Kersey, Colorado
Kersey is a statutory town in Weld County, Colorado, United States, situated along the South Platte River corridor in the northeastern portion of the state. With a population of 1,495 recorded at the 2020 United States Census, Kersey occupies a modest but historically rooted position within the agricultural and energy-producing landscape of Colorado's Eastern Plains. The town is located at 26911 Highway 34, placing it along a major east–west corridor that has long connected the region's farming communities to larger commercial centers. Though small in population, Kersey has intersected with broader national stories involving water quality monitoring, the oil and gas industry, and the educational and civic life of Weld County's rural communities.
Geography and Location
Kersey is situated in Weld County, one of Colorado's largest counties by area and among its most economically productive, owing to its combination of irrigated agriculture and energy extraction. The town lies along Highway 34, a route that runs through the South Platte River Valley and connects communities such as Greeley to the west with more rural towns to the east. The ZIP code for Kersey is 80644, and it carries the formal designation of a Statutory Town under Colorado law, a classification that distinguishes it from home-rule municipalities and subjects it to a specific framework of state statutes governing local governance.
The surrounding landscape is characteristic of the High Plains, with flat to gently rolling terrain suited to crop agriculture and livestock operations. Weld County as a whole has historically ranked among the top agricultural counties in the United States, and the communities within it, including Kersey, reflect the rhythms of planting, harvest, and livestock cycles that define rural life on the Eastern Plains. The proximity of Kersey to the South Platte River has made water access an important factor in the area's development and its ongoing relationship with state and federal environmental regulations.
History
The history of Kersey is intertwined with the broader settlement of Weld County during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when homesteaders and farming families moved into the South Platte Valley to take advantage of fertile soils and available water for irrigation. Records held by the Denver Public Library document the presence of early residents in the Kersey area who were involved in the organization of local school districts and the promotion of civic development. Among those early settlers, individuals such as Mr. Jones are noted as having been organizers of district No. 17 and active in the promotion of educational infrastructure for the region's growing population.[1]
The organization of school districts in the area reflects a common pattern in Colorado's rural frontier communities, where formal institutions of education were among the first civic structures established after initial settlement. The presence of families in Kersey who participated in that process situates the town within the larger narrative of Colorado's territorial and early statehood period, during which agricultural towns across Weld County were founded, named, and incorporated into the growing network of Plains communities.
Over the course of the twentieth century, Kersey developed the institutional infrastructure common to small statutory towns in Colorado, including local governance, public utilities, and connections to county-level services centered in Greeley. The town's economy remained oriented around agriculture, though the energy sector — particularly oil and gas extraction — has played an increasing role in Weld County's economy and has touched communities throughout the region, including Kersey.
Education
Kersey is home to Platte Valley High School, which serves students from Kersey and the surrounding rural communities of Weld County. The school has a documented history of community engagement and is recognized locally as a gathering point for families across the region. Platte Valley High School maintains a presence in the collective memory of the area, with alumni networks that extend into broader professional and civic life.[2]
As with many rural high schools in Colorado, Platte Valley serves as an important social and institutional anchor for the community. In small towns like Kersey, the high school often functions as a center for extracurricular activities, community events, and the kind of sustained social connections that define life in agricultural communities far from major urban centers. Alumni of Platte Valley High School have gone on to careers in contracting, agriculture, energy, and other industries that reflect the economic character of Weld County.
One example of the school's alumni involvement in the regional economy is found in the career of Shaun DeVoe, a graduate who later became co-owner of Devoe & Son Contracting LLC in Kersey, Colorado, after his father retired from the business. His involvement in the local contracting industry illustrates the way in which family-based enterprises have contributed to the economic fabric of small communities like Kersey.[3]
Economy
Kersey's economy reflects the dual character of Weld County, where agriculture and energy extraction exist in close proximity and sometimes in tension with one another. The agricultural economy of the South Platte Valley has long depended on irrigated farming, and Kersey's position along Highway 34 has made it a point of access for farm supply, transportation, and related services.
The energy sector, particularly oil and gas extraction, has grown substantially in Weld County over the past several decades, and the presence of drilling operations in the vicinity of Kersey has placed the town within a zone of active energy development. In October 2022, Reuters reported on oil firms operating in Kersey, Colorado, documenting work being conducted at a Chevron site in the area. The reporting focused on efforts by oil companies to remediate leaky wells ahead of the implementation of new state regulations, reflecting the shifting regulatory environment around oil and gas production in Colorado.[4] Specifically, reporting noted men working on an electric drilling operation at a Chevron site in Kersey, a visible sign of the energy industry's footprint in and around the town.[5]
The juxtaposition of agricultural land use and active oil and gas development is characteristic of much of Weld County and raises ongoing questions about land rights, water quality, and the long-term sustainability of both industries. Colorado has enacted increasingly stringent regulations on the oil and gas sector over the years, and communities like Kersey find themselves at the intersection of these regulatory and economic currents.
Small businesses, including family-owned contracting companies, also contribute to the local economy. The contracting sector supports both agricultural and energy infrastructure in the region, providing services such as construction, maintenance, and equipment operation that are essential to both industries.
Environment and Water Quality
Environmental oversight of Kersey's municipal infrastructure has been a subject of federal documentation. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has recorded data related to the Town of Kersey's water systems, identifying the town's water utility at 26911 Highway 34. According to data published by The New York Times as part of its reporting on water quality across the United States, the Town of Kersey's facility had recorded 21 violations in EPA reporting data, specifically categorized as reporting and monitoring violations in 2007 and 2008. These violations were classified as "other" violations and were described as resulting from required reports not being filed, which triggers automatic violations under EPA rules. The facility was noted to have incurred no fines and had not been out of compliance in the 12 quarters preceding the reporting period.[6]
The EPA data makes clear that reporting and monitoring violations do not in themselves indicate any actual discharge of pollutants into waterways. Rather, they reflect administrative shortfalls in the filing of required documentation. The classification of the Kersey facility under the EPA system was listed as "Nonclassifiable Establishments," and the record indicates zero formal or informal enforcement actions were taken against the town in connection with these violations. No total fines were assessed.
This type of administrative record is common among small municipalities across the United States that may lack the dedicated administrative staff to manage the full scope of federal reporting requirements. The absence of any documented pollution discharge associated with the violations places Kersey in a category of communities where compliance gaps are primarily procedural rather than environmental.
Water quality more broadly remains a concern in Weld County due to the density of agricultural operations, which can introduce nitrates and other compounds into groundwater, and the presence of oil and gas infrastructure, which carries its own set of risks related to spills and well integrity. The remediation efforts documented by Reuters at Chevron's Kersey-area site in 2022 reflect the heightened attention being paid to these issues at both the state and industry level.
Archaeological Context
The area around Kersey has also appeared in academic literature related to archaeological research in Colorado. A study published through JSTOR referenced a site connected to landowner Louis L. Klein of Kersey, Colorado, noting that researchers accessed his property in connection with significant archaeological work in the region. The reference situates Kersey within a broader landscape of prehistoric human activity that scholars have documented across the Colorado Plains and into neighboring states.[7] While the specific nature of the findings is addressed within the academic publication itself, the involvement of a Kersey landowner in facilitating archaeological research underscores the way in which rural property owners in the region have contributed to the scientific understanding of the area's deep history.
Government
As a Statutory Town, Kersey operates under the framework established by Colorado state law for municipalities of its type. Statutory towns in Colorado are governed by a board of trustees and a mayor, with authority and structure defined by state statutes rather than a locally adopted home-rule charter. This form of government is typical for smaller Colorado municipalities and provides a defined structure for administering local services, zoning, utilities, and public infrastructure.
The town's address at 26911 Highway 34 serves as its administrative location and is the address of record for municipal functions including its water utility, which has been the subject of EPA oversight. The town government also intersects with Weld County's broader administrative framework, including county-level law enforcement through the Weld County Sheriff's Office and access to county services based in Greeley.
Notable Institutions and Community Life
Community life in Kersey is organized around institutions that are characteristic of small statutory towns in rural Colorado. Platte Valley High School serves as among the most visible community anchors, connecting families across the agricultural region and providing a shared institutional identity for residents of Kersey and surrounding areas. The school's alumni network reflects the career paths available to graduates of rural Colorado high schools, including agriculture, energy-sector employment, construction, and small business ownership.
Family-based businesses have also played a meaningful role in shaping community identity in Kersey. Enterprises such as Devoe & Son Contracting LLC represent a pattern of intergenerational business succession that is common in rural communities where local knowledge, relationships, and physical infrastructure are passed from one generation to the next.
The broader South Platte Valley community of which Kersey is a part has a documented history of civic engagement dating to the earliest years of settlement, when residents organized school districts, supported local governance, and built the institutional framework that continues to define life in small Colorado towns.