Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 155
Jack Alcorn, the Jewell County Historical Society (JCHS) president, announced early last week the society’s museum, located at 118 North Commercial in Mankato, will remain closed for this season. The museum committee of the JCHS will be working on museum projects, painting, restructuring and organizing during the closure. Alcorn noted, “We plan to be open during the 2021 season.” The JCHS apologizes for any inconvenience the closure causes. If there are questions or needs in conjunction with the museum, the public is asked to call JCHS presi...
The old "Jewell County Jail" in Mankato was used from 1900 to 1978. In 1899, Jewell County commissioners paid a Topeka architect, J. C. Holland, $500 to design the building. The builder for the project was W. C. Berry of Jewell. Berry, with a bid of $6,700, had the low bid on the project according to the July 28, 1899 Jewell County Republican. Berry paid $1.50 a ton for limestone to be hauled from the quarries south of Randall to the building site. When it arrived, it was dressed on location by...
Early in Jewell County history, there was discussion on the matter of what to name Town 1 South Range 8 West in Jewell County. Two suggestions were Kleveland and Norway as K. O. Kleveland, from Norway, was an early settler. But another suggestion was Harrison, after one of the two earliest setters in the township, George Harrison. The name Harrison prevailed. The readers of the August 27, 1877, Jewell County Monitor learned about a "new" post office. That post office was Harrison and it was to...
Yes, it is a story – with many starting places. Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Virginia and Cornwall, England to name a few. One beginning was in 1867, when Civil War Veteran Ogden Norman Greene left Oswego County, New York and headed west to Iowa. He had already seen the southern part of the United States during the war. His unit, Company F of the 110th New York Infantry, had been sent to New Orleans and spent the war in Louisiana and Florida. The George family had headed west from N...
“We Have a Story to Tell”! In 1870 there was a celebration at Fort Jewell on the Fourth of July. The group, several were Civil War veterans, was celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the United States. But pertinent to the settlers, they were celebrating the “departure of the Indians.” They moved out of the protection of Fort Jewell and celebrated! That long-ago buffalo barbeque was presided over by Col E. Barker. An oration was given by W. R. Phillips and J. C. Postelthwaite led the gro...
This issue of the Jewell County Record is generally full of the news of graduations, alumni events and Memorial Day ceremonies. This year it is not the case. In honor of graduates, commencements, alumni and Jewell’s Sesquicentennial here is an edition of “Jewell- We’ve Got a Story to Tell”! A report was given in the June 10, 1887, edition of the Jewell County Republican of the “First Annual Commencement of the Jewell City Public Schools.” This, according to the “2011 Directory of Jewell County Alumni” by Karen Ross, was the first graduatin...
The annual North Central Youth Camp will be held this year. It will have the same director and many of the same leaders but a new format. The camp will be virtual! The virtual camp will be held on June 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Campers will be those going into third grade up to those going into eighth grade. Director Jim Rice (pastor of Trinity, Ionia and Harmony United Methodist Churches) will conduct the camp. Amy Rice (Trinity UMC), is in charge of games and snacks. She said she is “excited and can’t wait to see the campers make Arm Pit Fud...
The Mayview Christian Church, often called Mayview Church or in later years simply Mayview, was located in Jewell County's Brown's Creek Township, Section 17. The church was in existence for more than 75 years. It was a community church with the membership coming from the area farms. As Jim Nelson, who attended Mayview with his Russell grandparents, noted "There were more people around then." Farms were closer together and people "didn't travel far." Names associated with the church were...
Bill Loomis, Jarrett Arasmith, Grant Arasmith, Darica Bohnert Hagler, Damon Bohnert, Deb Moyer Bohnert, Becky Moyer Cockroft, Jessie Simmelink Eilert, Jensen Eilert, Jada Eilert, Marsha Willmeth Bartsch, Kenny Garst, Steve McIntyre, Marsha McIntyre Slate, Billi Loomis Arasmith, the Matt and Adam Loomis families, along with Kathleen Loomis Little give you all a shout out: "Jewell – We've Got A Story To Tell"! They and many others in the county have a story that begins with the same two persons ...
Shaffer Union Cemetery, often just called Shaffer Cemetery, is located in Section 22 of Harrison Township. Isaac Shaffer donated the land, part of his homestead, for the cemetery. The cemetery is an old one, with at least three burials in 1873. Davis, Donahoo, Fringer, Kranatz, Korb, Morris, Paul Roe, Rogers, Shaffer, Shaw, Tegley, Tindall and Williams are but a few of families with multiple members buried in the cemetery. The cemetery has been getting some much-needed repair work done. Doug Boy...
Jackson Township is the northeastern most township in Jewell County. Nebraska borders it on the north and Republic County's Big Bend Township borders it on the east. Sections one, two and three of the township are cut off from the rest of Jewell County by a bend in the Republican River. But somewhere in that small area there existed the Big Bend Post Office. The post office was in existence from June 21, 1871 to March of 1875. Big Bend is noted on two historical maps. On the 1878 map of Jewell C...
"Jewell – We've Got A Story To Tell" and one story is about the house on the southeast corner of Main and Sheridan. It is thought to be the oldest house in the community. Records and newspaper items point to it being built in 1884 by J. S. and Susan Wise Fisher. The Fisher's were from Rock Grove, Ill., and moved to Jewell around 1883. The Fisher's first visit to Jewell was recorded in the Sept. 8, 1882 Jewell County Republican. He and his wife, in the company of a sister, brother and s...
John's Creek meanders north through Jewell County's Richland Township. It was doing so 150 years ago when the first permanent settlers were establishing homes in Jewell County. At that time, White Rock Creek flowed eastward across the breadth of Jewell County. Near where the two creeks came together, the town of Rubens flourished during the late 1800s. It began on Jan. 31, 1871, when the Rubens Post Office, named after the first Rubens postmaster, William Rubens Scott, was established. The...
On Main Street in Formoso, an old limestone wall is getting a face lift. Old meaning at least 120 years old. Michael Hansen, Concordia, has reset building blocks, filled in mortar, and restored the foundation. The wall is part of the Formoso Thrift Shop which is housed in the former Formoso State Bank Building. The first bank in the location opened on June 1, 1900. Throughout the years the facility has housed different banks, the Formoso State Bank, First National Bank and Formoso Bank....
We are in a time when "social distancing" should be a way of life and not merely a "buzz word." Though it may feel like the term is new, the concept is quite old. Consider those with leprosy in Biblical times. As long as they were ill, they were to live apart from society and call "leper, leper" if they came near anyone. Today "social distancing" means to leave home only for essentials and maintain six feet of distance between any others that may be where it is essential for you to be. It means...
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and now we are ready to celebrate Easter on this coming Sunday. Holy Week, in the Christian Calendar is the week leading up to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. During the week, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper or the Last Supper was instituted by Jesus. This is observed on Thursday, Maundy Thursday. Jesus was meeting with his disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate the Passover. The Passover commemorates the final plague, the death of the first...
The home at 518 Broadway in Jewell, the "Plowman" house was built in 1901 by Edgar and Emma Haskins Young. The 119-year old home is currently owned by Jason and Jessie Eilert. The builder and first owner, Edgar Young, came to Jewell County from Livingston, Ill. Clippings from local newspapers indicate he was teaching in county schools by 1887. A younger brother joined him in Jewell County in the late 1890s but the majority of his family remained in the Livingston, Ill. area. The Haskins family...
Peter Kearns is reported to have been the only settler to stay for the winter of 1869-70 in Jewell County. The Kearns homestead was located somewhere along White Rock Creek. Kearns, born in France, lived the rest of his life in Jewell County in the Webber area. As a Civil War veteran, he was part of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Post there. He died in 1901 and is buried in the Webber Cemetery. It was in the Spring of 1870, especially in the month of April, when settlers started arriving in groups in the area around the future site of...
Christians around the world will celebrate Palm Sunday on this coming Sunday, April 5. (Or on April 12 in Eastern Orthodox or Russian Orthodox congregations.) It is often observed with children carrying palm branches down the aisles of churches but will be observed differently this year. Services online, via Facebook, Zoom and other media will tell the centuries old story. The story of Palm Sunday, as recorded in the Gospels, tells of the day Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. The story beg...
A pandemic occurs when a disease spreads in significant numbers world-wide. If a disease is more limited in area, not found in large numbers in multiple continents, it is an epidemic. An outbreak simply means there are more cases of a disease in a specific local area than is normal. The “Spanish Flu” was pandemic but not really Spanish at all. The world was at war and news media was not writing about nor reporting on news that might lower moral. It was illegal to print such news in the United States. Spain, neutral during the war, had a pre...
Sunday is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. This national observance is to remember and thank all Vietnam War Veterans and their families for their service during the war. First observed in 2012, National Vietnam War Veterans Day was made official with legislative action on March 28, 2017. On that day President Trump signed The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017. The act made the official day of observance March 29 of each year. March 29 was selected because on March 29, 1973, the...
"Jewell - We Have A Story To Tell." One story, from the beginning of Jewell's history, tells of a pioneer, Billy Street, walking out on the prairie and climbing to the top of Scarborough Hill. The hill, west of Jewell, is named after another early settler James Scarborough. Street was afforded quite a view. A view of a valley full of buffalo. Thus, the name, Buffalo Valley. As many may know, the buffalo Street saw were not true buffalo but actually bison. However, to this day, most call the...
Fort Hays State University graduate student, Michael Saint, has earned his fourth national championship ring competing with the university's Shooting Club and Team. He is the son of Curtis and Annette Saint of rural Jewell. Saint, a 2014 graduate of Rock Hills High School, earned a bachelor's of science degree in business administration from Fort Hays State University in 2018. Currently he is in the university's master of business administration program. As a member of the FHSU Shotgun Club and...
Seventy-five years ago, forces from both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy were involved in the fierce and bloody battle for Iwo Jima. The island was small, only 8.1 square miles in area. Equal in size to eight sections of land. Iwo Jima had three Japanese airfields, a principal reason for the decision to take the island. The battle was predicted to last only one week. Victory, however, required five weeks of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting in the Pacific Theater....
“Jewell – We’ve Got A Story To Tell”! This story is of the Saints who have gone marching through Jewell’s Sesquicentennial history. Nathan Carlyle Saint of Jewell is the sixth generation of the Saint family to farm in the Jewell area. Twenty-six-year old Saint is the son of Curtis and Annette Higgins Saint who have been farming west of Jewell since their wedding on Aug. 17, 1991. But it all began in 1871 with Nathan’s great-great-great grandparents, Nathan Albertson and Louisa Francis Daw...
