Boulder may buy historic Poor Farm as open space for $5.2 million
BOULDER » The Boulder City Council soon will vote on whether to approve, for $5.2 million, the purchase of the historic, 110-acre Boulder County Poor Farm property on 63rd Street.
If approved, the land would be folded into the city’s 45,000-acre Open Space and Mountain Parks division, and likely would serve a mix of agricultural and public recreational purposes in the future.
Only seven times in Boulder history has the city spent more than $5.2 million on an open space buy.
The Poor Farm property, a slice of county land northeast of Boulder, is highly recognizable from 63rd Street due to the red Queen Anne Victorian home that sits near the road.
But the rest of the property’s 110 acres are home to significant features that city officials have coveted for years. This purchase has long been a priority for the city, said Dan Burke, head of real estate for Open Space and Mountain Parks.
About a third of the property is used for livestock grazing, mostly to the west and far north. On the eastern and southern portions of the property are open waters, wetlands and some Boulder Creek frontage.
The acreage sits in a floodplain and has significant potential for flood mitigation in the future, city staff believes, and also as a connector to existing Open Space.
From 1902 to 1918, the farm provided long-term care for the needy — hence the name, Poor Farm. That was at a time when the Boulder County commissioners paid boarding house owners to house local residents who couldn’t care for themselves. — Alex Burness, Daily Camera