Silos in Halford, Kansas, courtesy of Google Maps.
Halford, Kansas, is an unincorporated community in North Randall Township of Thomas County. It is also an “extinct” town as it has not had a post office in decades.
This place got its start in 1888, when the Union Pacific Railroad established the town of Verner between Colby and the Thomas-Sheridan County line. Isaac Mulholland, the Union Land Company president, filed the town plat of Verner, Kansas, on October 8, 1888.
W.E. Howard gave up a quarter of the land in trade for a Union Pacific Depot. Oscar F. Quick began a general store the next year.
When a post office was established inside the general store on April 12, 1892, it was called Halford rather than Verner for unknown reasons. Oscar Quick became the first postmaster. Marion Roller took over as postmaster in 1893.
Halfred, Kansas, Main Street in about 1895.
In 1910, Halford was still situated on the Union Pacific Railroad, at which time, it had a money order post office, a general store, a lumber yard, and did some shipping.
John Benda’s son, Oscar, became the owner of the general store in 1916.
On July 15, 1916, the Halford Store, owned by Ralph H. Howard, was totally destroyed by fire, struck by lightning, and high winds. The building and contents were insured for $3,000, and the loss was figured at $6,000.
The old school in Halford, 1925.
On August 31, 1916, the schoolhouse at Halford was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. On September 11, 1916, a motion to build a new schoolhouse for up to $1,800 carried.
C.E. Williamson, a landholder in the area, had a “dream” for the town, and the Rexford News viewed his ideas as follows:
“It will not be long until many different lines of business will be represented there. The public sale of town lots will be held on the last of this month, and he says a lot of fellows have their eye on the town. So far, they have stock sold for a bank, and an application is on file for a charter to be known as the Halford State Bank. As soon as the charter is granted, they plan to begin construction of the building. Arrangements have been made with a company to put in a lumber yard, and work has started on another grain elevator. Aman is in line for a general store, and the promoter says that after the sale, they expect practically all lines of business to be represented there. Halford is well located, and the growth of the town might surprise us all.”
Perhaps the circumstance of poor crop prices, which began plaguing the farmers of the county in the fall of 1920, contributed to the curtailment of Williamson’s ambitious designs for Halford. By May 1921, prices were 50% below the high point reached during the war years.
The post office closed on April 15, 1920. However, it reopened several months later on September 25, 1920.
Business buildings in Halford, Kansas, 1916.
On May 4, 1922, Halford voted to become a consolidated school with districts 39, 66, 78, 69, and 25. The Halford School number was 84.
On July 12, 1923, W.H. Chambers bought Halford Mercantile Company and took possession on August 1, 1923.
In 1936, many landowners leased their land to oil companies doing exploratory work in the region.
In January 1938, drilling was undertaken in the southern part of the county. Perhaps the most exciting possibility of an oil discovery occurred in the late summer of 1938 when drilling was started on Al Ryan’s land two miles south of Halford close to U.S. 83. Known as “Ryan No. 1,” it caused a good deal of interest, and a favorite pastime of the men of Colby was to take a trip out to the drilling operation to check on the progress of the well. So encouraged was the Colby Chamber of Commerce by this oil activity that it purchased 500 copies of Oil in Kansas, Volume IV, a booklet that described the geological conditions and oil prospects in the Northwest Kansas area.
These oil prospects led the Colby Chamber to designate Saturday, October 8, as “Oil in Kansas Day,” sell oil booklets for 75¢ each, and urge everybody to come to Colby. A good deal of the land around Halford was leased to various oil companies, but the Ryan well, after some oil had been discovered, proved to be a “dry hole.” It was an experience repeated numerous times afterward.
The story of Alvin and Anna Rohn in Halford began in 1947 when they sold their place near Ogallah, Kansas, and purchased a business they called Rohn’s Service Station from Mrs. Iles. The business included a store, a creamery, a filling station selling Conoco Gas, and a house. Anna ran the grocery store and creamery, and sold gas while Alvin managed the Halford Grain Elevator for H.S. King, “because they couldn’t make enough money in the store.”
Donald Robert Case, the postmaster in September 1950, and his wife Mona, purchased another store, a filling station, and a post office from Howard Chambers. However, Donald R. Case, who had been there for just one month, was called back into service in Korea. At that time, Donald’s brother, Cleo, had been living in the San Luis Valley in Colorado and wanted to return to farming in Kansas. He and his wife, Keela, decided to purchase Case’s Store and Station from his brother. The home was attached to the store building. There was a grocery section, hardware line, Sinclair gas pumps, and the post office. Keela Case assumed charge of the post office on September 14, 1950, and was confirmed on October 5, 1950. The train had to be met twice a day to send and receive mail.
Halford, Kansas, School Interior in about 1925.
In March 1953, Cleo and Keela Case found a farm nearby to live on and sold the business to Roy Brenn, Doris Harter’s father. Doris Harter was confirmed as postmistress on March 31, 1953, and remained in that position until the post office closed on October 15, 1953. She was the last postmaster. The Harter’s kept the store open for a time, then moved to Colby. Roy’s son and his wife, Marie Hamill, took over the building and eventually started Brenn Pump and Supply.
At the annual meeting for the 1960-1961 school year, it was voted not to maintain the school and to direct the board to provide school privileges to other districts. The school building was later moved out of the area.
The Rohns closed their store in 1962, and Alvin worked at the Upchurch Garage in Colby. However, they continued to live in Halford
In 1973, the Northwest Cattle Company was established and soon became Thomas County’s largest cattle feeding operation, capable of handling 15,000 head.
The Northwest Cattle Company was sold and renamed the Halford Cattle Company in 1982. In 1984, the operation was incorporated under the direction of Rex, Shirley, John, and Ross Cranston.
The branch rail line was abandoned in the mid 1990s.
Timmerman Feed Yard in Halford, Kansas, courtesy of Google Maps.
Roy Brenn continued to run his store and station through 2007 with his grandson, Dan Brenn. After Roy’s daughter, Doris, and her husband, Clarence Harter, moved in and continued to run the store.
In 2007, the feed operation was still functioning under the name Thomas County Feeders, Inc. In September of that year, the owners of the Thomas County Feeders Association purchased Kenny and Joyce Rohn’s and Anna Rohn’s homes, perhaps as places for their managers and workers to live near their job of keeping the cattle fed and watered.
The Brenn Pump and Supply business continues to operate from what was the grocery store and post office. The cattle feeding operation is located on land that was owned by Henry Bremenkamp.
Halford still features several silos, an old business building, a few area homes, and the Timmerman Feed Yard.
Halford is about nine miles east of Colby, the county seat. It is located on a main north-south highway, 83, two miles south of Highway 24, a main east-west road.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, January 2026.
Brenn Pump & Supply in Halford, Kansas, courtesy of Google Maps.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Prairie Museum, Coby, KS
Wikipedia