Abandoned Towns & Post Offices

[From the Clinton Herald's "Once Upon A Time" by Everett A. Streit, 03 Jan 1995 and the 1976 "History of Clinton County" by the Historical Society.]

See also this page on Settlements in Clinton County.

The list of abandoned towns and post offices in Clinton county as compiled by the state historical society:

BLIEDORN: In the southeast corner of section 14, Grant Township Post office, 1900-03.

BOONE SPRINGS: In section 5, Deep Creek Township, Post office, 1850-71.

BROOKFIELD: Slightly north of the central part of Bloomfield Township.  Post office 1861-73.  On the coming of the railroad the name of the village and post office was changed to Delmar.

BUENA VISTA: In the eastern part of the southern section 8, Olive Township.  Post office, 1849-1914.

BURGESS: Name of the Post office, (1855-85) at the village of Smithstown.

CAMBRIDGE: In section 5, Spring Rock Township, as shown on maps of 1856.

CHERRY WOOD: In the southern part of section 6, Center Township. Post office 1953-55.

ELK RIVER: In the eastern part of the east section 13, Elk River Township.  Post office 1843-74.

HAUNTOWN: The name of the village where was located Elk River Post Office.  For years the village maintained a store, mill, distillery, etc. 

LYONS: A village platted in 1837, which grew into a city, and in 1894 was included in the northern portion of the city of Clinton.  [My step-father grew up in Clinton.  He told me the "border" between Lyons and Clinton was at 13th Avenue North where an Osco's is now, which was a brewery then.  There was a big tree on the corner and that is where the boys from Lyons and Clinton would gather to "rumble" or settle their disputes.]

MEAD: The name of a post office from 1871-1875 at the present railroad station of Midland Junction.

NEW YORK: The pioneer name of the present city of Clinton.  It appears as New York on maps from 1834-1854.

ORANGE: In the southwestern past of Orange Township.  Post office, 1861-75.

QUIGLEY: Name of the post office (1885-1909) at the present village and railroad station of Petersville.  Quigley was renamed Petersville in 1902.  The postoffice was discontinued in 1935.  Petersville is no longer in existence either.

RAMESSA: In the southwestern part of the DeWitt Township.  Post office, 1859-67.

RINGWOOD: A town located between Lyons and Clinton, platted in 1856, and incorporated into the city of Clinton in 1878.

SANBORTON: In the northeast corner of section 34, Liberty Township, on the banks of the Wapsipinicon River, as shown on the Black Hawk Purchase map, 1834.

SMITHSTOWN: A village in Section 17, Sharon township before the coming of the railroad into that sector.  The name of its post office was Burgess.

SPRING ROCK: In the southwestern part of Spring Township.  Post office 1844-63.

SUFFOLK: Pioneer name of the post office of Elvira, being listed as Suffolk in 1854.

VANDENBURG: The pioneer name of the present city of DeWitt, and the one which it bore only about a year, from May 1841, until February 1842.

VILLANOVA: Listed in the U.S. Postal Guide as a post office in Clinton County from 1885 to 1893, but not found on maps of that period.

WELTON: In section 3, Welton Township.  A village founded in 1850, consisting of a colony of English artisans.  It existed only a few years.  The present Welton is over a mile south of the original one.

ALSO---

In the article regarding the Goddard family, it mentions that there was a post office at Chancy on Liberty Ave.  This seems to have been from about 1886 to 1910.

Elvira was originally called Pleasant Prairie. 

RINGWOOD--The 1879 "History of Clinton County" by L. P. Allen has, on page 612, the following:

Ringwood was until recently the name of a proposed town and corporation lying between and adjoining Clinton and Lyons, extending half a mile from north to south, and three-fourths mile west from the river, and comprising 260 acres.  It was entered by Ward Williams in 1843, platted in 1856, and, as a proposed bridge would have terminated within its borders, quite a number of lots were sold and houses built in 1856-58....In 1870, the building of the street railway led to the building of more houses, and Clinton wanted to absorb the territory.  But, in 1873, Ringwood was regularly incorporated under the general law as a city, just in time to save it being gobbled.  However, in 1878, Ringwood, having carried its point, unanimously voted for annexation to Clinton, thereby making that city and Lyons conterminous, and removing all impediments to their union when mutually thought advisable.  At one of the meetings during the consolidation excitement in 1878, E. S. Hart, Esq., convulsed the assemblage by suggesting that if Lyons and Clinton could not otherwise agree to unite, Ringwood would magnanimously agree to annex both. 

The first and only officers of Ringwood were:  Mayor, D. P. McDonald; Recorder, J. Pollock; Aldermen, A. L. Stone; E. S. Hart, Fred Rumble, W. Hannoecke and George Bryant.