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Dearfield, Colorado
After the Civil War, Black families came West, establishing self-sufficient all-Black towns, filling every job from barber to teacher, doctor to state legislator. One such all-Black town was Dearfield, Colorado. Founded in 1910 by O.T. Jackson, it was named for the sentiment that the first settlers felt towards the land and the colony.
Dearfield introduced dryland farming to Colorado and became a vibrant and thriving community with an aggregate land value of $750,000 at its peak. It had a school, two churches, a doctor's office, a filling station and a lunchroom.
Dearfield has significance because it represents the national Black American colonization movement established for promoting self-sufficiency and land ownership. It also records the contributions in the settlement of the West and records the efforts of a leader and entrepreneur in Colorado Black history at the beginning of the last century.
The Great Depression and a drought that lasted throughout the 1930s took a devastating toll on Dearfield. By 1940, the population had diminished to twelve. O.T. Jackson later died in 1948.
Today the Black American West Museum proudly owns the majority of the towns lots and is seeking to preserve, protect and tell the story of this historical town.
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