The story
Read it all →How Jewett came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Jewett.
The area was first settled in 1784. The town of Jewett was formed in 1849 from the towns of Hunter and Lexington.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick answers
How Jewett began
When was Jewett founded?
1850
The Jewett post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Lexington Heights (1819), East Kill (1829) and Jewett Centre (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,452 in 18502020 census: 879176 years
Founding year: the first Jewett post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Jewett’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Jewett, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Jewett are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19013 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1980. Watch Jewett change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Jewett’s post office has been open since 1850. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Lexington Heights
East Kill
Jewett
Jewett Centre
East Jewett
Beaches Corner
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East JewettJewett CenterSouth JewettWest Jewett
Gone or out of use
Hunter Mountain AirportairportSchool Number 7school
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Jewett
Chase FamilyEast JewettGass FamilyHull - PeckJewett HeightsMaplewoodMill FamilyTowner
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Jewett’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jewett’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Jewett on the map, 1901 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jewett. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1901Gilboa sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jewett.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Jewett in 1908
Passages that mention Jewett, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History and genealogy of the Jewetts of America1908 · page 169Read the page →
Read the text
Sixth Generation 169 mills, stores, mechanical operations and farms in an improved state of tillage, to which the public gave the familiar name of Jewett City. He had first a grist mill, then a saw mill and sold out portions of his land to induce others to settle near him.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Jewett, 1819 to 1901
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1819Post officeThe Lexington Heights post office opens
- 1829Post officeThe East Kill post office opens
- 1850Post officeThe Lexington Heights post office closes
- 1850Post officeThe Jewett post office opens
- 1854Post officeThe East Kill post office closes
- 20th century
- 1901
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Jewett, decade by decade
2025
2025
2025On the National Register
1 historic place in Jewett
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2001
Jewett Presbyterian Church Complex
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Jewett, census by census
Between 442 and 1,452 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jewett’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Jewett
Nobody well known was born in Jewett itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
J
Jennifer ConnellyAmerican actress · b. 1970
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Jewett’s history
What year was Jewett founded?
The Jewett post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Jewett?
One place: the Jewett Presbyterian Church Complex (listed 2001).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.