Community Snapshot
- Population: 1,492
- Number of Households: 528
- Median Household Income: $94,834
- Per Capita Income: $40,300
- Median Home Value: $332,292
- Diversity Index: 63.6
- Median Age: 40.5
- Unemployment Rate: 5%
- Labor Force: 820
- HS+ Graduate Rate: 87.8%
- Sales Tax Rate: 3.60%
- Town Mill Levy Rate: 17.205
The Union Pacific Railroad line allowed a shipping depot to be built in 1884 at Orr, provided they change the name. Orr was too similar to other station names on that line. The local railroad master, James Kersey Painter, changed it to that of his mother’s maiden name, Kersey. On November 10, 1908, the Kersey citizens voted to incorporate, creating an officially recognized town. Most of Kersey’s settlement was in surrounding farms and ranches, producing everything from sugar beets and potatoes to steers and sheep.
In 1920, Kersey had grown to include a newspaper, butcher shop, bakery, drug store, bank, ice factory, hay mill, livery barn, harness and shoe shop, baseball park, two pool halls (one maintained a cigar factory in back), grain elevators, barber shops, lumber yards, dance halls, doctors’ offices, hotels, cafes, and three grocery stores, plus a brick two-story high school. Kersey churches served Methodists, Baptists, and Evangelists. There were two movies shown every week in Woodman’s Hall, though there were fewer than one thousand Kersey area residents.
For Kersey pre-searched real estate please select the property search tab.
Source: Weld County 150, City of Greeley Museums staff, Nancy Lourine Lynch.