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Nettleton-Mead House -
1303 9TH AV
 Print Listing
Historical Name -
Nettleton-Mead House
Style -
Late Victorian/Italianate
Built Year -
1871-1872
State ID -
5WL2575
Description -
This residence is a rectilinear, two-story frame Italianate residence with a low-pitched hip roof. Roof features include a central pediment and wide overhanging boxed eaves with paired cornice brackets. Two brick chimneys are located near the southeast and northwest corners, respectively. A rusticated stone foundation supports frame walls with lap siding. The vertically accentuated double-hung one-over-one sash windows boast bracketed crowns. A full-width single-story front porch features a central pediment and square chamfered posts with channeling. Matching balustrades grace the porch’s floor and roof perimeters. An oriel or second-story square bay window with paired sash windows featuring round arches and a bracketed crown rests atop the porch pediment. Single-story and two-story square bay windows are located on the north and south elevations, respectively.
Historical Background -
This home is associated with E. S. Nettleton and Dr. Ella Mead, two individuals who contributed significantly to the history of Greeley, Weld County and the region.
In 1871, prominent engineer and surveyor Edwin S. Nettleton built the home and remained in residence for an unknown period of time. Nettleton joined Nathan Meeker’s Union Colony during 1870, but was not an original member. The agricultural colony’s Executive Committee recognized the value of his talents by hiring him to design irrigation canals. He worked on the No. 3 and No. 2 Ditches, which irrigated town lots and farmland with water diverted from the Cache la Poudre River. Historian Robert G. Dunbar referred to the No. 2 as “revolutionary” because it was the “first large canal to water extensive areas of benchland.” In 1878 and 1879, Nettleton designed the Larimer and Weld Canal, a massive project envisioned by Benjamin Eaton and capitalized by the Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company. For many years, the Larimer and Weld was the largest irrigation system in the Cache la Poudre area. Among his many other achievements, Nettleton served as State Engineer for Colorado and was appointed to the board charged with supervising the construction of the state capitol building.
By 1901, Ella Mead’s father, Alexander, owned the home. After attending college at Colorado A & M and the University of Denver Medical School, Dr. Ella Mead lived in the home until her death in 1961. After completing her medical training, Mead embarked upon a remarkable 50 year career as a physician and public servant. As the city health officer for Greeley, she helped establish one of the first birth control clinics in the nation and implemented a health screening system for the area’s public schools. During her lifetime, she held many offices, including President of the Weld County Medical Society and Chairman of the Board of Councilors for the Colorado Medical Society. In 1958, she received the Medical Woman of the Year award from the National Medical Women’s Association.
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