Greeley: 1916: News from the original pages of the Greeley Tribune and the Greeley Republican

The Greeley Tribune and Greeley Republican were once rivals, until the papers merged in 1913, and became the Greeley Tribune-Republican, which was the main newspaper in Greeley 100 years ago. At one time, the Tribune Company put out another newspaper, the Greeley Democrat. It didn't last long. One hundred years ago this was a very different place, in some ways. Greeley was a town of less than 10,000 people, cars had been in town just a few years, and America was on the verge of war. In 1916, the Great War in Europe was flaming, and next year - in 1917 - that conflict would become World War I when the United States joined. But in Greeley, before America's entry into that war, Greeley was thriving with agriculture. There were debates about whether children under 10 should be in school, or out in the fields, picking sugar beets. Every three families in Greeley owned an "automobile machine," and police were busy watching to make certain people kept the speed limit in town - 12 mph. Police had some major problems with chickens running loose all over town, and almost all of the arrests were for men being drunk in public, because prohibition was a strong force in Greeley. At the same time there were many arrests for bootlegging and selling liquor. Across the country, women hadn't won the vote, but they could in Colorado. However, it was not even considered that a woman might run for office. People said they hated the presidential election in 1916 because of the lies, half-truths and name-calling. Some things never change. The stories and advertisements in this book were taken from weekly occurrences in the 1916 Greeley Tribune-Republican newspaper.