Historic Preservation

Historic Preservation

Our Carbon Valley Chapter, NSDAR, members participate in a wide variety of historic preservation projects in our community as it is crucial to saving our history for future generations. 

Currently our chapter and/or individual members are involved in:

  • Partnering with the Mead Area Historical Society to preserve local records and photographs and document the history of the Mead area.
  • United Flight 629 Memorial (first domestic bombing of a commercial flight in the US) commemorating the victims and local people who helped after the flight came down in the area.
  • Helping to get the historic Mead United Methodist Church building listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
  • Donating a Patriot Elm and bench for Mead’s Gold Star Memorial, only the second Gold Star Families Memorial in Colorado.
  • In anticipation of Mead, Colorado’s 120th birthday in 2028, we are partnering with the Mead Area Historical Society to honor our community’s Gold Star service members with memorial displays in local businesses.

Fort Junction Historical Marker

Two different views of the historical marker for Ft. Junction, Colorado.

Fort Junction History link

Our History with the Marker

In September 2019, the members of the Carbon Valley Chapter, NSDAR, investigated repairing of the Fort Junction site marker that is in the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Park-n-Ride (P-n-R) lot located at I-25 and State Highway 119 (Firestone Blvd) in Weld County. The marker was in poor condition and deteriorating quickly.

The project was tabled when CDOT wrote to us that we would need a permit, insurance, flaggers, and more. The Senior Historian for CDOT, subsequently contacted the chapter and gave the news of a possible expansion to the south of the Park-n-Ride that may require moving the Fort Junction marker.

Close up of the bronze plaque placed on the Ft. Junction Memorial Marker in 1939

In October 2019, chapter members voted to table the project.

In December 2023, the chapter was once again in contact with CDOT’s Senior Historian. The construction of the “Mobility Hub Project” (Park-n-Ride) was underway, and the marker had been temporarily stored on a pallet.

Communications continued with CDOT through 2024. The marker was permanently placed within the new Park-n-Ride, visible to commuters and those driving by on E. Frontage Road.

What remains is the restoration of the bronze plaque and the replacement of the missing stones. Chapter members have a plan to clean the plaque when the weather warms. CDOT will replace the missing stones.

Carbon Valley Chapter, NSDAR, is very proud of our efforts in the successful preservation of the Fort Junction marker, which recognizes an important part of local history.

Learn more by visiting the Ft. Junction Marker webpage.

Ft. Junction Historic Marker. It is a stalls tone monument made from 100s of small pebbles. There is a large bronze marker embedded in the face.

Highlandlake Pioneer Cemetery Cleanup

Over the last several years, the chapter has chosen the Pioneer Cemetery at Highlandlake as a project for the Day of Service. Each year, we partner with our area Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) to clean and make minor repairs to this historic cemetery.

A chapter member stands by a headstone in the Highlandlake Pioneer Cemetery. Carbon Valley Chapter NSDAR helps to clean this cemetery every fall as part of the Day of Service.

We are helping to get the historic Mead United Methodist Church building listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Historic 1907 photograph of the Mead United Brethren Church in Mead, Colorado.