Mead Area Historical Society

Discover our History

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Mead

Mead was first platted in the fall of 1905 by Paul Martin Mead, nephew of Lorin C Mead, founder of Highlandlake. The first lots were sold the last week of December, 1905, and by the time the plat was filed with Weld County on February 19, 1906, a total of 35 lots were sold.

Mead officially became a town when it was chartered on March 17, 1908, and continued to grow until the depression hit in 1928. After that, progress slowed down until in the late 1980s, the population was only about 600. In the Mid-1990s, subdivisions started coming in and since then the population burgeoned. By the beginning of 2021, the population had risen to over 4,000, with more large subdivisions in the works. for more information about the Town of Mead Tap here:

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Mount Zion

Mount Zion was once located at the intersection of what is now Colorado Highway 66 and County Road 7. The community was named for the Mt. Zion United Brethren church that was located at the intersection of what is now Colorado Highway 66 and Weld County Road 7.

The church congregation moved to Mead in 1907, leaving the building behind. Eventually it was sold to the Catholic church and moved to Mead in November of 1911.

By the time the church moved, the Mt. Zion community had ceased to exist. Most people referred to it as Liberty Hall, which was actually a mile down the road to the west. Tap Here:

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Liberty Hall

Originally known as Liberty, it later became known as Liberty Hall because of the Liberty Hall Grange, named by Millie Kirby Webb.

The community, while never large, once hosted a school, a grange, blacksmith shop, grocery store, and gas station. Now all that remains are a few homes and the second schoolhouse built in 1926. This building later housed the grange, and is now a Masonic Lodge.

People started settling in the Liberty area in the mid. 1870s. By the 1890s, there were enough people living in the area, that Lewis Rinn moved his store from Highlandlake. He later moved yet again several miles southeast and established the Rinn community. He died in 1908. Tap here.

Pearl Howlett

Pearl Howlett was located near the intersection of Weld County roads 32 and 13 and was the 28th in Weld county, when it was organized in 1874.

The school was closed about 1948 and moved a few years later to the Mead Consolidated Schools grounds where over the years it was used to accommodate several different elementary school classes.

After the Consolidated school was torn down, the building was moved to the Boulder Scientific property were it sat for several decades. It was torn down a few years ago. for more information tap here:

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Highlandlake

Highlandlake. Founded in 1871 by Lorin Cassandre Mead, on the shores of a buffalo wallow he named Highland Lake. By 1877 there were enough families in the area to form a school.

Highlandlake continued to grow until 1906 when the railroad bypassed them about about a mile and a half to the southeast. The village became known as Highlandlake, supposedly to differentiate it from the lake. A new town named Mead was platted by the railroad's beet dump, and from that time on, Highlandlake grew smaller until now, it is a wide spot in the road consisting of a historic church, a few old homes mixed in with newer ones, and of course the lake. For more information, visit their website.

Berthoud

Berthoud and the Mead Community had and still has close ties. Those who lived north of Mead, often went shopping there for items that were not available in the town. Others moved to Berthoud from the Highlandlake and Mead areas or as in the case of some families, such as the McCormick's and Dokes, people moved to Mead.

For more information on Berthoud visit the Berthoud Historical Society's website or Facebook page.