Jewett

How Jewett began

Jewett was platted in 1851 as Fairview and renamed for T. M. Jewett, a railroad official, when the rail line reached it. From 1894 to 1904 it was home to the Jewett Car Company, a streetcar manufacturer whose cars were shipped nationwide before the firm relocated to Newark, Ohio (it closed in 1919).

Settled 1803 (first house, built by George Dowell, per Howe), platted December 5, 1851, filed January 9, 1852 (as Fairview, by John Stahl), incorporated April 1886, by John Stahl (Stall).

Where the name comes from

Originally platted as Fairview, the village was renamed Jewett for a railroad official: Wikipedia calls him T. M. Jewett, while the 1921 county history names T. L. Jewett, for whom an early locomotive of the Pennsylvania line was also named. Howe's 1888 gazetteer says the name was changed to Jewett in 1881.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, or treaty boundary specific to Jewett is documented; the land was included in the general Ohio cessions of the 1780s-1790s (Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785, and Treaty of Greenville, 1795) before organized American settlement began, and it lay within range of Mingo, Delaware (Lenape), and Shawnee hunting and travel along the Ohio River tributaries.

Nations recorded here: Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga), Delaware (Lenape), Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1803 — George Dowell builds the first house on the site, according to Howe's 1888 gazetteer.
2. 1851 — John Stahl platts Fairview on December 5; the plat is filed January 9, 1852.
3. 1853 — The Pennsylvania railroad is built through Jewett; the Cadiz branch of the line reaches Cadiz in 1854.
4. 1881 — Howe dates the change of the village name from Fairview to Jewett to this year.
5. 1886 — Jewett is incorporated as a village in April, with S. R. Devore as first mayor and C. W. Reed as first clerk.
6. 1894 — The Jewett Car Company, a streetcar manufacturer, begins operating in the village.
7. 1898 — The Jewett State Bank begins as a private bank founded by R. W. Reed and others.
8. 1900 — The census counts 743 residents.
9. 1904 — The Jewett Car Company relocates to Newark, Ohio.
10. 1910 — The population reaches 917.
11. 1918 — Voters approve $30,000 in bonds for a modern waterworks with drive wells, replacing a private system that had grown from a hillside spring.
12. 1919 — The Jewett Car Company ceases operations.
13. 1920 — The census counts 852 residents; the Wheeling & Lake Erie is buying a mile of land beside the village for side tracks and division shops.
14. 1940 — The population peaks at 1,031.
15. 2020 — The census counts 554 residents; Jewett is the end of the 11.4-mile Conotton Creek Trail.

Stories

A streetcar town

From 1894 until 1904, Jewett was the home of the Jewett Car Company, a streetcar manufacturer. Wikipedia says the street cars built there were shipped throughout the United States. The company relocated to Newark, Ohio in 1904 and ceased operations in 1919.

The water that came down the hill

Jewett never had a waterworks until 1918, but it had water long before that. Many years earlier a few citizens had piped water from a fine spring on the hillside inside the village to the foot of the hill on the main street, and a few neighbours got leave to tap the pipe and carry water to their houses. As the village grew, more people were allowed to connect, and finally a few men got legal control of the system and supplied the village for a small yearly fee. For the last five or six years before 1921 the village government had taken the water supply into its own hands, and in 1918 voters approved $30,000 in bonds for a regular modern system fed by many drive wells, which gave an inexhaustible supply. The 1921 county historian calls the scheme unique, and it shows how a village of about 850 built its utilities one connection at a time.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · harrisoncountyohio.gov · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Jewett Village98% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Hopedale Village2% of residentsBlend: Ohio River (via Jefferson Co. WSD/Toronto) and Tappan Lake (via HCWSD East Cadiz)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 8 of 12 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 0 of 1.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2025-05-06; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-03-17

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Jewett, Harrison County and its school district:

• Harrison County: Renews a 0.75-mill property tax levy for the provide & maintain senior citizens services or facilities of Harrison County for 5 years, beginning in 2027.
• Harrison County: Renews a 1-mill property tax levy for the police protection of Harrison County for 5 years, beginning in 2027.
• Harrison County: Renews a 1.5-mill property tax levy to maintain & operate county home of Harrison County for 5 years, beginning in 2027.
• Harrison County: Renews a 0.75-mill property tax levy for the provide revenue to Ohio Cooperative Extension Service for 4-H, agriculture, natural resources, home economics & economic development of Harrison County for 5 years, beginning in 2027.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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