AURA

Our Coronado seems a bit edgy about the romantic story of the pioneers opening up the west. But I have a soft spot in my heart for Horace Greeley because long before I came along, he had a soft spot in his heart for a communal living experiment in Oneida, New York that had turned out nicely in the mid 1800s. His idea was to imitate it in the west and give the unemployed of New York City a new start in life. He just used the newspaper he started as a trumpet to get them going. So he sent Nathan Meeker, his agriculture editor at the paper, to set up a Utopian agricultural settlement he called Union Colony, though Meeker decided to name it after Greeley. A nice tribute. Anyway, it’s still agricultural and still going strong, though it’s not any more communal than anything else now in America. You ought to go to The Meeker Museum or at least read about it in this note’s links to get the full story. I will admit, though, it didn’t get started till 1869, after the building of the railroad made it an easier trip.

●Horace Greeley, social reformer

●Union Colony, Meeker's utopian experiment

●Meeker Home / Museum - Intro, Exhibits, Directions, Hours, Tours

●10 day weather forecast