Meservey, Iowa

Meservey, Iowa
—  City  —
Location of Meservey, Iowa
Coordinates: 42°54′47″N 93°28′34″W / 42.91306°N 93.47611°W / 42.91306; -93.47611Coordinates: 42°54′47″N 93°28′34″W / 42.91306°N 93.47611°W / 42.91306; -93.47611
Country	United States
State	Iowa
County	Cerro Gordo
Area
- Total	1.5 sq mi (3.9 km2)
- Land	1.5 sq mi (3.9 km2)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	1,250 ft (381 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	252
- Density	166.9/sq mi (64.5/km2)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP code	50457
Area code(s)	641
FIPS code	19-51420
GNIS feature ID	0459009

Meservey is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 252 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Meservey was founded in 1886, shortly after a railroad line was built connecting Mason City and Fort Dodge. It takes its name from the Meservey Brothers who were railroad employees at this time. The western portion of town was originally known as Kausville, and eventually merged into Meservey, and is still legally known as the "Kausville Addition".^[1]

Geography

Meservey is located at 42°54′47″N 93°28′34″W / 42.91306°N 93.47611°W / 42.91306; -93.47611 (42.913139, -93.476173)^[2].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there were 252 people, 123 households, and 75 families residing in the city. The population density was 166.9 people per square mile (64.4/km²). There were 137 housing units at an average density of 90.8 per square mile (35.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.81% White, 0.40% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.97% of the population.

There were 123 households out of which 21.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.0% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.60.

In the city the population was spread out with 16.7% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 27.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 93.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $36,042. Males had a median income of $28,438 versus $16,406 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,043. About 7.2% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those sixty five or over.

Schools

As of the 2008-2009 school year, Thornton is part of the West Fork Schools, along with students from then neighboring towns of Thornton, Sheffield, Chapin, Rockwell, Swaledale, and the surrounding area.

The Meservey school building was built in the 1940s (as a Works Progress Administration project) as a K-12 facility for Meservey High school. In 1963, it became an elementary and junior high school, and later an elementary only, for the combined Meservey-Thornton school district.^[1] Due to declining enrollments, the building was closed in 1983, when all K-12 classes met in the Thornton facility. In 1988, Meservey-Thornton began whole-grade sharing with Sheffield-Chapin school district. The Meservey school facility was razed sometime around 1993, and the property is now Schoolhouse Park.

Meservey High School's mascot was the Rockets. The Meservey-Thornton mascot was the "Lancers". When the high school classes moved to Sheffield in 1988, the Lancer mascot was retained for the middle-school sports teams. However with further consolidation in 2007, the Lancer mascot was officially retired with a parade in Thornton in July, 2007.

Due to continued declining enrollment, the former S-C, M-T, and neighboring Rockwell-Swaledale school districts merged to become the West Fork school district in 2008, with the "Warhawks" as the new mascot. All students now attend Sheffield and Rockwell. Each remaining school will have K - 3, Rockwell will house 4 - 8 and Sheffield 9 - 12.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} History of Meservey, H.C. Fischer, 1974
2. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. 
3. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.