While the primary purpose of Dearfield was to be a place to live, farm, and create opportunities for people of Color, O.T. Jackson had more dreams for the land. Due to its location just off the new Highway 34, Jackson saw the opportunity for Dearfield to become a tourist destination for those passing through the Eastern plains of Colorado. The site was promoted for its camping sites, fishing nearby, hunting, and in town destinations like the dance pavilion and lunch room.
In 1914, Jackson called the townsite a “health resort,” encouraging people to stay in Dearfield to get used to the altitude before traveling to towns with higher elevations in the mountains.
Starting in 1915, Dearfield began holding an annual fair. The first year the fair was on October 15-16th, but the following years it took place over labor day. The fair intended to showcase the work of the settlers, including their crops and livestock. Visitors were invited to “inspect” the progress of the towns fields and school, and to enjoy a lunch prepared by the women of the churches. The railroad was the hoped transportation for attendees coming from Denver or other northern destinations, and Dearfield was near the Masters train station. In 1918, during WWI, Dearfield announced that no railroad travel would be offered to the fair due to war limitations. Visitors were instructed to make camping reservations to attend the fair.
Along with presentations of the seasons harvest, the fairs also included opening remarks a speeches by prominent Coloradans such as Governors, likely due to O.T. Jackson’s political connections. The 1918 fair also advertised events such as: “Races, Three Legged, Man and Horse; Apple Wabble; Pie Eating Contest; Watermelon Race; Baseball and Croquet Games; Bronco Busting.” There were also proposed musical performances by the YWCA Quartette.
After the first fair in 1915, an argument took place between the Denver Star and a settler named Harvey Page. When the Star did not report on the fair, Page reached out to question the decision. The Denver Star released a critical response revealing some exaggerations of the fair. They wrote that “there is not one self-supporting farm owned by Negroes in the village,” and called the fair a miniature “Display of farm goods.” Finally, they questioned the intentions of the fair, implying that the venture was for the political advancement of some of the settlers, and saying that “you cannot succeed that way.” This statement reveals some of the true struggle that was happening in Dearfield, and calls to attention some of the falsity behind the statements released by O.T. Jackson, as well as his political nature.
In a column titled ‘Dearfield Notes,’ in June of 1914 it was reported that, “Mrs. Estella Maddox has opened Hotel “Priscilla,” also a grocery store and has a very encouraging business.” In Dearfield hotels would have been much smaller ventures, likely having just a few rooms available to rent out. A couple other hotels were named in Dearfield. One was the Franklin Hotel, which was supposed to be a 12 room boarding house to open in May of 1914. In is unsure where these buildings were established, if they truly were. Jackson’s Dearfield Lodge, once a 7 room boarding house, is on of the buildings still standing at the townsite, as after being used as a lodge it was also used as a house by O.T. Jackson, and later by his niece Jennie.
O.T. Jackson had big dreams for the resort that he saw in Dearfield. He thought the site would be perfect for a sanatorium, which are long-term treatment facilities for cronic diseases, largely associated with tuberculosis in the 1910s. He even purchased land for it in the townsite. He also dreamed of a 50 room boarding house and an agricultural college. These sites were apart of Jackson’s promotional plans to bring more and more people out to the townsite. Through the 1930s, even after many residents had to leave the settlement, Jackson continued to advertise the town as a place of recreation and relaxation, urging people to come visit on the weekends for a hot meal and a tank of gas.
One major facet of the towns pull of outsiders was the Barn Pavillion. The Pavillion was a major center for celebration and community, outside of the churches. It hosted dances with live music on the weekends that occasionally people from Greeley and even as far as Denver would travel to attend. Dearfield locals, such as Squire Brockman who brought his music from Missouri, would play instruments for visitors. In Jackson's 1930s flyer he advertised the pavillion as an after-dinner entertainment spot as an attempt to re-vitalize the town.
Annual Dearfield Fair:
"Dearfield," The Denver Star, April 18, 1914. p.3. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=DSR19140418-01.2.9&srpos=2&e=--1859---1955--en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
"On To Dearfield Fair" The Denver Star, September 7, 1918. p.1. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=DSR19180907-01.2.13.2&srpos=23&e=--1859---1955--en-20--21--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield+fair+-------0------.
'Settlement Fair at Dearfield," The Colorado Statesman, October 2, 1915. p. 5. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CDS19151002-01.2.43&srpos=11&e=--1859---1955--en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0-----.
"The Dearfield Fair," The Colorado Statesman, September 21, 1918. p. 8. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CDS19180921-01.2.55.1&srpos=67&e=--1859---1955--en-20--61--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
"To The Editor," The Denver Star, November 13, 1915. p.4. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=DSR19151113-01.2.11&srpos=64&e=--1859---1955--en-20--61--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
Hotels:
“Dearfield Notes,” The Denver Star, June 13, 1914, p. 2. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=DSR19140613-01.2.8&e=--1859---1955--en-20--61--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
“Just a word to the farmers of Deerfield.” The Denver Star, March 21, 1914, p. 2-3. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=DSR19140321-01.2.13&e=--1859---1955--en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-Dearfield-------0------.
Rothwell, Charles "Interview," by Paul Stewart. Paul Stewart Collection, SC106_01_04_0028, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections.
West, Charlotte, “Inside Dearfield, a Colorado ghost town that was once a bustling all-black settlement,” NBC News, February 28, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/inside-dearfield-colorado-ghost-town-was-once-bustling-all-black-n975716.
OT Jackson's Bigger Dreams:
Deal, Lyn “Dearfield: Once state’s largest Black colony,” The Fort Morgan Times, December 13, 2001, p. 1.
"Poster (Oversized)," OT Jackson Collection, SC057_26_0001, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/promotional-poster-dearfield.
Stiff, Cary. "The Dream of Dearfield" The Denver Post Empire Magazine, November 2, 1969, p. 47-51. Carl Maag Collection, Series 6, Folder 5, Box 2, SC100, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections.
Barn Pavillion:
Picher, Margaret, "Dearfield, Colorado: A Story From The Black West," Masters of Arts Thesis, University of Denver, 1976.
"Promotional Poster of Dearfield," Paul Stewart Collection, SC057_26_0001, University of Northern Colorado Archives and Special Collections. https://digarch.unco.edu/promotional-poster-dearfield?search=dearfield%20poster.