Cranford Neighborhood Historic Survey

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Consultation has concluded

The City of Greeley received a Certified Local Government grant from History Colorado to conduct a historic resource survey in the Cranford neighborhood, specifically in the area bound by 14th and 16th Streets and 10th and 12th Avenues. The intent of the survey is to gather information and document the history and architectural character of 72 select properties within the area. The survey will also help identify properties that may be eligible for designation on the Greeley Historic Register. In addition to the official survey, Greeley's Historic Preservation team is asking current and former residents or visitors to share what they know about properties and buildings in the survey area.

Know a little or a lot about a home in the survey area? Let us know. Maybe what you know isn't about a building, but an experience you, a friend, or a family member have had. Click the stories tab and tell us all about it. Stories are a critical piece of history that must be shared and captured.

The City of Greeley received a Certified Local Government grant from History Colorado to conduct a historic resource survey in the Cranford neighborhood, specifically in the area bound by 14th and 16th Streets and 10th and 12th Avenues. The intent of the survey is to gather information and document the history and architectural character of 72 select properties within the area. The survey will also help identify properties that may be eligible for designation on the Greeley Historic Register. In addition to the official survey, Greeley's Historic Preservation team is asking current and former residents or visitors to share what they know about properties and buildings in the survey area.

Know a little or a lot about a home in the survey area? Let us know. Maybe what you know isn't about a building, but an experience you, a friend, or a family member have had. Click the stories tab and tell us all about it. Stories are a critical piece of history that must be shared and captured.

Tell Us Your Cranford Story

Every place has a story. Whether it's an empty lot, a gas station, a fence, a front porch, or a home...spaces tell us something important about where a community or neighborhood has been and where it might be going. Have a photo or story about the Cranford neighborhood you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you. 

Thank you for sharing your story with us. We will add what you have shared to our ongoing historical documents. If you recall something you forgot to share, please don't hesitate to visit the Speak Up Greeley website again. 

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.
  • Share Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue on Facebook Share Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue on Twitter Share Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue on Linkedin Email Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue link

    Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue

    by NMS, over 3 years ago

    My grandparents, father and aunt, lived in the Cranford neighborhood. I wanted to share a little history about them and their time in the house in the 1940s and 1950s. I gathered this history through my genealogical research and stories that my dad told me.

    The Stevens family lived in the home at 1513 11th Avenue from 1942 until the mid to late 1950s.

    Theodore (Ted) Stevens (1899-1969) and Marie Sundby (1902-1964) met at the University of Wisconsin in the 1920s when they were students. The couple were both raised in Norwegian immigrant farming families in Wisconsin. They married in... Continue reading

    My grandparents, father and aunt, lived in the Cranford neighborhood. I wanted to share a little history about them and their time in the house in the 1940s and 1950s. I gathered this history through my genealogical research and stories that my dad told me.

    The Stevens family lived in the home at 1513 11th Avenue from 1942 until the mid to late 1950s.

    Theodore (Ted) Stevens (1899-1969) and Marie Sundby (1902-1964) met at the University of Wisconsin in the 1920s when they were students. The couple were both raised in Norwegian immigrant farming families in Wisconsin. They married in 1927. Before her marriage, Marie worked as a home economics teacher. Theodore started his career with the Great Western Sugar Company as a fieldman and chemist, working until his retirement in 1964. That job sent the Stevens’ to many areas with sugar beet operations, including Council Bluffs, Iowa; Sterling, Colorado and Lovell, Wyoming. While in Lovell, the couple had two children, a daughter, Jeane (1932), and a son, Thomas (Tom) (1935-2011).

    In 1942, the Great Western Sugar Company transferred Ted to a new city, Greeley, Colorado. The family purchased the large house at 1513 11th Avenue. The house had more than enough room for a family of four. The family had winter and summer bedrooms as one side of the house was warm in the winter, and the other was cool in the summer. They kept their summer clothes in the summer bedroom and the winter clothes in the winter bedroom.

    The Greeley Hospital on the corner of 11th and 16th was located across the street. The neighborhood kids, including Tom and Jeane, would sometimes peek in the hospital windows hoping to see a live surgery.

    While they lived in the house, the Stevens family was active in the Greeley community. They were all members of the Trinity Episcopal Church. They enjoyed visiting the mountains and pursuing outdoor activities such as golfing, fishing and skiing.

    Theodore was part of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra (GPO), where he played the viola. He served as GPO Board of Directors President in 1945 and continued as a board member until 1950. Ted was also a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, Greeley Elks Lodge, and Occidental Lodge, as well as a master of the Masonic Lodge.

    Most of Marie’s work involved caring for the house and children. From time to time, she worked at the sugar factory weighing beets and at Greeley High teaching home economics. Marie was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority and was active in alumni work. She was also a member of the American University Women Association.

    The kids attended Cameron Elementary, Greeley Junior High School and Greeley High School (Greeley Central).

    Jeane was popular in high school, was involved in many activities, and graduated in 1950. She was a homecoming queen, cheerleader, majorette, and prom queen candidate. Other of her high school activities included student council, pep club, drama, orchestra and more.

    Tom was more laid back but excelled at sports, including tennis and basketball. He was also a freshman on the high school football team and sang in the choir and glee club. Tom was the paperboy in the Cranford neighborhood during his teen years, delivering the Greeley Tribune. He began collecting comic books at this time and continued this hobby for the rest of his life.

    By 1955, both children had graduated from high school. Jeane attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. Tom went to Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, for junior college and joined the Army in 1958. After the Stevens parents became empty nesters, they moved to a smaller home in the Glenmere area, 1804 15th Avenue.

    I hope you enjoyed this little history. Let me know if you have any questions.

    Natalie Stevens

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    Story from Michael

    over 3 years ago

    Hello..

    It's been a long time since my childhood days in Greeley. Reading in the Tribune that you are seeking input regarding this neighborhood, I'd like to weigh in briefly. If I can be brief?

    I attended kindergarten at the lab school at CSCE and then graduated from CSC in 1963. In 1990 I created an art project to commemorate Cranford Hall, the first building on the now UNC campus. My roots are deep.

    History and tradition, from reports I've heard and read seem to be falling away from my old home town.

    My recent project to encourage high school... Continue reading

    Hello..

    It's been a long time since my childhood days in Greeley. Reading in the Tribune that you are seeking input regarding this neighborhood, I'd like to weigh in briefly. If I can be brief?

    I attended kindergarten at the lab school at CSCE and then graduated from CSC in 1963. In 1990 I created an art project to commemorate Cranford Hall, the first building on the now UNC campus. My roots are deep.

    History and tradition, from reports I've heard and read seem to be falling away from my old home town.

    My recent project to encourage high school students to explore the dates between 1945 and 1968 went up in the Grace Dawson Auditorium last spring. This project is currently looking for a new home.

    An early love of my life, Holly Hillway, lived with her family at 16th Street and 12th Avenue. Her dad was a professor at the college. Holly and I graduated from Greeley High in 1959.

    Progress.. with the expansion of the City of Greeley (where 23rd Avenue was just about the edge of town ) to Loveland !! is a shocker. I was in the first class to be promoted from Heath to GHS in 1956.

    All of this is to say, that my memories of the simple town with wide streets and churches on every corner and trees!! must find a way to be preserved.

    "Progress" has a way. .in time. of caving in on itself. I was sad..years ago.. to learn of the 'mall' that went up in south Greeley, essentially starving the historic downtown that I loved.

    What is the vision that folks have? Is real estate so profitable that destruction of the past is inevitable in the future to allow developers to make money?

    Of course, I'm long gone now. The Greeley that I loved and grew up in is fading fast. I guess my essential input is that these old homes in the area you are doing a study for must be preserved to retain the essence of what Greeley was intended to be. A very nice town.

    I've just flashed on the Number Three Ditch! A special and dangerous bike path from my house to Meeker Jr. High in the fifties. Cameron School where the GHS wrestlers worked out.. a chilly jog from the high school to that gym. Memories.

    Cities are okay.. and Greeley long ago was burgeoning as a 'City.' But.. hanging on to the foundation of what Nathan Meeker and his gang had in mind, it seems to me.. may not be 'profitable'.. but, hopefully.. worth the effort.

    Sincerely,

    Michael Sheehan

    Greeley High School 1959

    Colorado State College 1963