Friday, January 18, 2013

Jewell City Kansas.

Jewell County.
Buffalo Township Map, 1884.
 
On the county map Jewell can be found in Township 4-south and Range 7-west.  On the Township maap Jewell can be found in section 30.
 
Jewell Post Office.
 
Jewell post office open July 7, 1870 and ran to ?, First postmaster was John Hoffer.
 
Jewell City, 1878.
 
The beautiful town site of Jewell City was selected and Bled on under the Town Site Act, May 6, 1870. On Friday, May 28, 1870, the Jewell City Town Company "V^as organized with the following members: Henry Sorick, Geo. A. Sorick, Geo. W. Waters, R. F. Hudsonpeller, WilliamD. Street, James A. Scarbrough, S. E. Worick, Dennis Taylor, and N. H. Billings. The company met at the house of Esquire Collins, near the mouth of Buffalo creek, in Cloud county, on Friday, June 11, 1870, and acknowledged the signing of the charter, which was sent to-CoL Thomas Moonlight, Secretary of State, atTopeka, and by him recorded and a certified copy returned to them. The town site comprised the sw i Section 30, Township4 south. Range 7 west. The south west quarter of the town site was at onee surveyed and laid off into town lots, the remainder being left "until further orders." No improvements were made, however, until the 30th day of  June 1870, when the first building was erected by James A. Scarbrough, for an office and store. This was one of the most primitive buildings ever erected in any country. It was 16 feet square and was constructed by setting a lot of posts in the ground and > boarding them up with box lumber. The roof was composed of the same material. The building was commenced in the morning, and by the middle of the afternoon was completed. The stock consisted of groceries," provisions, cigars, chewing and smoking tobacco, baking powders and Hostetter's bitters, and invoiced just $.130.05. Mrs. Mariah Dodge and David H. Halstead soon after erected a dwelling house.
 
People of Buffalo Township who used Jewell as their P. O. as of 1884.
 
Fort Jewell In The City Of Jewell City.
 
Fort Jewell, also called Camp Jewell, was erected in the latter part of May, 1870, on the site of Jewell City. On May 13, 1870, a meeting of the settlers in that locality was held "to discuss means of defense against the Cheyennes," who were then on the war path. At this meeting W. D. Street proposed the erection of a fort, which suggestion was adopted, and a company called the "Buffalo Militia" was immediately organized to carry it out. Street was chosen captain of the company, and Cutler says: "At once selecting a spot fifty yards square, they plowed around it, laid a wall four feet thick and seven feet high, and in two days 'Fort Jewell' was completed." The fort was garrisoned by Street's company until some time in June, when it was occupied by a detachment of the Third United States mounted artillery. No attack was ever made upon the post, but it is quite probable that the prompt action of the settlers in erecting this defense had a tendency to prevent any demonstration on the part of the savages in that section. After the Indians had been pacified, the fort was allowed to fall into decay. 
 
Jewell City, 1912.

Jewell, an incorporated cit}' of Jewell county, is located in Buffalo township, on the Missouri Pacific R. R. and on Buffalo creek, 8 miles south of Mankato, the county seat. It has banking facilities, flour mills, grain elevators, electric lights, weekly newspapers, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 839. The railroad name is Jewell City.

Jewell is one of the older settled communities in the county. Among the first settlers were W. D. Street, Benjamin Lewis, Charles Lewis and L. M. Stultz in 1869, and James A. Scarborough, Henry Sorrick, A. J. Davis and H. Burnett in 1870. The first store was opened by James A. Scarborough in June, 1870, with a stock that invoiced $130. In the fall John D. Robertson of Lake Sibley opened a general store. The firm of Scarborough & Street handled most of the real estate. The town was incorporated' as a city of the third class in 1880, with H. C. Jennings as the first mayor.

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