Many succumbing to the lure of the broad rolling prairies
and tales from frontiersmen, caught the western fever and headed
beyond the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the land of promise.
Several colonies from the East came to Colorado during the 1860's
and settled in western Weld and eastern Larimer counties. A colony
from Chicago, Illinois, founded Burlington, which was the beginning
of present-day Longmont. Another, Union Colony, founded Greeley.
A St. Louis colony became Loveland. Other pioneers congregated
in unnamed settlements. One of these later became Hillsboro,
which was on the western edge of present-day Milliken, Colorado.
Among the men who helped develop this area of Weld County were
George Sanderson Hill, Bruce F. Johnson, Jared Conry, Jared L.
Brush, John M. Brush and William Wesley Brush.
George Sanderson Hill and his family left Iowa in 1861 and arrived
in the Big Thompson Valley in 1864. Traveling in a prairie schooner,
they probably were part of a wagon train as was usual for that
time. One account told of a wagon train that consisted of twenty-two
ox teams loaded with provisions, bedding and cooking utensils,
with each wagon carrying from four to five people. A guard of
men rode ahead and at the sides of the wagons in the daytime
as protection from the Indians. At night, for protection, the
wagons were arranged in a circle to form a corral and the cattle
placed inside. This was the method used when the Brush brothers
left Ohio in 1859 and crossed the Missouri River to reach Fort
Laramie, Wyoming.
The Brush brothers, Jared L., John M., and William Wesley, came
to Colorado in 1859 and moved to Weld County in 1860. They owned
land along the Big Thompson and South Platte River Basin, and
east of Greeley to an area which later became Brush, Colorado.
The Hill family settled on a ranch northwest of Johnstown which
soon grew to be a stopping place for travelers and became known
as Hillsborough. George W. Foote and V.W. Stoddard operated a
stage line that ran between Greeley and Loveland, stopping at
Hillsborough. Two round trips a week were made. Bruce F. Johnson
had been a schoolteacher in New York when he joined an emigrant
train and came to Colorado in the spring of 1859. He settled
on a ranch south of the one belonging to the Hill family.
The Brush brothers were involved in area politics and on October
25, 1877, Brush, Colorado, was named after Jared L. Brush. He
served as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado from 1894 to 1898.
The Brush brothers obtained land by a Homestead Patent north
of Milliken along Highway 257 and County Road 48 1/2.
William Wesley Brush was killed August 23,1868, by Sioux Indians
who were led by Chief Swift Bird. The Chief had made a Peace
Treaty in Denver with Governor Hunt and then traveled down the
Platte River. William and a cousin, Jared Conry, and a hired
man were cutting hay near the mouth of Crow Creek east of present-day
Greeley. At noon they fed the Indians. When William and the two
men returned to work the Indians killed and scalped them and
took their horses. A posse from Greeley, Colorado fought the
Indians who were overtaken near present-day Hardin, Colorado.
A few Indians were killed and the horses belonging to the Brushes
were recovered. The three men were put in a hayrack and taken
to their ranch north of present-day Johnstown where they were
buried. This was the last Indian outbreak in Weld County.
William Wesley and Martha M. Brush were the parents of a daughter,
Minnie Bell Brush. In the settlement of the estate she became
the owner of a parcel of land east of Highway 257 and north of
Milliken. Later she and her husband, Alva J., made their home
there and were involved in affairs of the new town of Milliken.
Jarad L. Brush and his family lost their home when the house
and barn along the Thompson River were struck by lightning. The
family was away in Greeley, Colorado at the time attending Greeley's
first 4th of July celebration. On the way home they saw the flames
but everything was destroyed by the time they arrived. In 1870,
following the loss of their home, Jared L. Brush became a member
of the Union Colony, now Greeley, Colorado.
The Hill & Brush and Hillsboro Ditch Companies were developed
incorporating the names of the individuals involved, Hill and
Brush. Bruce Johnson's involvement was as a civil engineer and
in partnership with George Sanderson Hill, formed the Hillsboro
Ditch Company which holds one of the earliest River Water Rights
in the Big Thompson River. All three were close friends, arriving
in Weld County at approximately the same time. Hillsboro Ditch
Company serves farms south, west and east of Milliken, while
Hill & Brush serves areas mostly north of Johnstown, Colorado.
In the early days a post office and stagecoach stop were either
owned by the Stage Company or contracted by individuals and usually
existed on the same line. Post offices were highly mobile and
were the focus of early communities. An application for the post
office at Hillsborough with George Sanderson Hill as Postmaster
was signed April 7, 1871, and granted June 15, 1871. This was
the first Hillsborough Post Office and was in Sec. 30. Twp. 5N
Range 67W. In succeeding years the location changed several times.
One application asked that the name be shortened. On August 1,
1876, the official spelling was changed to "Hillsboro"
when it became a State of Colorado Post Office
The last application for the Hillsboro Post Office was filed
by John W. Tilby, proposed Postmaster, for the establishment
of a post office at the NW 1/4 of Sec. 11 Twp. 4N Range 67 of
Weld County to serve fifty families. This was on July 10, 1898,
and signed July 26, 1898, by J.P. Herrott, Postmaster at Evans,
Colorado. The facility was to serve patrons in and near a settlement
that became known as Hillsboro when the post office was granted
to the community. This Hillsboro
was on the west edge of present-day Milliken.
Postmasters serving this Hillsboro:
September 17, 1898 John W. Tilby
September 6, 1899 Clara Bartlow
January 3, 1902 Albert T. Gilkey
The Post Office was discontinued November 4, 1903, and mail was delivered via Platteville, Colorado.
Postal Documents from the Stroh Collection: Document 1 | Document 2 | Document 3