Beckwith, Iowa

Beckwith, Iowa
Unincorporated community
An aerial photo of Beckwith
Beckwith, Iowa
Coordinates: 41°00′33″N 91°51′32″W
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code	712
GNIS feature ID	464457[1]

Beckwith is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, in the U.S. state of Iowa.

Geography

Beckwith is in Jefferson County, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the county seat, Fairfield.[2]

History

Beckwith in Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1902

Beckwith was founded on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q).[3] Beckwith's post office operated from 1877 to 1901.[4]

Beckwith School began in 1851. The original building was likely a log building, but probably in the early 1860s the school was moved.[5] This was a one-room schoolhouse.[6] The Beckwith School District #5 celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1951.[5]

The community's population was 50 in 1890,[7] 65 in 1900,[8] 50 in 1920,[9] and 32 in 1940.[2]

For fifty years, starting in 1889, Beckwith had a column in the Fairfield Ledger called "Beckwith Briefs". The items were written by Beckwith resident and Ledger correspondent Jennie Prince, who had to convince Ledger editor W.W. Junkin that women could write news stories. Originally written every other week, the stories were eventually published nearly every day by the 1930s, as the Ledger gradually became a daily paper. Jennie Prince enjoyed a friendly rivalry with the correspondent for nearby Glendale's news column in the Ledger, called the "Glendale Gleanings".[10]

Beckwith lies on an Amtrak line, and in 2018 was one of four Iowa sites selected for an upgrade to a centralized traffic control crossover, as part of a federal grant.[11]

See also

• Veo, Iowa

References

1. "Geographic Names Information System". edits.nationalmap.gov. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
2. The Attorneys List. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Attorney List Department. 1940. p. 292. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
3. "Beckwith, Iowa. CBQ · Iowa Heritage Digital Collections". www.iowaheritage.org. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
4. "Post Offices". www.postalhistory.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
5. "Beckwith School Started in 1851". The Fairfield Ledger. December 31, 1951. p. 4.
6. "Jefferson County's One-Room Schools, 1939". iagenweb.org. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
7. Cram, George Franklin (1887). Cram's Universal Atlas: Geographical, Astronomical and Historical, Containing a Complete Series of Maps of Modern Geography, Illustrated by Numerous Views and Charts; the Whole Supplemented with Valuable Statistics, Diagrams, and a Complete Gazetteer of the United States. G.F. Cram. p. 368. Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
8. Cram's Modern Atlas: The New Unrivaled New Census Edition. J. R. Gray & Company. 1902. pp. 203–207. Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
9. Premier Atlas of the World: Containing Maps of All Countries of the World, with the Most Recent Boundary Decisions, and Maps of All the States, Territories, and Possessions of the United States with Population Figures from the Latest Official Census Reports, Also Data of Interest Concerning International and Domestic Political Questions. Rand McNally & Company. 1925. pp. 188–190. Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
10. Prince, Jennie (October 2, 1939). "Mrs. Jennie Prince, Correspondent for Beckwith Vicinity, Has Been Writing Items for Fifty Years". The Fairfield Daily Ledger. pp. 8H (64). Archived from the original on December 29, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
11. "Beckwith among four Iowa locations getting railway crossover upgrades". September 30, 2018. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.