Palisade is a town located at the eastern end of the Grand Valley in Mesa County, Colorado, thirteen miles east of Grand Junction, the County seat. It was incorporated in 1904, although it was settled several years earlier. Peach growing and coal mining were the main activities in the early years.

The Grand Valley was opened to settlement on September 4, 1881 after the removal of the Ute Indians. The Grand Junction Town Company was organized on October 10, 1881. The town was located at the junction of the Gunnison River and the Grand ( now named the Colorado) River, hence the name. At the time of its founding, Grand Junction was one hundred and fifty miles from the nearest railroad station at Gunnison. In the fall of 1882, the Denver and Rio Grande narrow gauge railroad reached Grand Junction from Gunnison. Grand Junction quickly became a bustling town. A school was established in 1882 and the first issue of the newspaper, the Grand Junction News was printed October 27, 1882. Mesa County was formed from Gunnison County February 17, 1883.

The early settlers of the valley quickly realized that irrigation was essential for agricultural development to proceed. In October 1881, the Grand Valley Canal was begun. The headgate of the canal was located just below the site of the future town of Palisade. Water began to flow through the canal May 16, 1883, although construction was still underway on parts of the system.

John P. Harlow established a farm at Rapid Creek, located east of the river about 3.5 miles upstream from the eventual town-site of Palisade. In the spring of 1882, Harlow planted a vegetable garden and fruit trees. There was ample water for irrigation by a diversion of part of the flow of Rapid Creek. The garden was a success with “grasses, cereals and roots of all kinds…” yielded a good harvest. The fruit trees, however, died in large numbers. Harlow corrected the soil the next year by using burnt bones and leached ashes to fertilize the soil. From then on his trees grew well. In the fall of 1885, Harlow’s trees produced fruit, perhaps the first peaches grown in Colorado. During the winter of 1885, Harlow presented a lecture on his fruit growing experience to a horticultural society meeting in Grand Junction.

About 1883, D. S. Grimes, a fruit man from Denver, selected two thousand acres of land between the Grand and Gunnison Rivers and planted them to fruit trees. He pumped water from the river for irrigation. In the spring of 1887, frost damaged the apricots and peaches. An unusually mild winter had caused the trees to bloom early and April frosts occurred. The following year, peach trees were damaged by winter cold, following a warm fall. At the same time, 1888, Harlow harvested over a ton of peaches from his orchard on Rapid Creek. While the harvest, a ton from 2000 trees, was not great, it did demonstrate the difference in micro-climate of Rapid Creek and the area near Grand Junction

This and the success of some growers at the head of the valley near the future site of Palisade, pointed out the desirability of orchard land in that area. The problem was water. Harlow had water from Rapid Creek, but the other growers near Palisade had to haul water from the river for irrigation, a huge task. The stage was set for the development of the Palisade area. In 1890, the railroad through DeBeque Canyon to Denver was completed. This provided the necessary transportation, all that was lacking was water for irrigation. The post office at Palisades was opened April 7, 1891. The Post-master was William A. Pease. He was appointed January 26, 1891 and served until October 31, 1893. The Mt. Lincoln Ditch Company was formed and work began in 1892 on a pumping plant three miles east of the Palisade town-site on the river for the Price Ditch. The company traded water for land and in turn sold fruit land to settlers.

The land on which Palisade was built, was initially owned by the federal government. It was patented to individuals under the terms of the 1820 Cash Sale Act. Land descriptions in the Palisade area are complicated by the fact that two different reference systems meet at the baseline that coincides with 8th street (G road). North of 8th Street, the land is described as being in Range 98 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, while just south of 8th street, the land is in Range 2 East of the Ute Meridian. Because of the meeting of surveys referenced to different meridians, some of the sections are not full size.

William A. Pease, the first Palisades Postmaster, was granted a patent on138.96 acres of land in Section 3 Township 1 South of Range 2 East of the Ute meridian. The map in Figure 2 shows that his land, the North East quarter of Section 3, extended from 8th Street south to the river. It is possible that the first Palisades Post Office (1891) was located on Pease’s land, perhaps near the headgate of the Grand Valley Canal.

The land at the center of Palisade was patented to M. J. Currie in 1891, but he probably occupied it earlier. The land description specified 133.15 acres, being the South half of the NorthWest quarter of Section 9, Township 11 South of Range 98 west of the 6th Principal Meridian. Also Lots 7 and 8 of Section 9 were patented to Currie. While the patent did not issue until January 11, 1892, Currie sold Lot 7 and the S½ NW¼ of Section 9 to Frank M. Burger for $1000 on October 19, 1891. Burger subsequently bought Lot 8 for $500 May 20, 1892. Burger sold the entire package, the S½ NW¼, Lot 7 and Lot 8 to Benton Canon on April 29, 1893. The consideration was $3342.10.

The original plat of Palisade was filed in 1894 by Benton Canon.