The Story Behind the Name: Murray Street

The plat of Niwot was filed in the Boulder County records on March 30,1875, by Porter T. Hinman and Ambrose S. Murray, laying out streets, alleys and lots on both sides of the railroad tracks, but Niwot was never officially incorporated as a town under state law.

When Porter Hinman helped to lay out the town, the surrounding region was being settled by men whose names are still associated with the area. Hinman himself had arrived in 1860, and his name is still affiliated with Hinman Ditch, which runs through town. Hinman Street, however, no longer exists.

Located West of the railroad tracks, Hinman Street went by the wayside to make room for the Diagonal Highway starting in 1958 (along with other streets and buildings). Homes, streets and buildings east of the tracks remain.

While Murray Street still heralds the name of Ambrose Murray, that's about all that remains of his story. We know that he was a Boulder resident, though there aren't many references to him in the Niwot Tribune or genealogy websites as there are with Hinman. That said, Murray Street itself exists as a keeper of Niwot history and a very interesting one, at that.

The first attempts at sugar beet cultivation were pursued by abolitionists in New England. The "Beet Sugar Society of Philadelphia" was founded in 1836 and promoted home-produced beet sugar as an alternative to the slave-produced cane sugar from the West Indies or sugar imported from Asia (called "free sugar" because it was grown without using slavery), but tasted "awful" according to reports.

Capital investment in factories demanded an adequate supply of sugar beets. In central Colorado and western Nebraska, this was provided substantially by Germans from Russia who were already expert at sugar beet farming when they immigrated in large numbers circa 1890–1905.

The depressed economy of the 1890s, which resulted in part from the decline in mining and agriculture, led entrepreneurs to seek other forms of investment. One enterprise which seemed to hold promise was the sugar beet industry which could provide income for farmers, laborers, industrial workers, and capitalists.

The first sugar beet factory in the Rocky Mountain region was built at Lemhi, Utah, in 1891. In 1899, the Colorado Sugar Manufacturing Company established a beet sugar factory in Grand Junction with funding from Denver mining magnates such as Charles Boettcher, J. J. Brown, and John F. Campion. In 1901, the same men founded the Great Western Sugar Company, which became the largest producer of beet sugar in the country, and one of 20 sugar plants in Colorado.

Still standing today, 11939 Sugar Mill Rd, Longmont, is a manufacturing property that was built in the early 1900s. Producing more than a million pounds of sugar every day, during the three to four months it processed beets after harvest, the Great Western Sugar Company, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based American Sugar Company, was the city's top employer for most of the factory's 74-year lifespan, according to Erik Mason (as quoted in the Longmont Times Call), curator of history at the Longmont Museum.

"Sugar companies were a huge part of Colorado's economy," Mason said. "To my knowledge, none of the factories have been preserved."

Along Murray Street, between 2nd Avenue and 4th Avenue, stood the sugar beet dump which drew farmers from great distances to town each October with beets to be shipped to Longmont for processing. Teams pulling beet wagons passed down the Murray Street continually during beet harvest, making deep ruts in the muddy street.

After years of pitching sugar beets into rail cars, Great Western Sugar Company built a ramp in Niwot. Anne Dyni explains in her book, "Niwot, Colorado: Echoes from a Railroad Town":

"It (the ramp) stood about forty feet high and was slightly wider than a beet wagon. A four-horse team was needed to pull a wagon to the top where it was chained and tipped on its side. On a sidetrack below, an empty car waited to collect the beets dumped from the wagons."

In the 1960s, corn syrup was produced as a cheaper sweetener alternative, cane sugar competition increased, and industry regulations changed, causing the local sugar beet economy to collapse. After seven decades, Great Western Sugar Co. shuttered its Longmont factory in 1977.

References:

Biographies for Boulder County, Colorado Genealogy Researching Ancestry (genealogytrails.com)

Dyni, A. Niwot Colorado: Echoes from a Railroad Town. The Book Lode. Boulder, 1994.

Hammon, K. (2020, May 23). Longmont sugar factory: A look at its history, and at hopes and concerns for its future. Longmont Call Times. https://www.timescall.com/2020/05/23/longmonts-sugar-factory-a-look-at-its-history-and-at-hopes-and-concerns-for-its-future/

How Sugarbeets Thrived in Colorado's Early Days | Sugar Producer Magazine

NiwotHistoricalSociety.org

Porter T Hinman (1816–Deceased) • FamilySearch

Warren, B. (2021, March 10). How things get done in Niwot – Part 2 - Left Hand Valley Courier. Left Hand Valley Courier. https://www.lhvc.com/story/2021/03/10/news/how-things-get-done-in-niwot-part-2/6073.html