Jaketown

Jaketown Road is one of the last reminders of a neighborhood that existed from about the 1870s until 1920s in central Wabaunsee County, Kansas. Jaketown Road is three miles of gravel road from Skyline Road to the west to Snokomo Road to the east. Also called Snokomo (or Lower Snokomo) and Pleasant Valley, Jaketown was specifically a small cluster of about eight families to the south of the Snokomo area situated where Newbury, Mill Creek, and Mission Creek townships come together. Based on maps and some county biographies, the prominent families in the Jaketown neighborhood were Weekes, Woody, Connell, Iott, and Mix.

It's unknown where the moniker 'Jaketown' came from. A post office existed in the area about a quarter mile south of Snokomo School named Snokomo from 1875 to 1881 and then again from 1886 until 1901. The postmasters were George Kneeland and Jasper Dallas. Schools in the area were Snokomo School which started in a log cabin in 1869. A stone building was constructed in 1883 and still stands today on the National Register of Historic Places. Lower Snokomo School was constructed in 1890 and still stands, though abandoned, along Skyline Road near Boothill Road. The third school was Union Center, a wood frame building, was at the southwest corner of Skyline and Dawsen Hill roads but burned down in 1990.

Snokomo School, District 24
Photo from author.

Lower Snokomo School, District 32
Photo from Wabaunsee County Historical Society

Union Center School, District 35
Photo from Wabaunsee County Historical Society

There was one church in the area, located in the southwest corner of E. Stephens property at the corner of what is now Jaketown and Bobcat roads. The Olive Hill Methodist Church was completed in 1884. Sadly, it burned down in 1891 and was never rebuilt. Typically, church services were held in schoolhouses or the Woodman Lodge.

The Woodman Lodge was built just north of the Snokomo School in about 1890. It held many events including the annual Woodman Picnic and Royal Neighbor Picnic. Events at the Lodge and the school also spilled over into Stratton's Grove across the road. The Lodge became a hay barn for Elmer Woody and was then moved to Paxico where it is now Mill Creek Antiques.

Woodman Hall
Photo from the Kansas Resources Historical Inventory (KHRI)

Most of the families mentioned above are buried in the surrounding cemeteries. Mission View and Bethlehem, which was also known as Jaketown Cemetery in local newspapers. There are also a couple of family cemeteries nearby, one for the Kuenzli family and another for the Iott family. One nondescript grave in Bethlehem Cemetery is for John Anderson Woody, who was killed in 1909 by Rufus "Rufe" King in Maple Hill.

Never much more than a small farming and ranching community, Snokomo/Jaketown/Pleasant Valley/possibly Spring Creek according to one account remains a small farming and ranching community near the center of Wabaunsee County.

View of Jaketown Road looking west from Snokomo Road. Photo from author.

An odd mention of Jaketown in a 1904 edition of the Alma Enterprise announcing a new store.