Milliken, Colorado
Town of Milliken, Colorado | |
|---|---|
 Broad Street in Milliken. | |
| Nickname: The hub of northern Colorado | |
 Location of Milliken in Weld County, Colorado. | |
| Coordinates: 40°17′02″N 104°51′36″W / 40.28389°N 104.86000°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado |
| County[1] | Weld |
| Incorporated (town) | October 1, 1910[2] |
| Government | |
| • Type | Statutory Town[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 12.90 sq mi (33.41 km2) |
| • Land | 12.81 sq mi (33.19 km2) |
| • Water | 0.085 sq mi (0.22 km2) |
| Elevation | 4,810 ft (1,470 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 8,386 |
| • Density | 654.4/sq mi (252.7/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
| ZIP code[6] | 80543 |
| Area code | 970 |
| FIPS code | 08-50480 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2413000[4] |
| Website | Town of Milliken |
Milliken is a statutory town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 8,386 at the 2020 United States census.[5] Milliken is a part of the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Front Range Urban Corridor.
History
The town was named for John D. Milliken, a Judge.
The first community located near the Milliken townsite was initially known as Hillsboro. The community began as a trading post on the Denver, Laramie, and Northwestern Railroad for agricultural goods in the 1860s. The Milliken, Colorado, post office opened on November 10, 1909,[7] and the Town of Milliken was incorporated on October 1, 1910.[1] In 1910, Milliken annexed nearby Hillsboro.
Fires in the 1910s destroyed much of the town, and in 1917 the Denver, Laramie, and Northwestern Railroad was abandoned.
Milliken continued as a primarily farming community through the depression and world wars. In the 1950s two large potato decks were constructed. The late 1960s and early 1970s brought a housing boom.
In 1985 and 1986 the town roads were paved. The town continued to grow, causing the town government to move its facilities, in 1996, into the Milliken Community Complex. Additional facilities were added, including the Milliken Public Work Facility in 2004, and a new police station in 2009.[8]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 5.7 square miles (15 km2), all of it land.
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 372 | — | |
| 1930 | 483 | 29.8% | |
| 1940 | 531 | 9.9% | |
| 1950 | 510 | −4.0% | |
| 1960 | 630 | 23.5% | |
| 1970 | 702 | 11.4% | |
| 1980 | 1,506 | 114.5% | |
| 1990 | 1,605 | 6.6% | |
| 2000 | 2,888 | 79.9% | |
| 2010 | 5,610 | 94.3% | |
| 2020 | 8,386 | 49.5% | |
| 2023 (est.) | 9,084 | [9]  | 8.3% |
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Milliken had a population of 8,386. The median age was 31.9 years. 29.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 8.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 104.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.8 males age 18 and over.[10][11]
88.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 11.3% lived in rural areas.[12]
There were 2,756 households in Milliken, of which 46.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 63.6% were married-couple households, 14.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 14.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 14.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[10]
There were 2,836 housing units, of which 2.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.3%.[10]
| Race | Number | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| White | 6,190 | 73.8% |
| Black or African American | 32 | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 90 | 1.1% |
| Asian | 40 | 0.5% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 3 | 0.0% |
| Some other race | 899 | 10.7% |
| Two or more races | 1,132 | 13.5% |
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) | 2,308 | 27.5% |
Education
Milliken is served by the Weld Re-5J School District. Children in the town attend Milliken Elementary School, Knowledge Quest Academy (KQA) and Civica. Roosevelt Middle School (Formally known as Milliken Middle school from 1969 to 2024) and Roosevelt High School Are both located in nearby Johnstown. And in the 2025–26 school year 3rd through 5th graders will attend the former Milliken Middle School renamed and repurposed into Milliken Intermediate School.[13]
Daniels School
The Daniels School, in Milliken in Weld County, Colorado, was built in 1911. It is a two-room schoolhouse, with a partition that allowed separation of grades 1–4 vs. grades 5–8, which operated from 1911 to 1959.[14] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[15] It was built on a one-acre (0.40 ha) plot of land donated to the school district by James Daniels in 1879. A wood-frame schoolhouse was built first; it was sold and moved off the property to enable replacement by the present brick building in 1911. James Daniels served as director of the school for many years. The school was named, however, for his brother, Henry Daniels, who was a pioneer in the Big Thompson Valley area before Johnstown and Milliken existed.[14]
The school in 2012
the school in 2018
See also
- Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area
- Dent site, near Milliken, the first site to provide evidence that men hunted mammoth
References
- 1 2 3 "Active Colorado Municipalities". State of Colorado, Department of Local Affairs. Archived from the original on December 12, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2007.
- ↑ "Colorado Municipal Incorporations". State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives. December 1, 2004. Archived from the original on August 23, 2003. Retrieved September 2, 2007.
- ↑ "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". Census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Milliken, Colorado
- 1 2 United States Census Bureau. "Milliken town, Colorado". Retrieved April 19, 2023.
- ↑ "ZIP Code Lookup". USPS.com. United States Postal Service. Archived from the original (JavaScript/HTML) on January 1, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ↑ Bauer, William H.; Ozment, James L.; Willard, John H. (1990). Colorado Post Offices 1859–1989. Golden, Colorado: Colorado Railroad Historical Foundation. ISBN 0-918654-42-4.
- ↑ "History of Milliken". Retrieved May 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- 1 2 3 "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
- 1 2 "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
- ↑ "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)". United States Census Bureau. 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
- ↑ "Home - Weld Re-5J School District". www.weldre5j.org. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
- 1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - Daniels School". Archived from the original on March 29, 2020.
- ↑ "NPGallery NRHP Archive Search". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
External links
Municipalities and communities of Weld County, Colorado, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Trading posts | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
