|
This was part of an interview conducted by Lynn Wagoner, a student at
Mead Middle School in 1980. She interviewed Nick Sekich, Sr. who spoke
about growing up and living in Mead for 70 years.
"I have lived in the Mead
area for 70 years and I have seen many changes that have taken place.
Mead used to be a pretty big town for its size. They had hitchposts for
the horses and garages for the teacher in the school to put their
buggies in. There wasn't just one school at Mead there were also many
schools surrounding Mead. There was [Highlandlake], Pearl Howlett, and
Liberty Hall. In 1918* the Mead School was built. They bought two buses
for transportation but many kids had to walk pretty far. The buses went
only around Highlandlake. Later on, they made a contract to so southward
to pick up kids. Before they built the new school, they had a school on
Main Street [WCR 7] in which they had first through eighth grade. The
first year they built the high school, there was an enrollment of 170
kids in first through high school grades.
"Yes, it is surprising
how Mead has almost vanished. Why, they had a lumber yard which had much
(sic) business! They had three filling stations and they even had a
hamburger shop right across from the old school. The hamburger shop was
owned and run by Mrs. Cotton Johnson. Mead has always had two churches,
Guardian Angel and Mead United Methodist Church. Mead even had a jail
which was run by Ed Johnson. The funny thing is, that the only person he
put in jail was his own son!
"Mead had many factories,
a hay mill, and a pea factory. The Pea Factory was used just to shell
peas and then they were canned in Longmont. Mead had a shipyard to ship
cattle out to places. Tom Young owned a pool hall which was there for
many years. ** Later he sold it to Grove Roberts. Mead had a printing
press. They called their newspaper, The Mead Gazette. (Mr. Brust owned
the printing press).
"Mead was originally
started at Highlandlake. The name "Mead" came from Mrs. Johnson's
grandfather, who was an early settler.
"Boy, was that fun when I
went out and played basketball, danced, and roller skated in the old red
tin shed on Main Street! We had so much fun. They always had a Saturday
Matinee on weekends. This building was called the Roman Hall.
"There were many other
businesses. Mead had a drug store which was run by Sniders, a Mead
hotel, Mead Library, J. W. McCormick store. There was one doctor in Mead
and his name was Dr. Climber.
"I feel that Mead has
grown in population but not in business. I feel if they pave the
streets, maybe the population would grow! There are more people in Mead,
but Mead has a fine community!"
* The school was actually
built in 1917, but the first classes were not held there until spring
1918.
Return to History
|
