears his name.

Rover Run Park, 51st Avenue and F Street: One of Greeley's newest and most popular parks, its name explains its purpose. It is the first dog-run park in Greeley, where owners can bring their dogs for exercise with other dogs and owners. In other Greeley parks, dogs are outlawed.

Sanborn Park, 28th Avenue and 20th Street: Once named West Lake Park, it was developed in 1963 after the city bought the land for a water retention pond. It was renamed after Burton D. Sanborn, a Greeley pioneer who trapped irrigation water in a natural depression in that area, calling it Miami Reservoir.

Sherwood Park, 29th Avenue and 13th Street: The park was named for the Sherwood School next to it, and the school was named for the Sherwood housing development in west Greeley. The origin for naming that Sherwood is unknown. While the park was built a few years later and also named Sherwood, the school's name was changed to Scott Elementary in 1969.

Sunrise Park, 4th Avenue and 11th Street: First called East Side park for the east side of Greeley, it was renamed Sunrise Park in 1930. Greeley historian Carol Shwayder recalls the park was used for the May Fete on May 1 every year by the students of Lincoln Elementary School. A May Queen from the sixth grade would be crowned every year, along with her May King, and, amid kindergartners throwing flower petals, they would take their thrones in the wooden bandstand that once stood in the park. The children of the school would then entertain with old-style costumes and skits.

Westmoor Park, 39th Avenue and 6th Street: Another subdivision developer's imaginative name, Westmoor Acres. The word, "Westmoor" could also be divided and possibly defined that way: "West," of course means it was located in west Greeley; "moor" is described in the dictionary as an open, rolling, infertile expanse of land. Maybe that describes the area better.

Woodbriar Park, 29th Avenue and 19th Street: Here's one of those developers' catchy names again. The Woodbriar Subdivision surrounds this park in west Greeley.

Why do they call it that?

This is the second of a monthly, six-part series of stories about names of places in Weld County.


April - Weld County town names
May - Greeley parks
June- Public schools
July - UNC-Aims building names
August - Rivers, lakes and geographic landmarks
September- Historic places in Weld County If you are curious about an unusually named place in Weld County, please suggest we research it by calling 352-0211, Ext. 238, or e-mail peters@greeleytrib.com
- Information for this story was provided by Greeley Municipal Museums and historians Peggy Ford, JoAnna Stull and Carol Shwayder. Special credit to Shwayder's book, "Weld County Old and New."