Cities and Towns of Boone County,,, How they got their names. Cities and Towns in Boone County,,, How they got their names. CITIES IN BOONE COUNTY BIG UGLY - This area is located in both Boone and Lincoln counties, a short distance from Danville. Surrounded by Big Ugly Hunting Ground, Big Ugly Creek and even Little Ugly Creek, local partisans say it is neither big nor ugly. They say railroad surveyors found the area rugged and bushy making it ugly for clearing lines for surveying. Others say the land was ugly and not suitable for farming. BRECKINRIDGE CREEK - See Turtle Creek. DANVILLE - First named Newport, then Red House and changed to present name for Dan Rock, first postmaster. GORDON - Asa White, first postmaster, named the town for a fav- orite nephew, Gordon Mason. It was also known as Detroit from the Detroit Mining Co., which had a mine there. HEWETT - So named because It is on Hewett Creek, which honored Richard Hewett. He was killed by Indians about 1782. JEFFREY - The town was named for the first postmaster by the same names MADISON - In 1861 the Union soldiers burned the town named Boone Court House. Present name is probably for James Madison Laidley, a Charleston attorney instrumental in reorganizing county government after the fire. It was incorporated in 1905. MORRIS CREEK - See Turtle Creek. NELLIS - One source said the town was named by mine owners for Frank E. Nellis, editor of the Mount Clements Independent in Michigan. Another source said the name was for an official of American Rolling Mills, a large steel company, which operated a mine nearby. OTTAWA - Some say the town was named, for unknown reasons, after the Canadian Indian tribe. Others believed it was because of a local residents connection with Ottawa, Canada. RAMAGE - Named, around 1911, for J. B. Ramage, first superintendent of the Spruce River Coal Co. SETH - The town was named for Seth Foster, who was instrumental in getting the post office started in 1890. Earlier known as Coon Mills apparently after Jake Coon, a landowner. TURTLE CREEK - One story is that it was named for the turtle shaped stones in the creek bed and the other is that men hunting on an island near the mouth of the creek caught and ate a large turtle. Previously had been named Breckenridge Creek and before that Morris Creek. These prior names were for men that had hunting camps. ~ Myra Elaine (Miller) Freeman VAN - Named to recognize Van Linville, first postmaster, deputy sheriff and representative of House of Delegates. WHARTON - Joseph Wharton was a Pennsylvania capitalist. He and A. W. Mellon family established mines in the county. HIGHCOAL - So named because the first seam of coal mined there was said to be between eight and nine feet high. WHITESVILLE - It was named for Benjamin White, who was living there when the first railroad reached that point. When the town was originally laid out, it was known as Pritchard City and also as Jarrolds Valley. UNEEDA - The residents of this area came to F. G. Leftwich, a Madison attorney, with a petition for a post office, to be named Jarrells Branch, It was rejected by postal authorities. Later the petitioners found Leftwich tending store for his father-in-law, Col. Joel Stollings. While discussing another proposed name, one of them noticed a box of Uneeda crackers on the counter and jokingly surmised the name would not conflict with another post office name. It was submitted and the community became known a Uneeda.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 10:30:47 +0000
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