Jewell County was named and the boundaries established by the Kansas State Legislature on Feb. 26, 1867. The government of the county was organized on July 14, 1870, when James Harvey, Kansas governor, appointed C. L. Seeley, E, T. Gandy and A. I. Davis as county commissioners, James A. Scarborough as county clerk, and Jewell City as the county seat.
In the beginning, Jewell County had only five townships, Big Timber, Buffalo, Limestone, Vicksburg and White Rock. There were 207 residents counted on the 1870 U. S. Federal Census.
Today there is a reported population of 2,932 in 25 townships. Those townships being Allen, Athens, Buffalo, Burr Oak, Browns Creek, Calvin, Center, Erving, Esbon, Grant, Harrison, Highland, Holmwood, Ionia, Jackson, Limestone, Montana, Odessa, Prairie, Richland, Sinclair, Vicksburg, Walnut, Washington and White Mound.
Allen Township, in the Greenhorn Hills and watered by the Cheyenne, Little Cheyenne, Dry and Buffalo creeks, is the southeastern most township in Jewell County. The lowest point in the county, at around 1,400 feet, is in Allen Township, in the area where Buffalo Creek flows into Cloud County. This is according to a 1933 Geological Survey Circular.
The township was organized on Aug. 10, 1872, and named after resident, W. M. Allen. By 1876, Allen was the county clerk. Allen Township was named after him but he later lived in Jewell County’s Holmwood, White Mound and Esbon townships. His residence was Esbon in the 1900 U. S. Census but he died in 1907 in Canadian, Okla.
G. W. Scouten of the community of West Hope, Allen Township, wrote newspaper items for Allen Township in 1877 and 1878. His comments “Allen Township has passed quite pleasantly through the past year. Nothing has happened to mar the peace and quietude of our locality.” were published in the Jewell County Diamond of Jan. 12, 1878.
Athens Township, Athens Grade School, Athens Cemetery, Athens High School and the Athens Post Office were all named after Athens, the ancient capital city of Greece. The township was organized on Aug. 10, 1872, from a portion of the original Limestone Township.
Fred Beeler, an early settler, had arrived in April of 1870 and settled along Limestone Creek. The Limestone and its tributary branches flow north to south through the township. The area is part of the Smoky Hills Upland and Jewell Plain.
It was reported in the Sept. 19, 1878 Jewell County Monitor “the finest wheat of the season” was grown by Robert J. Smith of Athens Township. The variety was White Walker. His crop yielded 31 bushels to the acre. The June 9, 1877, Jewell County Diamond related there were 13, 596 pounds of butter produced in Athens township in the previous year.
Brown’s Creek Township – now Browns Creek – was organized Aug. 10, 1872, from a portion of the original Buffalo Township. It also lies in the Smoky Hill Upland of Jewell County. The first settlers had arrived in June of 1870. By 1872, the first death had occurred (Benjamin Lyons on Feb. 22, 1872), the first birth was recorded (Orville Synder to W. H. and Kate Synder) and the first marriage was performed for Estep Munks and Emily Barnett.
The Mayview Post Office existed in Browns Creek Township from 1872 to 1904. There was also a vibrant town by that name for many of those years as well as the Mayview Church which served members until the 1960s. Browns Creek runs north to south through the township, but it is not known if there was a “Brown” for whom the creek was named. There were no Brown surnames in Browns Creek Township nor in Calvin Township (the headwaters of Browns Creek) in the 1870 or 1875 censuses.
One of the original five townships, Buffalo Township, was organized on Aug. 22, 1870. At that time, it consisted of all of Towns 3,4 and 5 south in Ranges 7 and 8 west in Jewell County. This area eventually would become present day Buffalo, Calvin, Prairie, Browns Creek, Center and Washington townships. Today’s Buffalo Township lies in the Smoky Hills Upland and has the Jewell Plain to the east and southeast of the town of Jewell.
Buffalo Township, the East, West and Middle Branches of Buffalo Creek, Buffalo Valley, Jewell’s Buffalo Street and the Buffalo Militia who manned Fort Jewell in 1870 are all named after the buffalo who roamed the area in 1870. Buffalo, Spring and Prairie Creeks all flow through Buffalo Township. Jewell, founded in 1870, is still a community in the township.
The burr oaks that grow in Burr Oak Township are the reason for the name. The History of Jewell County, Kansas by Winsor and Scarbrough states Burr Oak Township is the “legitimate successor of White Rock township.” White Rock being one of the five original townships organized on Aug. 22, 1870.
Burr Oak Township first elected officials on April 3, 1871. Godfrey, Gilbert, Mann and Moor were some of the early names in the township. The Jan. 11, 1877 issue of the Jewell County Monitor cited “A. W. Mann, the oldest settler of Burr Oak Township.” Burr Oak Creek, as well as Walnut, Wolf and Antelope creeks all flow into White Rock Creek as it meanders across the township on its way to Republic County.
The Nov. 3, 1877, Jewell County Diamond reported “F. K. Myers of Burr Oak Township” grew the large white dent corn that took “first premium” at the county fair. In the June 9, 1877, Diamond, it had been reported 5, 021 acres of the township were under cultivation. The town of Burr Oak celebrated its Sesquicentennial in 2021.
Calvin Township was formed on Dec. 7, 1875, one of the last townships in the county to organize. The township was named in honor of J. Calvin Postlethwaite as he was key in organizing the township. Postlethwaite was also an early day Jewell County banker, building the first bank in Jewell County. His bank still stands on the southeast corner of Custer and Delaware in Jewell.
The July 25, 1879, Jewell County Review reported the county commissioners responded to a petition presented by D. O. Palmer by voting to add 4 and a half sections in the southeastern corner of Calvin Township to Buffalo Township. Two commissioners, O. F Roberts and J. D. Robertson, voted for the motion but Thomas Shuler voted against it.
A separate article in the same paper noted “There are quite a number of citizens of Calvin Township whose interests lie entirely with Jewell City.” Their interests seem to be the reason for the petition and boundary change.
Center Township, Centre as it was originally spelled, is in the exact center of Jewell County and thus the name. Like Browns Creek Township it was organized out of the original Buffalo Township on Aug. 10,1872. The county seat of Jewell County, Mankato is in Center Township.
Lying in the High Plains area of Jewell County, Center Township also has the Mankato Upland in the northern portion of the township. The Middle Branch of Buffalo Creek flows north to south through the township.
Warner Helman was reported the “happiest man in Centre Township” by the March 15, 1877, Jewell County Monitor. The reason? A 13-pound baby boy.
A Jan. 11, 1877 Jewell County Monitor item noted “James John, constable of Centre township and deputy sheriff, is one of the rising young men of the county.” He was further described as “trustworthy” and “efficient” and known to give “good satisfaction.” However, the March 22, 1877 Monitor carried this notice from J. P. Leaf, Trustee of Centre Township “The party that took the road scraper from Road District No. 1 Centre Township last August, is hereby notified to return the same to me immediately. The party who took the said scraper drove a black team.” One wonders where Constable John was during all of this.
Erving Township lies in the Smoky Hills Upland in the southwestern most corner of Jewell County. Little Oak Creek, with its headwaters in Odessa Township to the north, flows north to south through the township. The 1878 Dutch Reformed Church, with its “commodious church building” still exists today.
Settlers first arrived in June of 1870 and continued in such an influx; the land was all taken by 1871. Several of those settlers were from Hiawatha, Kansas where they had known a Dr. Erving. When the township organized on Nov. 10, 1872, it was named in honor of Dr. Erving.
The June 16, 1877, Jewell County Diamond quoted H. VanTillborg as saying the crops were “looking bully.” The same paper on July 28, 1877, reported the Jewell County commissioners paid A, J, Cox the sum of $36 to assess Erving Township.
Today we spell Esbon with an “s” and have since 1882. But when organized, it was spelled Ezbon. Organized in August 1872, from the original Limestone Township, the township was twice the size it is today. The size lasted only briefly and by 1878 it occupied Town 3 South, Range 10 West just as it does today.
The township is part of the High Plains with tributaries to Limestone Creek running to the south through the area. It was named for Ezbon Kellogg, the son of A. B. and Mariah Kinney Kellogg. With the “z” in his name, being named for him seems to fit. His father, A. B. Kellogg, was an early Jewell County treasurer.
According to his mother’s obituary (Mariah Kinney in the Aug. 15, 1907 Esbon Times) Ezbon was the first white child born in the Esbon area and so the township was named for him. This information does not fit other documentation. According to his Missouri Death Certificate, he was born on Feb. 24, 1852, in New York.
Census records collaborate New York as his state of birth (1860 U.S. New York Census, 1875 Kansas Census and the 1880 U.S. Kansas Census). The Kellogg parents (A. D. and Mariah) came to Kansas from New York but were born in Ireland. Ezbon did live in Esbon or the Esbon area until after 1910, when he moved to Mountain Grove, Missouri, to be near a daughter. He died there in 1947 at the age of 96 years, 7 months and 14 days – according to his Missouri death certificate.
As we march through the alphabetized townships, we come to Grant Township. The township was organized on April 8,1873, out of the original Vicksburg Township. With Ulysses S. Grant the victor of the then recently concluded Civil War and the sitting U. S. President, it is logical the township was named for him. There is however, no documentation to that effect this writer has found.
Located in the Smoky Hills Upland and watered by East and Middle Marsh Creeks, it was first settled in March and April of 1871. Fogel, Quy, Hobson and Sturdevant were some of the early names in Grant Township history.
The lost town of Omio was also in Grant County’s Section 33 and 34. The town of Formoso, started when the railroad bypassed Omio, still exists today. But it was in Omio the inquest into a “Fiendish Murder,” the first murder in the history of the county, took place.
On Nov. 30, 1878, Elizabeth Danalson was found dead in a pool of blood. Her body was in her bedroom with her two young daughters in the next room.
On the first of December, a six-member jury, with W. F. Crew the coroner, found “Elizabeth Danalson came to her death by the means of a gunshot wound inflicted on her by Daniel Danalson on the 29th day of November, A.D. 1878 in Jewell Co., Kansas, and that said shooting was done willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly and feloniously.”
The county attorney, not present in the county nor at the inquest, resigned and let the newly elected county attorney proceed with the case. Said person had already conducted the inquest. Daniel Danalson was held in jail until his April trial. At that trial, a jury found him not guilty because of lack of evidence. It is believed, no one else has ever been arrested for the murder of Elizabeth Danalson.
Harrison Township along the Nebraska border has Oak Creek and at least six unnamed flows of water which move north toward the Republican River. There are also the Long Branch, Norway, Taylor and Korb creeks which flow south. The township is entirely in the Dissected Loess Upland of hills and gullies.
The township was named for George Harrison, early settler of the township. There was some talk of calling it “Morrison” after another early settler, Morris Morrison. However, his son, Martin Morrison, was championing “Norway” as the name. Settlers in the township did not find “Norway” palatable so “Harrison” was selected. Norway Creek still runs through Morris Morrison’s old homestead in Section 20.
George and Louvina Colaw Harrison married in Ohio and had a large family, all but two of which were out of their home by the time they were enumerated in the 1875 Kansas Census. Both George and Louvina remained in Jewell County for the rest of their lives. They are buried in Olive Hill Cemetery, just a couple of miles from their homestead.
Harrison Township and E. S. Burlingame were highlighted in the news in 1876 with Burlingame’s reported discovery of a mastodon skeleton. Several articles in 1876 about the mastodon skeleton but nothing in subsequent years. So, where is the skeleton you ask? This writer does not know.
The northwestern most township in Jewell County is Highland. It is literally the high land of the county and perhaps the reason for the name. At this writing, there is no other known reason. Early settler names were Gettys, Lyman, Bullock and Davis, with the earliest settlement that of William Gettys in April of 1871.
Jewell County High Point, the highest point in Jewell County, is located in Highland Township. It is approximately 1,970 feet above sea level and is in located in Section 6. Section 6 being the northwestern most section in the township. This section abuts Nebraska on the north and Smith County, Kansas, on the west.
Highland Township, originally part of White Mound Township, was organized on Feb. 12, 1874. Ash and Amity creeks run through the township. The area is in the Dissected Loess Upland and has the hills, gullies and gulches that are part of the upland.
The June 9, 1877, Jewell County Diamond reported that 7,482 pounds of butter had been produced in Highland Township in the previous year. The year before, according to the 18 Aug. 18, 1876 Jewell County Diamond, E. Hill had been paid $30 to assess the township
The sixth Jewell County post office to be organized was Branchport, organized on April 7, 1871, in Holmwood Township. There is no known reason for the name Branchport, nor why the Branchport Post Office became the Holmwood Post Office just three months later. Likewise, is there no indication why the name “Holmwood” was selected.
As a township, Holmwood was not organized until Jan. 7, 1873. The post office seems the first to use the name. When the town of Holmwood was organized and began to use the name is not clear. There was one more name change, on Aug. 10, 1885, the Holmwood Post Office became the Gregory Post Office. This name was selected to honor the Gregory family of the area.
White Rock Creek is the main creek running west to east through Holmwood Township. But tributaries Taylor, Norway, Troublesome, Porcupine, Fork, Spring, Long Branch, Korb and Timber creeks all flow into the White Rock. The township is mostly part of the High Plains with chalk pediments along part of the western border of the township and Dissected Loess Upland north of White Rock Creek.
The 30 Aug. 30, 1872 Jewell City Weekly Clarion, published before the township was organized, carried this item “A pleasant little affair came off at Holmwood on the night of the 23rd, in the shape of a select dance of unusual brilliancy. Mr. Noll issued the invitations, and with the help of Mr. C. Norton and his estimable lady, got up the best supper and conducted the best dance ever held in that place.”
It all started, according to Lester Stites’s History of Ionia, Kansas, on May 19, 1869 when A. N. Cole staked his homestead claim on the west side of East Limestone Creek. According to an April 6, 1876, article in the Jewell County Diamond, that was the first homestead in Jewell County and according to Stites, the birth of Ionia.
Ionia Township was organized out of the original Limestone Township on Aug. 10 1872. Early settlers, brothers Marvin, Sanford and Orange Baxter, had come from Ionia, Michigan. They succeeded in getting their new Kansas community named after their old home of Ionia, Mich.
Nearly all of Ionia Township is in the Smoky Hills Upland with just fringes on the east and north in the High Plains. Ash Creek and all four branches of Limestone Creek flow from north to south through the township.
During the 1870s there were some severe grasshopper years. This from the Feb. 15, 1877, Jewell County Monitor, “An association has been formed in Ionia Township, called the Pleasant Ridge Grasshopper Association. This association is organized for the purposed of exterminating the young g.h. in the spring.”
Pleasant Ridge School District 25 was located at the present corner of 105 Road and L Road, this is likely the area organizing to combat the grasshoppers. Little else is known about the school or area save a brief mention in the Feb. 14, 1878, Jewell County Monitor “District 25 boasts of the best school this winter since the school was organized, with J. W. Irwin at its head.”
Jackson Township, in the northeastern corner of Jewell County, has the extreme northeastern corner of the township cut off by the Republican River. About four sections lie on the north side of river, cut off from the rest of the township. The river bottom land, lying next to the river, is the only part of the township not in the Dissected High Terrace formation.
Cross Creek flows into the Republican River. Bean Creek and Spring Creek are in the southern part of the township, with Bean Creek flowing south and Spring Creek flowing to the east. Webber, population about 25, is in the southwestern corner of the township.
The township, part of the original Big Timber Township, was organized on April 16, 1872. Why the name “Jackson” was used has not been documented. Perhaps for President Andrew Jackson?
The May 22, 1879, Jewell County Monitor related the following information, “This is getting to be a great stock country. There was (sic) over 300 head of cattle fed and shipped out of Jackson since the first of last November.”
The original Limestone Township was organized on Aug. 22, 1870. From it came Athens, Ionia, Esbon and Erving townships plus today’s Limestone Township. The latter was organized on Feb. 12, 1874. No reason for the name has been found but the local limestone rock well could be the reason. The township lies in the High Plains area of Jewell County.
Though the branches of Limestone Creek are the main waterways in the township, Elm Creek also runs to the south through the eastern part of the township. Thomas Garland, an old sea captain, was the first settler. He settled on a branch of the Limestone in the fall of 1870. His homestead was the SE 1⁄4 of Section 28. Garland received the patent on Aug. 15, 1876.
The July 25, 1879, Jewell County Review described a trip through Limestone Township, along Limestone Creek. The McCammon, Patterson, Bonney and Appleman farms were some of those visited. The article concluded “All along this creek, the corn crop is looking splendid, and all seemed pleased with their prospects.”
The town of Otego was in Limestone Township. It was a bustling and busy rail center, until the water supply ran out. Now little more than a sign exists.
An article about Montana Township appeared in the Jewell County Monitor on Jan. 18, 1877. “Montana Township is beautifully situated, lying between the White Rock Valley and the Great Republican Valley: Interspersed with groves of good timber: soil, good; land, rolling; plenty of rock for all purposes, and the north side of the township boasts of the best sand banks this correspondent has ever seen.”
The article ended with “Montana Township has one dry goods and grocery store, kept by O. S. Rice. He informed us he has just received a large lot of goods direct from St. Louis, and he informs us he intends to sell for Grange prices.” This is the only store known to have been in Montana Township. Rice’s homestead was in the SE 1⁄4 of Section 28 and his store was in his dugout. Eventually he moved his store to the town of Rubens.
In Montana Township, Montana Creek flows to the south. Originally it flowed into White Rock Creek but now it flows into Lovewell Lake. Other creeks, unnamed on maps, flow either north to the Republican River or south to Lovewell Lake. Physiographically, the western half of the township is Dissected Loess Upland and the eastern portion Dissected High Terrace.
Why the name “Montana was selected for the creek or the township is not known. The township was originally part of Big Timber Township and was organized on Feb. 12, 1874.
The Odessa Post Office, the “flourishing” community of Odessa, Odessa Township, Odessa School District 130, the Odessa Cemetery and the Odessa Methodist Episcopal Church were all named after Odessa, Russia, the large Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea. Little Oak Creek and West Limestone Creek flow south through the township.
The township was not organized until the county commissioners met on Jan. 4, 1881. Ionia Township had been a double township but at that time it was divided in half to form Odessa Township. Most of the township is High Plains with the areas near Little Oak Creek and West Limestone being in the Smoky Hills Upland.
Odessa Township was also the site of a murder. The story, related in several newspapers, began with a land quarrel between Patrick Carrigan and Benjamin F. Hall. Hall was living on the disputed property and Carrigan was accused of setting Hall’s home on fire in May, 1882.
In June, Carrigan went on the land with the intent to build a home. He was ordered off the property by Hall but pulled a revolver and shot and killed Hall. Hall managed to wound Carrigan before he died. Carrigan was arrested, tried, convicted of third degree manslaughter and served two years at hard labor in the penitentiary at Leavenworth. Hall is buried in the Odessa Cemetery and Patrick Carrigan in Vancouver, Wash.
Prairie Township, in southern Jewell County, was part of the original Buffalo Township. It was organized April 16, 1872. William “Billy” Street was one of the earliest settlers of Prairie Township. Randall still exists on the eastern edge of Prairie Township.
Another settler was J. F. Harrington. At various times Harrington served as the treasurer of Prairie Township and also as the Overseer of the Poor. Harrington would eventually move to Jewell to be the city marshal. While on duty attempting to arrest an alleged horse thief, he was mortally wounded. Harrington is buried in Wallace Cemetery east of Jewell.
It is likely the township was named for the prairie of which it was a part. Plum Creek flows to the south through the area and Buffalo Creek to the east. The eastern third of the township is in the Greenhorn Hills with the rest in the Smoky Hills Upland.
In describing Richland Township, Scarbrough and Winsor’s History of Jewell County says “as its name indicates, the land is rich and productive.” John’s Creek flows north toward what was White Rock Creek and today is Lovewell Lake.
By 1881, Richland Township had the first water powered grist mill in the county at Rubens. There was enough flow in White Rock Creek to power the mill. In 1882, Wright and Ritterbush owned Rubens Mill and had two burrs for grinding wheat and one for corn. The site of the mill and the town of Rubens is now under the waters of Lovewell Lake.
Richland Township was organized on Feb. 12, 1874. The township lies mostly in the High Plains with areas to the northwest of Lovewell Lake in the Dissected Loess Upland and to the northeast of the lake in the Dissected High Terrace.
Peter Kerns is credited with being the only settler to stay the winter of 1869 in Jewell County. His homestead was in Richland Township’s Section 23, a couple of miles south of Lovewell Lake.
The terms “Sinclair Township” and “St. Clair Township” seem to be interchangeably used during the 1870s. However, an article in the Feb. 16, 1878, Jewell County Diamond explains St. Clair was “erroneously used.”
The name of the township is Sinclair and it was named after Major William Sinclair. Major Sinclair was the commanding officer of a company of the 3rd U. S. Kansas Artillery. The company was camped in Section 12 of what would eventually be Sinclair Township during the summer of 1870. They were charged with protecting settlers.
During this time, William Nixon became a friend of Major Sinclair. When the township was formed on Feb. 12, 1874, he proposed it be named Sinclair in honor of Major Sinclair and his proposal was accepted.
White Rock Creek and various branches of Marsh Creek flow across Sinclair Township. The areas north of White Rock are in the Dissected High Terrace and the areas south are in the Smoky Hills Upland. The town of Lovewell and Sinclair Rural High School were both in the township but the high school is gone and the town of Lovewell nearly so.
From the Oct. 18, Jewell County Monitor we learn, R. C. Cleland’s “grass” wheat crop yielded 273 bushels on his eight-acre field. The wheat was sown with a “broadcast seeder.” There are also various mentions in the 1870s of W. H. Fesler’s “Jewell Cheese Factory.” Fesler, a resident of Sinclair Township, was using the milk from 80 cows in his cheese business.
There are at least three entities named “Vicksburgh” in Jewell County. A community, a post office and the township. All originally spelled Vicksburgh and now spelled Vicksburg. But the community (which moved to Randall) and the post office were in Allen Township not Vicksburg Township.
Various branches of Marsh Creek plus Bachelor, Prairie and Rankin creeks flow through the area. One of the five original townships, Vicksburg was organized on Aug. 22, 1870. The eastern third of the township is part of the Greenhorn Hills and the rest is Smoky Hills Upland.
The first marriage in Jewell County took place in Vicksburg Township. On June 17, 1871, Captain O.F. Johnson and Elizabeth Zimmer were married. Captain Johnson was still in Vicksburg Township in 1878 when he, along with “quite a large meeting” formed the Independent Greenback Club. A focus of the group was to “abolish the national banking system.” Various papers in January of 1878 carried items about the Vicksburg Township organization.
The reason for the name Vicksburg has not been found. One might wonder if the Civil War battle of Vicksburg was the reason. There were many early settlers who were veterans of the Civil War and the recent war would have been an important part of their lives.
Walnut Township is in the northern tier of townships between Highland and Harrison. It is on the divide between the Republican River and White Rock Creek. The entire township is considered to be part of the Dissected Loess Uplands.
The name comes from Walnut Creek, two branches of which flow to the south through the western part of the township. Other creeks flowing south are Antelope, Long Branch and Wolf creeks. Several unnamed creeks flow north to the Republican as do Advert Creek and Star Creek. Why Walnut Creek was named Walnut is not known for certain. Some think because of the walnut trees along the creek.
The township, part of the original White Mound Township, was organized on Feb. 12, 1874. The only town in the township is Northbranch – originally North Branch. The area was settled by Quakers from Iowa in the early 1870s.
Likely named for our first President, George Washington, Washington Township was part of the original Buffalo Township. It was organized on Aug. 10, 1872. The township is basically in the High Plains with fringes around the creeks in the Smoky Hills Upland. West Marsh Creek and East Buffalo flow to the south through Washington Township. Montrose is in Washington Township.
The first settlers were Slaughter, Allen, Gould, Pantier and Rogers. The first settler’s child born in the township was Ina Zoe Allen. She was born to Jacob L. and Elizabeth Slaughter on Nov. 10, 1871. The couple had arrived in early May of 1871. Sadly, Ina Zoe died on Sept. 12, 1882 of typhoid.
The Jan. 22 1880, Jewell County Monitor ran an item about Washington Township. “Within the past year there has been built in the East half of Washington Township 11 frame and four box or board houses, two stone houses, and a number of sod houses, one barn and a number of dugouts. Although we are away from towns and railroads, we think this is hard to beat.”
As one of the original five townships, White Mound was organized on 22 Aug. 22, 1870. It was named for a prominent White Mound in the township. At one time, Menzio Smith, early settler in the township, had settled the furthest west of anyone in northwestern Kansas.
In 1878, White Mound boasted the only steam mill in the county. H. L. Browning brought his steam saw mill to his homestead in the NW 1⁄4 of Section 17, just north of Salem, in December of 1871. On 1 Feb. 1, 1872, he began sawing wood. He was granted the land patent to his homestead on Dec. 17, 1874.
White Rock Creek flows easterly across the township. Ash Creek and Smith Creek flow into White Rock Creek.
These are the stories of the townships of Jewell County with marriages and murders, crops and communities, births, butter and more. Several, Sinclair, Ionia, Athens, Burr Oak, Calvin, Allen, Erving, White Mound, Harrison, Esbon, Walnut and Odessa all have something specific for which they are named.
Others, like Center, Grant, Washington, Jackson, and even Buffalo, Prairie, Limestone, Highland, Richland and Vicksburg have a seemingly logical explanation. A few, Montana, Holmwood and Browns Creek are more of a mystery. If, any reader has more information about a township or townships, this writer would be very interested in learning about it.
Information for this article was obtained from the cited sources or newspaper articles, Winsor and Scarbrough’s History of Jewell County, Palmer’s The Old Home Town and Bruntzel’s Quick Reference to Kansas and Polk’s Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory.
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