J.D. Small Ranch

J.D. Small landownership in western
Douglas Township.

The John Darius (J.D.) Small ranch in southern Jackson County. Built between 1879 and 1880, it was fine ranch of 2600 acres and 400 head of cattle.

J.D. Small (b. 1846 Findlay, OH) came to Kansas after 1870 from Wilmington, Illinois. He started out as a banker in North Topeka but then built his ranch in Jackson County. Around 1910, he sold his ranch to George Q. Carey and moved to Atchison to start the Atchison Livestock Company. He then moved to Battle Creek, Michigan where he died in February 1914 of "a complication of diseases".

George Q. Carey (b. 1865) came to Kansas from Omaha, Nebraska, purchasing the Small ranch and naming it Clemenshire and then Careyhurst. It then became the home of his son, Warren Carey, and George returned to Omaha, visiting occasionally, until passing away in 1923. Warren Carey died in 1940 and is buried in Hoyt Cemetery.

Today, the ranch sits abandoned, owned by someone out of state. Once, one of the most impressive residences in Jackson County, you can see the roof and bricks crumbling from the road.