Before the formation of Jennings County there were settlements of people who called the areas where they lived by certain names. As more people moved into Jennings County and created farm lands more new small towns or communities begin to exist. Many of these communities and their schools seem to be named after land formations, creeks, or vegetation. Since the early days daily news about these communities were in local newspapers in separate columns with town headings. Today there are still columns for certain localities in our local newspaper.

The names of many of these old communities which follow have been found in maps, books covering the history of Jennings County and from the local newspaper columns. The section locations for the towns in this document are from the 1884 Atlas of Jennings County. Other names come from the 1900 head of household census index from HeritageQuest Online.

The first town in the newly formed county of Jennings was Vernon. Paris had been established earlier before the founding of Jennings County and was in Jefferson County until sometime after 1826 when a section of Paris was placed in Jennings County. Around 1838 the entire village of Paris was moved into Jennings County.

One example exemplifying the confusion surrounding these little communities are the town names Butler's Switch and Grayford. The history book Jennings County, Indiana, 1816-1999 (c1999) indicates that Grayford and Butler’s Switch were two different places; they actually were one and the same. The explanation of this was found in the 1889 Vernon Banner of June 26. The name of Butler’s Switch had been changed to Grayford, in compliment of JOHN E. GRAY, General Agent of the Pennsylvania Company at Cambridge City. The name of Butler’s was often confounded with that of Butler, DeKalb County, and was a troublesome obstacle in the transmission of freight and mail. In a letter to Mr. GRAY, Superintendent BLACK says: “In casting about for a name I thought that you were entitled to the honor if any one was, since you have had so much trouble in connection with the station. Therefore I have named it as you will see by the enclosure, Grayford.”

This is a work in progress. As names of old communities are found, they will be added to the following lists.

Benville was in section 7, this is now in the proving ground.
Bland or Blandtown was a village with store, blacksmith shop, shoe repair shop, school and the Methodist Protestant Church probably in section 24.
Fair View
Harmony Hill.
Hyde later became Rush Branch.
Maize may have been in the Maple Grove area or it was another name for Needmore itself, this was located north of the Jefferson Co. line.
Maple Grove might have been another name for Needmore.
Millersburg had a post office address in 1823.
Needmore
Rabbit Plains had a church and a school.
Roch Haven in 1884 appeared in section 19.
Rush Branch which was once Hyde, this appeared to be in section 11 and perhaps 10.
San Jacinto in 1884 was in sections 14 and 23.
Shorts Cavern in 1884 was in section 28 on the Heirs of ALLEN H. SHORT property.
Walnut Grove

Brush Creek
Butlerville in 1884 was in section 22.
Hopewell Quaker Community in 1884, the church and school were in section 28, bordering sections 27, 33 and 34.
Long Branch
Nebraska in 1884 was in section 7.
C. M. SPENCER residence in 1884 was in section 36 bordering section 25 was referred to as Oak Grove.
Pleasant Run Community in 1884 might have been near school number 7 in sections 16, 17, 20 and 21.
Stanley Corner
String Town
Teatown
Whippoorwill Glen seems to have bordered Campbell, Columbia, Center and Sand Creek Townships.

Deer Creek
Elliott this might have been in section 30
Eliza this might have been in Geneva Township.
Elzea this might have been in Geneva Township.
Indian Creek this might also have included residents of Spencer Township.
Lonesome Corner.
Midway
North Vernon also known as Lick Skillet and Tripton
Oakdale
Zoar

Antioch
Beech Grove
Cream Ridge
Dog Town
Flat Rock
Ice Creek
Jericho
Lone Cedar
Mayflower
McCracken’s Crossroad was located four miles southwest of Zenas, and one mile east of Antioch Church.
Puddle Town
Rockford
Slabtown
Sugar Creek
White Oak
Wolf Creek
Zenas is in section 24 bordering section 25 on the Muscatatuck River

Bennett’s Branch
Brown’s Corner
County Line apparently from the Bear Creek Baptist Church area in section 24, probably included people in Bartholomew and Decatur Counties as well.
Danville
Eliza or Elzea
Geneva
Happy Glen
Hege was in sections 28 and 33 with a post office and a depot.
Helt’s Mill this was on Sand Creek near the county lines of Bartholomew and Jackson in section 7.
Nettle Creek
Oak Grove had a school and a church. These were on the borders of section 15, 16, 20 and 21 south.
Pea Ridge this might have been the same thing as Pease Ridge
Pease Ridge this might have been the same thing as Pea Ridge
Queensville is in section 18. At one time this was a stop on the stage coach lines that went north and west; it was also known as Lynnville.
Rat Tail was on a tributary of Wyalusing Creek in Geneva Township 3 ½ miles north east from the town of Scipio as recorded in the will of will of Ives Marks of 1884. It was probably in sections 31 and 32 near school number 8.
Rock Creek had a school and a church these may have been in sections 31 and 32
Scipio is in section 2 it contained businesses, schools, churches and a depot.
Tannersville with businesses and a depot in section 33.
Tyler’s Crossing is probably in section 20.
Wyalusing Creek
Wynn Settlement (JOSEPH WYNN’S Farm)
There was a water tank and Steam Saw (S. S.) Mill on the WALLIS WILSON property in section 19 for the Jefferson, Madison and Indianapolis Rail Road Company also included here was P. A. H. MARTEN Res.

Carnes
Coffee Creek this community was probably in both Montgomery and Lovett Townships.
Hickory Corner
Hurricane
Land of Promise
Locust Grove
Lovett was in section 33 and 34.
Mosquito College
Poplar Corners appeared to be on the border of sections 5, 6, 31 and 32.
Powder Creek
Tea Creek
Union Star
Weston was in sections 2 and 3. This also might have been referred to as Over the Rhine.
Wonder Land

Barnes was in probably in sections 7, 8, 17 and 18 and also had a post office.
Cana was in section 32 or 33 with a post office.
Mount Zion was in section 14.
Slate was in section 23 bordering section 14, it also had a post office which was discontinued around 1897.

Coffee Creek
Commiskey Station became Commiskey when the word Station was dropped after 1940.
Paris
Paris Crossing

Bear Creek
Brewersville is in section 3
Fish Creek might have been in section 9
Grand View
New Bethel
Pierceville
Pleasant View
Saint Anne’s the Catholic Church is in section 13
Sherwood was in section 23

Big Branch
Buena Vista or Four Corners in section 15, 16, 21 and 22
Hardenburg now Hayden in sections 9 and 10
Indian Creek may have included people living in Center and Spencer Townships
Paradise
Shoo Fly Corner
Six Mile with post office was in section 2
Staples Ford

Champion
Centerville
Cherry Park
Freedom
Richland
Vernon the first town in the county having the courthouse (and today the courthouse annex) and post office

Buttermilk Flats
Buzzards Glory might have been in Sand Creek Township
Buzzard Roost
Cedardale was in either Lovett or Center Township.
Eggnogg might have been in Jackson County not Jennings, there was a reference to the Eggnogg Baptist Church in a Possum Holler Column
Ezra
Fairmount
Glen Dale
Glen Gower
Hardscrabble might possibly have been in Decatur County on the Jennings Line
Knorah’s Knob was either in Sand Creek Township or Decatur Co.
Knotty Knots there was a column with this title was found, was this a community or just a title for the column
Muscatatuck Valley
Mutton Creek named after the creek which runs through both Geneva and Spencer Townships
Mutton Run might have been in Decatur County or in Sand Creek Township in Jennings County
Nathanville
Newry might have been in Jefferson or Scott Counties
Peach Grove might have been on the border of Campbell, Center, Columbia and Sand Creek Townships
Poke Berry Corner might have been in Jefferson County
Possum Holler might have been in Jackson County
Rose Hill
Union Star might have been in Lovett or Marion Township.
Valley Glen might have been on the border of Center, Geneva and Spencer Townships
Valley View might have been on the Campbell, Columbia Township, Ripley County line.
Whitcomb
Wimple Creek
Yankee Station

Research by Denise Shafer. Web work by Ilah Allsop.
Last updated 06/23/05