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The Glen Elder Lions Club Tractor Cruise has been touring Mitchell County since 2006. On Saturday, 29 tractors, drivers and support personnel met for the 18th annual event at Hopewell Church on the north shore of Waconda Lake. The church has been the starting point of the Tractor Cruise for the past several years. By 8 a.m., the area around the church was filled with tractors of many colors, Farmall red, Ford gray, Centaur yellow, Minneapolis Moline yellow, John Deere green, Oliver green and...
3th Annual "Day in the Frank Herrmann Park" By Kerma Crouse For 30 years the residents and friends of Webber have celebrated "A Day in Frank Herrmann Park." The picnic has great food, good conversation and musical entertainment. This year, Mayor Lisa Boyles, welcomed participants to the event on Saturday, a beautifully cool summer evening. The town of Webber has existed since the railroad came through the area in 1887. The Webber Post Office started in 1889 and is still serving patrons. Frank...
It was rocket science at the Jewell Public Library on Friday morning. Steve Arthur, director of the Ellis County Library, presented information about rockets and space during a two-hour workshop. Arthur's hobby and passions are rockets, rocketry and Big Creek Rocketry. The seven attendees were eight to 12-year old boys and girls. They were learning "applied science" as they used chemistry and physics plus some math to build their rockets. "It is STEM." said Marsha Ericson, director of the...
"It's old," said Arden Russell. Russell, with Doug Paige as sexton, plus John Price Sr, Ed VanMeter and Brett Behrends are the five board members who care for Montana Cemetery located along the northern edge of Lovewell Lake. Or officially, Jewell County Cemetery District No. 12. The cemetery is located on Jewell County's Y Road ("the Lake Road') just a half mile east of Highway 14. Montana Cemetery is the most commonly used name but the cemetery has also been referred to as the Tibbetts...
The Desire Tobey Sears Chapter NSDAR recently honored the late Lorena Dunning Clingman with their "Women in American History Award." Clingman was a long-time educator in Superior. The award was given at the chapter's April 15 meeting held at the Superior Public Library. "Rena" as she was known, was born on Jan. 7, 1883, in Polk County, Nebraska, to William and Lydia Coleman Dunning. She grew up in Polk and Butler Counties north and west of Lincoln, Nebraska. Her parents had married in Guthrie, I...
Tuesday, Jan. 29, was Kansas Day. Kansas, having become a state on Jan. 29, 1861, was 162 years old. President Abraham Lincoln signed the law which made Kansas the 34th State in the Union. During all those years, Kansas has acquired many symbols. Twenty-two symbols in fact. Many are well known, the buffalo (state animal), the meadowlark (state bird), the sunflower (state flower), the cottonwood (state tree), the ornate box turtle (state reptile), the barred tiger salamander (state amphibian)...
Yes, it has been cold outside! Temperatures well below zero at night with wind chill readings even colder. It doesn’t seem the days are much warmer. I am staying in as much as possible, I don’t need to go outside just to see how cold this cold feels. This stretch of cold weather is a “cold spell.” A cold spell is defined as a series of days with temperatures below 20 degrees. A cold spell is colder than a “cold wave.” A cold wave means the weather is below freezing for several days. Both are colder than a simple “cold snap” which is just a...
The two principals in this tale of early Jewell County, were homesteaders in Odessa Township. Their names are Patrick Carrigan and Benjamin F. Hall. Carrigan, an Irishman, was born somewhere in Ireland, perhaps Kilkenny, in about 1810. When he came to the United States is not certain, but he married Ellen Ferne in Adams County, Illinois, on Jan. 20, 1847. Ellen, 20 years his junior, was also Irish. The family, which eventually included 11 children, lived in Illinois until the early 1870s. Patrick and Ellen, with nine of their children, are foun...
Bob Burda, Cawker City, said “You can’t argue with a homemade noodle.” He loves homemade noodles. One might not be able to argue with a homemade noodle but there can certainly be lots of “discussion” about how to make one. Noodles should be simple – just three ingredients. Eggs, flour and salt. Okay, here is the first “discussion.” One local noodle maker who told me, “Don’t put that in the paper!” does not use salt. Actually, there could be several flying under the radar who don’t use salt. So, back to the beginning – noodles should be simple,...
Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day and Veterans Day all have to do with honoring our military service personnel but they are not at all the same. The days celebrate those “who died wearing the uniform,” those “who are currently wearing the uniform” and those “who have worn the uniform.” Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday in May, is a federal holiday in the United States. It honors those service personnel who died in the service of their country. They died “wearing the uniform.” The observance began as “Decoration Day” after the Civil War...
Carl Weeks (1927 – 1995), who was born in Missouri and died in Florida, seemingly had no connection with Jewell County, Kansas. However, he owned a painting created in Jewell County by a Jewell County artist. The painting, “Mother” by Serena Cleveland was created in Harrison Township, Jewell County. It is dated Feb.10,1926. Weeks was born Oct. 26, 1927, in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. He is found in Jackson County or Clay County, Missouri, for most of his life. His military service is basically the only thing that took him out of th...
“The first post office in the Jewell County was established here.” This fact was part of Mayor J. W. Berry’s speech at the Old Settlers gathering held in Jewell 1898. That first post office, according to the Sept. 9, 1910, Jewell County Republican and the Sept. 9, 1921, Republican, was called “Garley.” It was manned by the first postmaster in Jewell County, John B. Hoffer. Jewell County’s first mail was received from Lake Sibley on July 1, 1870. July 1 was also the date given in Winsor and Scarbrough’s “History of Jewell County, Kansas....
It is time for the Jewell Corn Show – the 81st Annual Corn Show. This one has something for everyone. If you like exhibits – they will be in the Jewell Community Center – see them on Thursday evening, Friday afternoon and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2:30p.m. What about food and vendors? Grab-N-Go will be Friday evening at the North Wings Lodge and Restaurant. Grab a bierock, hot ham and cheese or cheeseburger. Vendors will be in downtown Jewell from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Come and shop! Also, food and drink vendors starting at 3 p.m....
Jewell County has several authors – ones from the past like, M. Winsor and James A. Scarbrough who wrote The History of Jewell County, Kansas in 1878. Or more recent ones like Erma Parsons Dillon (Burr Oak High School Class of 1952) and Jeri Davis Shute (Esbon High School Class of 1952) who wrote Prairie Jewels in 2002. Then there is Rosie Eilert Bosse (Jewell High School Class of 1974) whose latest book, To Pay a Debt, carries a 2023 copyright. But there is another recent author with Jewell County roots, the late Iva Lea Fullerton Metz (...
Jewell County was organized on July 14, 1870. Twenty- three days later, on Aug. 6, 1870, the first white child was born in the new county. The baby girl was appropriately named, Jewell Bell. Jewell Bell Thomas. She was born near White Rock, Kansas, to Eli and Barbara Willis Thomas. The location, according to various newspaper accounts was "where the Old Settlers of White Rock hold their reunion." The reunion location is thought to be in the area where Section 12 abuts Section 13 in Sinclair Town...
Jewell County has at least 58 named creeks. The 1884, 1908 and 1921 Jewell County Atlases were used to locate and identify named creeks. However, flowing water in Jewell County isn't confined to creeks. There is also the Republican River which moves through and along the northern borders of Montana and Jackson Townships in the northeastern part of Jewell County. Some remember major flooding on the Republican River in 1935 and 1947. Another Jewell County River is noted on the 1921 Jewell County...
To Jack Wilson, "it didn't seem like I was that old!" But he was and friends and family gathered at the Jewell Community Center on Sunday, Aug. 6, to remind him of the fact. The group enjoyed cake and cookies as part of the celebration. It was on Aug. 7, 1933, that Jack was born to James "Jack" and Hazel Dyas Wilson. Born in Beloit, he grew up on the family farm four miles east and two north of Jewell. He had two older brothers, George,17 years older, and Robert, 14 years older. Wilson still...
Jean Knowlton observed her 100th birthday quietly. Aug. 1, found her greeting friends and family in her room at the Residential Care (RCC) in Beloit. Cards arrived, people came and went - and there were cupcakes! Cupcakes with "100" written in frosting. Knowlton was born on Aug. 1, 1923, to Ted and Bessie Snyder Menhusen on the family's farm, just a quarter of a mile south of Jewell. She grew up on that farm and attended Jewell Public Schools. She graduated from Jewell High School with the...
Friday was a great day for the 2023 edition of Jewell County Plow Day. Joe Eilert, organizer, was glad to see the plows, tractors and operators that kept showing up all morning. At one time there were 20 tractors working in the field and 21 were registered for the event. Operators came from communities like, Beverly, Denmark, Downs, Glen Elder, Ionia, Jewell, Salina, Tonganoxie and Zenda in Kansas plus Guide Rock, Martell and Red Cloud in Nebraska. They came to plow, just like in yesteryear....
Linda Woerner, always one with a bit of Jewell history, tells of finding a news item about the Methodist Church Bell. Not the two-thousand-pound bell that exists today beside the Jewell Trinity Methodist Church, but its predecessor, a smaller, "six or seven hundred" pounder that hung in the belfry of the old M. E. Church. That item, from the Jewell Republican of Aug. 19, 1895, relates how "Janitor Fox" was ringing the bell when the "bolt upon which the bell swings broke." The bell crashed down...
The Jewell County Historical Society’s Threshing Bee is right around the corner. On Saturday and Sunday, July 15 and 16, there will be lots to do in the Mankato City Park. One key activity of those days is threshing wheat. That means the Jewell County Historical Society (JCHS) needs to have wheat bound and ready for the threshing machine. They do! Jack Alcorn, JCHS president, and his crew were out last Wednesday morning to bind wheat, load the bundles on a trailer and get the trailer under cover. According to Alcorn, “It was really hot.” That h...
Chloe Weber of Jewell, local horsewoman, is in the running for the NCK (North Central Kansas) Rodeo Queen. Weber is part of three area "horse" clubs, The Mitchell County Riders, the North Central Kansas Saddle Club, Concordia, and the Jewell County Saddle Club. Saturday she was in Mankato taking part in the Jewell County Saddle Club's 11th Open Horse Show. The show was directed by Lesa Perotek, Esbon, and Jody Langer, Superior. The show judge was Linda Jensby, Russell, who grew up at Webber....
In recent days, the media has reported on the split in the United Methodist Church. The split is real and it has had an impact on all United Methodist Churches in the area. Those reports seem to emphasize human sexuality as the reason for the split. Issues surrounding the LBGTIQIA community are the "presenting symptom" of disaffiliation. Indeed, there are issues with drag queens, homosexual marriages and bishops in practicing homosexual relationships. But, the paragraph of the Book of Discipline...
Many observe Memorial Day. Businesses close, families gather, reunions are held, graves are decorated and cemeteries are visited. Though all are important and meaningful activities, those are not the real reason for Memorial Day. Memorial Day is set aside to recognize, honor and pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the service of their country. Jewell Countians such as Omar Headrick, Aubrey Varney, Lee Keeler, Duane Murray, Robert Standerwick and at least 62 others paid the ultimate sacr...
Jewell, Kansas is in the Buffalo Valley with the East, Middle and West Branches of Buffalo Creek flowing nearby. Though now only six blocks long, Buffalo Street is one of the east-west streets in the north part of Jewell. The town is also situated in Jewell County's Buffalo Township. Historically, the first building in the town was Fort Jewell, built in May of 1870. It was manned by 28 Buffalo Militiamen. There is the old story from 1870 about Billy Street walking west of Jewell, climbing...
