Hereford

Hereford is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The Hereford Post Office has the ZIP Code 80732.

History

Hereford became the new site of the section house and flag station on the Sterling to Cheyenne branch of the Colorado-Wyoming division of the Burlington-Missouri River Railroad in 1888. It was moved across the Colorado-Wyoming state line from Wyoming at that time. First proposed to be named Devon then was changed to New Hereford and was 8.7 miles northwest of Grover and 5 miles southeast of Carpenter, Wyoming just northeast of Crow Creek on Weld County road 77 and 390. Frank Benton's ranch home was nearby in the late 1890's and because of his cattle ranch they changed the name to Hereford because of the thousands of Hereford cattle he raised. Along with the largest rancher in the territory, John Wesley Illiff who owned most of the land between 1872 and 1878 literally thousands of cattle were shipped out of here to the markets back east. After Iliff died the ranch still operated as the Iliff Land and Cattle Company. The surrounding area not under government control as the Pawnee National Grasslands, is still a farm and ranch community. n 1920 it was the sight of the famous Hereford Inn.

The only newspaper published in Hereford in The Crow Creek News as a weekly in 1919-1920 by Mrs. C.D. Crouch who was a farm housewife and also wrote poetry and articles for eastern magazines. The Hereford school was first built in 1914. It lasted until 1919 when a new school was built to match the Hereford Inn. A deed from H.B. Werder was for three acres at the corner of Atlanta and Hereford street dated July 19, 1921. The school was abandoned in 1940 and students were bused to Grover.

Geography

Hereford is located at 40°58′30″N 104°18′19″W

Comment

To say Hereford is a cow town, would in fact be historically accurate. We were actually able to stop in Hereford at a small convenience store and refresh our road trip necessities. For most places in the Fort Collins / Loveland, it is faster to go through Cheyenne to get there than any of the many gravel roads in the Pawnee Grasslands.