Kelly is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in eastern Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. It lies approximately 13 miles (21 km) northwest of the city of

Grand Forks Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand For ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Grand Forks County. Kelly's elevation is 840 feet (256 m).

History

Kelly was named for Byron St. Clair Kelly, a stage coach driver and settler, born July 4, 1839, in

Richford, New York Richford is a town in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,043 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Ezekial Rich, an early settler and benefactor of the town. The Town of Richford is the northernmost town in the cou ...

. On February 1, 1864, Kelly married Sena Lomitz Andrus in

Lake City Lake City may refer to: Places *Lake City, Arkansas * Lake City, California (disambiguation) *Lake City, Modoc County, California * Lake City, Nevada County, California *Lake City, Colorado *Lake City, Florida * Lake City, Georgia * Lake City, I ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. The couple moved around south and central Minnesota, settling in Lake City,

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

, and

St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud or Saint Cloud (; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the c ...

, spending just four years in each town. The couple had two children, Charles James was born in Mankato in 1864, and Ciara Ada in Lake City in 1866. By the early 1870's, the Kelly Family had settled in

Grand Forks County, North Dakota Grand Forks County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 73,170, and was estimated to be 73,771 in 2024, making it the third-most populous county in North Dakota. The county seat and the larg ...

. The Kelly family were the first settlers of Acton Township, Walsh County, North Dakota, in 1870. On his land, Byron established a

stage station A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a facility along a main road or trade route where a traveller can rest and/or replace exhausted working animals (mostly horse riding, riding h ...

and opened a post office in 1871. A settlement grew around his businesses, known locally as "Kelly's Point" or "Kelly's Landing" in what is now Acton. When the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

was constructed across the northeast section of Grand Forks County in 1881, the settlement moved 12 miles to section 13 of Blooming Township to meet it. A post office opened on February 14, 1889, under the "Kelly" name with Daniel B. Thompson as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. Kelly first appeared on maps in 1892, commonly misspelled "Kellys" or "Kelley". The settlement had another post office from until its discontinuation in 1935, also using the "Kellys" spelling.

References

Populated places in Grand Forks County, North Dakota {{NorthDakota-geo-stub