ADAMS COUNTY
Bromley Farm / Koizuma-Hishinuma Farm
15820 E. 152nd Ave., Brighton
Emmet Ayers Bromley came to Colorado in 1877 and became one of the largest
sheep and livestock owners in Colorado. He also established a long and
distinguished record of public service, holding the positions of Arapahoe
County deputy sheriff and deputy assessor. He served three terms in the
Colorado House of Representatives and two in the Colorado Senate, where
he sponsored the 1901 senate bill establishing Adams County.
Following the Bromleys’ 31-year ownership of the property, the William O.
Roberts family purchased and operated the farm until 1947, selling the land
to the Koizuma family. The Koizumas and their relatives, the Hishinuma family,
farmed the land until 2006. Asian American families made a major contribution to
local agricultural and social history. Arriving in the first years of the
twentieth century, Japanese immigrants and their decedents were recruited to
work on irrigation ditch construction and to labor in the sugar beet fields.
Many initially lived in migrant worker housing. As families saved money, some
were able to purchase farms of their own. Typical of those in the Brighton area,
the Koizumas and Hishinumas raised sugar beets, cabbage, alfalfa, and corn.
The farm’s architecture represents the full range of buildings and
structures necessary for the operation of a twentieth-century Colorado
cattle ranch and farm, including a rare surviving example of transient labor
housing. (Photograph 2006)
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