Free History Hour Feb. 26 Explores Life of Charley Clay, Poudre Valley Pioneer
Greeley will host a free presentation on Charley Clay on February 26 at the Greeley History Museum's Community Room, 714 8th Street. Historian Meg Dunn will lead the noon to 1 p.m. session, exploring Clay's frontier journey as a pioneering Black resident of the Cache la Poudre Valley. The event closes out Black History Month programming.
The presentation comes as Greeley works to illuminate Northern Colorado's long-buried Black frontier past through stories like Clay's, which appear in county histories but have received little public attention.
The city describes Clay as "the first African American settler in Northern Colorado." However, historians describe Clay as a pioneering Black resident of the Poudre Valley, though documentary evidence of him being the region's absolute first remains unclear. Clay had no documented ties to Greeley itself. The city is using his Poudre Valley story to highlight Northern Colorado's often-overlooked Black frontier history.
Clay lived in Laporte and later Fort Collins from the mid-1860s until his death in 1910. According to Ansel Watrous's History of Larimer County, Clay arrived in the Laporte area in fall 1865.
Over the decades, Clay worked as a cook for wagon trains and military units, operated what sources describe as the valley's first barber shop, worked at a Laporte brewery, ran a restaurant and catering business in Fort Collins, and eventually held a city contract as Fort Collins' garbage collector until about 1910.
Clay told Watrous about the dangers of frontier life: "I'm pretty black, but I tell you my skin turned white more than once in those days."
Historical accounts attribute several notable anecdotes to Clay. According to Watrous's county history, Clay cooked a meal for Ulysses S. Grant during a Laporte visit in October 1875. He also participated in a cavalry relief action involving Lieutenant Collins, whose name the town of Fort Collins later commemorated.
Dunn heads the Fort Collins Historical Society and is vice president of the Historic Larimer County Board. She is a University of Michigan graduate, former teacher, and creator of the Northern Colorado History website.
The presentation will highlight Clay's "journey of adventure, hardship and determination" and "daring stories and notable connections that bring early Northern Colorado history to life."
The History Hour series continues through spring with additional free presentations on March 26, April 16 and May 28. For more information, call the Historic Preservation Office at 970-350-9222.