Weld County’s Dearfield draws more interest on annual Dearfield Day ...Saudi Arabia

Music again rang out at Dearfield last weekend.

A gospel group from Denver, including a descendant of a Dearfield resident, was part of the 17th annual Dearfield Day dedicated to awareness and work at the Weld County location, once home to a vibrant and thriving predominantly Black agricultural community.

More than 100 years later, Dearfield continues to live a second life — even in times of financial uncertainty for work based on history, study and preservation.

Backed by two dedicated University of Northern Colorado professors, the university at large, Colorado State University and a preservation committee, Dearfield celebrated an annual milestone over the weekend. CSU, with origins as an agricultural school, lent expertise on farming practices dating to the early 20th century.

Dearfield descendant Dawn Woods-Sapp is a member of the Gospel Harmony choir. She also serves on the Dearfield Preservation Committtee, the group behind the annual Dearfield Day. The committee was formed in 2008 by attorney Bill Garcia, then a Weld County commissioner. The committee was formed as an advisory group to the property owner of the majority of the land at Dearfield, the Black American West Museum in Denver.

Woods-Sapp spoke briefly Saturday about the importance of gospel music at Dearfield and within Black communities. Music at Dearfield was also a topic of discussion at the annual Dearfield conference held in the spring.

“It continues to be a thriving piece of our music to this day,” Woods-Sapp said. “When I think of what my ancestors went through with migration to Colorado, I get excited. People lost their lives to be free.”

About 100 people participated in Saturday’s Dearfield Day at the site on U.S. 34, about 25 miles east of Greeley.

“People are starting to come back to Dearfield again,” said Chris Bowles, director of Greeley Museums and a member of the Dearfield Preservation Committee. “That’s amazing.”

Founded as a Black agricultural community by entrepreneur and businessman O.T. Jackson, Dearfield had about 200-300 residents in its heyday into the early 1930s. An Ohio native, Jackson spent his adult life in Colorado. He worked for governors before finding his way to Weld County.

The two main buildings remaining are the former filling station and O.T. Jackson’s house. Both of these structures have benefitted from grant funding over the years, helping the preservationists prepare the buildings for visitors as part of an educational site.

Saturday’s Dearfield Day included tours and volunteers working on taking down other buildings, including the former lunchroom cafe. A program was held in the afternoon, during which there was a performance by the Denver Gospel Harmony Choir and a question-and-answer session with Dearfield experts.

George Junne, a professor of Africana Studies at UNC, and Robert Brunswig, a retired anthropology professor, are among the site’s experts. Brunswig is now a professor emeritus and research fellow. The two have been researching and studying Dearfield for more than 30 years.

“I think we have enough momentum, and I think it will continue,” Brunswig said of work at the site and Dearfield’s future. “It’s going to be slower. It takes a lot of funding, and it’s becoming scarce.”

The Dearfield advocates might soon begin to look at foundations willing to set up an endowment to help support the site’s future, Brunswig said. Grants related to Dearfield run through UNC because of Brunswig’s experience in grant writing, which is a big part of academia. UNC works with the Black American West Museum at the site, and has the permission of the museum to manage the grants.

Dearfield is currently benefitting from a $100,00 grant from the Weld Community Foundation for infrastructure work at the filling station.

There are two active grants in the works from the National Park Service. One for about $743,000 was awarded in June 2024. The money from this grant will also go toward work at the filling station. Brunswig said the building could be ready as a visitors center within two years.

Another NPS grant of about $700,000 was awarded in July. This grant will allow for work at the house of founder O.T. Jackson

In 2023, the National Park Service began a study on potentially adding Dearfield to the park system. If Dearfield is accepted, it will become one of about 36 sites in the park service related to Black and African American heritage. No announcement of the study’s results have been issued by the NPS, Brunswig said.

The Dearfield Preservation Committee is in talks with Weld County to add a historic agricultural overlay district at the townsite. This level of county code would allow for Dearfield uses to be expanded for historic preservation and education, Garcia said.

Junne also expressed enthusiasm about the turnout at the annual day. He added the history of Dearfield is an “interconnection of people, Black and white.” People of different backgrounds and races danced together at Dearfield, and area farmers helped one another.

“The more we know about Dearfield, the better it is,” Junne said. “It’s enjoyable to see all these people, old and young, bringing their kids out and learning about Dearfield.”

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