Farr/Hillside Walking Tour

Tour Directions:

1.9 miles

1. Park your car along 13th Avenue, just south of 26th Street in the parking provided at Farr Park. This block of parkland was given to the neighborhood by Harry Farr when he developed his farm into a residential neighborhood from the late 1940s to the 1950s.

2. Walk south along 13th Avenue to 27th Street, then turn west (right). Walking along 27th Street, you will pass Hillside Pool on your left, another gift Farr gave to the neighborhood in 1958.

3. Keep walking along 27th Street, noticing how homeowners have customized their homes over the past seventy years. Also notice the traffic barricade at 17th Avenue (on your left) that citizens of Farr/Hillside persuaded the City to install when the Greeley Mall was under construction in the early 1970s. It is 17th Avenue that marks the delineation between Farr and Hillside neighborhoods.

4. Keep walking along 27th Street curving around until you turn into 26th Street. Turn north (right) and you will see the field and playground of Jackson Elementary, opened in 1958. This school was named in honor of Charles Jackson, who was the treasurer of the Greeley School District for decades. He was also a Trustee of Colorado Teacher’s College, a trumpet player in the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and a great fan of the college’s athletic teams. UNC’s first athletic fields on East Campus are dedicated to Charles Jackson.

5. Cross 19th Avenue, walking along 26th Street, following the fence line of Jackson Elementary School. Try to pick out the model home styles along these two blocks on the south and west of Jackson School

6. Walk to 21st Avenue and turn north (right) for one block, then east (right) onto 25th Street, the boundary between Farr/Hillside and Alles Acres. In Hillside, the home buyers had five choices of homes styles, while Alles Acres is an area of eclectic homes where no house looks like another. There is quite a difference between the neighborhoods, but both were and remain popular neighborhoods to live in for the men and women who studied and found meaningful employment at the University.

7. Turn south (right) and walk to 14th Avenue Court, looking over your shoulder at the looming dormitory buildings on UNC’s West Campus, which was developed after Farr/Hillside got started.

8. At the southeast corner of 14th Avenue Court and 26th Street you will find two homes built before Jackson Elementary School opened. They were used as cottage schools for first and second graders at a time when the baby boom generation was crowding into schools and before Jackson Elementary was ready. They were meant to be temporary but are now residences. Note that they did not originally have enclosed garages.

9. Turn east, left at 26th Street and you are back at your starting spot at Farr Park, a good place to enjoy a picnic!