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KELSEY, TEXAS
East Texas Ghost
Town
Upshur County
FM 1795
7 miles W of Gilmer
30 miles NW of Longview
Population:
200 (estimate)
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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town was named for early settler W. H. Kelsey - a doctor who arrived
sometime before the Civil War. In 1901 a colony of Mormons was founded
on Kelsey Creek. It drew Mormons from far and wide and a school was
established that same year - run by missionaries from the Mother Church
in Utah.
The post office opened in 1902 and closed in 1918. In 1910 the Marshall
and East Texas Railway arrived and Kelsey's future seemed bright.
By 1911 the town had a brick kiln, sawmills, a cotton gin, two blacksmiths,
and a gristmill.
The Kelsey Academy, a public school staffed by Mormon missionaries
opened in 1911. Kelsey reached its zenith in 1917 with 750 people
and more living nearby in Enoch, a Mormon settlement. The railroad
was abandoned in 1917, the post office closed and during the 1920s
and 1930s people moved away in droves. By 1938 there were 350 people
left but after WWII it declined further. Then came school consolidation
which finished the town off.
By the mid-1960s all that was left was one store and a church and
cemetery. It is now known as a dispersed community and the remaining
residents are descendants of the original Mormon settlers.
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