Westminster – Tucked under a canopy of trees and hugged by green fields on every side, the Metzger Farm rests inside a bubble of dusty calm against the clamor of West 120th Avenue.
Cow pies decorate the dirt road stretching into the 152-acre spread. A rickety barn shelters an ancient tractor that appears rooted to the dirt.
Nearby, a gangly apple tree throws a tiny shadow on a warm, spring day. It is all a slow-moving antidote to the activity in neighboring subdivisions.
“This is just a slice of heaven now everyone can enjoy,” Westminster Mayor Nancy McNally said.
The farm had been home to the Metzger family since the 1940s, but last month it was sold as open space to a nonprofit partnership between the cities of Broomfield and Westminster.
Both cities wanted to preserve one of the last remaining working farms in the north metro area, and they agreed to share the $11 million cost to buy it.
Talks had gone on for at least two years with the Metzgers to buy the land. The deal was finally sealed because all the parties felt the land worthy of protection, Broomfield Mayor Karen Stuart said.
“This farm has always been a separate entity to all of us who believe in the magic of open space,” Stuart said. “We just didn’t want to turn it into acres and acres of single-family homes.”
Neither did John Metzger, who fended off several offers for the farm from developers, said his daughter, retired Court of Appeals Judge Karen Metzger.
Her father, a former Colorado attorney general, died in 1989.
“When we went through Dad’s things, we found contract after contract signed by developers for the land,” Karen Metzger said. “But the spot where my dad was supposed to sign remained blank.”
Orphaned as a child, John Metzger was indentured as a farmhand until he was 12. He ran away and, through apprenticeships, became a lawyer.
One day, Metzger was invited to lunch at the farm by then-Denver District Attorney James T. Burke, Karen Metzger said. Her father was struck by the beauty of the place, and he offered Burke the $500 he kept in his wallet as a down payment for the farm.
Karen and her brother, Bill Metzger, would ride their horses to friends’ homes as far away as what is now Interstate 25.
“Horses were used back then the way kids use cars now,” Karen Metzger said. “It was the way to get around.”
The farm originally produced wheat, barley, corn and alfalfa, and then it was switched to a dairy and show-cattle operation. In the past decade, it’s been mostly a calving operation, she said.
The cities will survey the parcel, which includes two ponds, a large pasture, abundant wildlife, a historic barn and home and access to the Big Dry Creek Trail, said Westminster spokesman Joe Reid.
In about a year, it will be opened to the public.
“It’s a crown jewel for this area,” Reid said, “and people are going to enjoy it.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
