Kersey is an unincorporated community and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

Fox Township, Elk County, Pennsylvania Fox Township is a township in Elk County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,577 at the 2020 census, down from 3,630 in 2010. The township includes the unincorporated communities of Gardner Hill, Kylers Corners, Toby, Coal Hollo ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 797.

History

The first permanent settlers of the county arrived in 1810 and founded Centreville at the headwaters of

Little Toby Creek Little Toby Creek is a tributary of the Clarion River in northwest Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. Little Toby Creek joins the Clarion River near the community of Portland Mills in El ...

. Later that year, William Kersey built a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

and/or

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

there, and the settlement was renamed "Kersey", though early sources sometimes refer to it as "Kersey's". At the time, the area was part of

Clearfield County Clearfield County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,562. The county seat is Clearfield, and the largest city is DuBois. The county was created in 1804 and later organized in 1822. ...

, as Elk County had not yet been formed. Early industries in the community were

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

Geography

Kersey is located in northern Fox Township, in south-central Elk County.

Pennsylvania Route 948 Pennsylvania Route 948 (PA 948) is a state highway located in Elk, Forest, and Warren counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at PA 255 in Fox Township. The northern terminus is at PA 666 in Sheffield Township. Route descripti ...

passes through the community, leading east to PA 255 and west to U.S. Route 219, which leads north to Ridgway, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Kersey CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.15%, is water. The CDP includes the community of Dagus, to the west of Kersey proper. The community of Dagus Mines borders the CDP to the south. Kersey sits at an elevation of above sea level, northwest of the Eastern Continental Divide.

Demographics

References

Census-designated places in Pennsylvania Census-designated places in Elk County, Pennsylvania {{ElkCountyPA-geo-stub