Compiled by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
Pioneer news publications, ancestral letters, and reminiscenses of "old timers" frequently mention lesser known towns and settlements in Jefferson County, many extinct.
Following is a partial list of those places and approximate locations although some locations are possibly inaccurate because of Jefferson County boundry changes. Locations were determined from an 1860 map:
Anderson, located on the west side of Grasshopper River in 1855; Ashcroft, located in Norton Township; a farmer's post office known as Nichols Station; Boones Settlement located 2 1/2 miles southeast of Williamstown on the north bank of the Kansas River; Buck Creek, a station on the Kansas Pacific Railroad near where Buck Creek enters the Kaw.
Butler or Butlers, a townsite on the farm of Wm. Butler six miles east of Oskaloosa on the Military Road, see Middletown, Midway, and Ole; Centerville, the site of a town laid out in 1865 about midway between Perry and Medina; Clement, a post office which changed to Williamstown in 1865; Coon's Point, see Marshall, Crooked Creek, located five miles southeast of Nortonville; Crow Hollow, located about
three miles southwest of Boyle.
Dayton, another name for Pleasant Hill on the west side of Grasshopper River about one mile from Ozawkie; Defiance, received three (or eight) votes in the 1859 election for county seat of Jefferson County; Dixon, located nine miles southeast of Oskaloosa, a rural post office in 1883 and 1884; Fairfield, located in Jefferson Township, received 10 votes for county seat in 1858.
Hardtville or Hardville, near the Hickory Point battle site in Delaware Trust Lands, one of the first voting places in the county; Indian Mill, founded in 1854 by Solomon Everett, a Kaw half-breed, same site as Mormon Village and Thompsonville; Jacksonville, laid out in spring of 1855, about one mile east of Oskaloosa; Jacksonville, a new site laid out south of Ozawkie. It appears on maps several miles southeast of Ozawkie and southwest of Oskaloosa.
Jefferson City in Delaware Township (Grasshopper Falls). A post office from 1864 to about 1870; Kaw City, located in Kaw Township on the east side of Muddy Creek, post office established in 1858. The railroad missed the town and the post office moved to Grantville in 1866; Kaw Station, a railroad station at Grantville. Both names appear on several maps.
Marshall, the Topeka Tribune of Feb. 20, 1858, reports that an institution of higher learning in Jefferson County to be called Mt. Hope was to be opened in the spring at Marshall, which old timers remember as Coon's Point; McIntosh, a railroad station between McLouth and Oskaloosa; Medina, a station of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, a post office from 1866 to about 1902.
Middletown or Midway, a rural post office in 1857 on the same site as Butlers and Ole; Monroe City, incorporated on June 10, 1865, the present site of Perry; Mormon Village, located three miles northwest of Perry, settled by Mormons from 1851 to 1853 or '54. The site later of Indian Mills and Thompsonville.
Newell's Mill, now present Oskaloosa; Nichols Station, a side track and stopping place for AT&SF Railroad; Norton, shown on some maps as present site of Nortonville; Pleasant Hill, also called Dayton; Plum Creek, a post office from June 22, 1869, to Sept. 4, 1871, located seven miles north of Williamstown.
Savannah, the name first chosen for Winchester; Tebbsville or Tibbsdale, located two miles north of Ozawkie; Thompsonville, about three miles northwest of Perry, a post office from June 17, 1878 to May 1901, same site as Mormon Village and Indian Mills.
Source: Yesteryears, October 1980.
The historical society's museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 2.
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