A brief history of Highlandlake
In late June of 1871, Lorin Cassandre Mead and his wife, Elizabeth, stepped off the
stage in front of the “Old Colony Building,” and surveyed the dusty main
street of the recently established Chicago-Colorado Colony. Only a few
months old, the colony, soon to be known as Longmont, already boasted four
or perhaps five hundred citizens, “full of faith in the enterprise so
auspiciously commenced.”
Read more about Highlandlake's history.
School
The Highlandlake school had its beginnings in 1877 when L.
C. Mead called a meeting, held in the Oviatt home, for the purpose of discussing a school district. By a voice vote of 23 -
0, it was decided to petition the County for a school district. The County obliged and
School District 33 was formed later that year. Read more about the Highlandlake school.
Agriculture
Agriculture was the original reason that Highlandlake came to
be. When L. C. Mead first homesteaded this area, his original plan was to raise
sheep There is no evidence that he ever did this, but instead decided to grow
wheat instead. The first year he planted 80 acres of wheat, and within a few
years had brought the Highland Ditch down from near Lyons, enlarged the lake and
built a dike on the south shore of the lake. Read
more about agriculture
Business
By 1905 Highlandlake had
several businesses to be proud of. The oldest store in the
community was Ritchie's Grocery founded in 1897. M. S. Adams
opened in 1902 on the north shore of the lake. Read
more about Highlandlake businesses.
1883 was a busy year for Highlandlake. The little village was growing and the services of a post office were not only desired, but necessary for the flourishing little community. On November 11, 1883, the first post office was opened with William Henry Oviatt appointed as Postmaster, and Highlandlake finally had a place of its own on the map. Read more about the Highlandlake post office.
General Articles
- Bio's and Articles About Highlandlake Pioneers
- Obituaries of Highlandlake and Mead Pioneers (some later residents as well)
- 1904 Business Directory
- 1911 Business Directory
Some news articles about Highlandlake, the church and cemetery - Past and Present
- New - Selected excerpts from the 1895 Longmont Ledger's Highlandlake column.
- New - Selected excerpts from the 1896 Longmont Ledger's Highlandlake column.
- New - Selected excerpts from the 1897 Longmont Ledger's Highlandlake column.
- The Beautiful Highlandlake Country June 4, 1903
- Many Highlandlake Pioneers Enjoy Pleasant Day of Good Fellowship - 1928 Pioneer Reunion
- Paul Mead's Railroad song written to entice the farmers to grow sugar beets.
- A Town Lives On (offsite)
- Spring storm causes structural problems for historic church (offsite)
- Gilcrest kids raise $1,000 for cemetery (offsite)
- Vandals wreck historic cemetery (offsite)
This page was updated on November 15, 2009