Oliver Toussaint Jackson was an American businessman and entrepreneur, who, inspired by Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up from Slavery, formed Dearfield, Colorado, a self-sufficient agricultural settlement for black Americans. Prior to this venture, Jackson was a successful owner of several restaurant and catering businesses in Denver and Boulder.
Early life
Oliver Toussaint Jackson was born on April 6, 1862, in Oxford, Ohio. He was one of six children born to Hezekiah Jackson and his wife Caroline, both of whom were former slaves. He was educated in Ohio and was entrepreneurial from an early age. He began his career in 1876 working at restaurants in Cleveland, Ohio and became a caterer. After hearing stories of African Americans resettling in the West, Jackson relocated to the Denver, Colorado area in 1887, where he worked as a caterer; two years later, he married Sarah "Sadie" Cook, the sister of his brother James's wife and the paternal aunt of composer Will Marion Cook. By 1894, Jackson had made enough money to purchase a farm near Boulder, and also lived at 2228 Pine St. in Boulder. He opened the Stillman Cafe and Ice Cream Parlor on 13th St. in Boulder in December 1892. The cafe was described as "one of the most select dining resorts and one not usually found outside of metropolitan cities." Jackson became a manager at Boulder's Chautauqua Dining Hall in 1898 where he supervised 75 employees. He later operated a popular seafood restaurant at 55th and Arapahoe in Boulder that remained open until the city went dry in 1907.
Jackson's first wife either died or the couple divorced in the early 1900s. Subsequently, he remarried to schoolteacher Minerva J. Matlock in 1905 and returned to Denver to work as a messenger for Colorado governors. He had helped elect John Franklin Shafrothgovernor of Colorado in 1908 and in returnShafroth appointed him messenger for the governor's office. Jackson would serve under four other Colorado governors. Jackson read Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up from Slavery, becoming enamoured with Washington's socio-political stance on black land ownership. Jackson fully embraced Washington's views and lobbied Governor Shafroth for support of his plan for an agricultural settlement for black Americans. Shafroth helped him take advantage of the Homestead Act of 1909 to apply for land for homesteading. In 1909, Jackson purchased 320 acres of land in Weld County and modeled the community after Union Colony, founded in 1870. A year later, Jackson's agricultural settlement for black Americans, named Dearfield, was officially established, attracting settlers from Denver, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Early groups struggled: some were forced to live in tents or holes in the nearby hillsides, and there were continual shortages of fuel and water; bitter winter conditions in the first year nearly killed settlers. All of the water rights to the land had been purchased so there was no water for irrigation. Early homesteaders had to carry water from a river almost a mile away. Over time, however, the community prospered with a variety of crops—corn, melons, and squash—which surged in price during the First World War. By the end of 1917 there were 500 residents. By 1921, Dearfield was valued at $750,000 and had a population of 700. Jackson sought to capitalize on the town's success by erecting a cannery and soap factory. However, over the next 10 yearsa series of disasters hit the community including a crash in commodity prices, the return of soldiers from WWI who didn't want to live on farms, and a transition from wet to dry conditions. In the 1930s, the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl decimated Dearfield, forcing Jackson and settlers to sell their homes for lumber. By 1940, only 12 residents remained. Jackson stayed, vainly seeking a young black man to reestablish the community.
