Snapshots of History: Knowlton
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Bird’s-eye view of Knowlton.
By Mike Avitt
This is a great view of Knowlton as seen between the years 1905-1915.
The view is looking southeast and shows all three of Knowlton’s brick buildings.
The photo appears to have been taken from the upstairs window of the two-story, wood-frame high school which was built in 1894.
What we know as Ringgold County Road J-23 was Knowlton’s Main Street when this picture was taken.
Let’s see if I can find some previously unpublished information on Knowlton.
It’s fairly well known Everett Yaryan is Ringgold County’s only baseball player to make it to the major leagues, but Knowlton had many baseball stars and a great team for three decades.
C. C. Ives was a star player and he and Yaryan would sometimes be “hired” to play for other teams in a “must win” situation. Ives played for Maryville, Mo. and Creston on certain occasions.
There was much gambling on amateur baseball and grudge matches were common. Let’s say Creston was playing their arch rival from Greenfield. Since Knowlton never played Greenfield, the Greenfield boys wouldn’t know Ives was a “ringer” hired for that one game.
Lefty Geist, Peanut Cowell, and Homer Holland were other Ringgold County ballplayers who hired themselves out.
Ebon McAninch began teaching at Knowlton in 1914 and he started the girls’ basketball program. Interestingly, he was offered the principal position for the 1915-16 school year but he turned it down.
He returned to Knowlton after one year at Beaconsfield and would later marry one of his star players from the 1914-15 squad, Bertha Overholser.
In 1916, Zulah Larson was the only graduate from Knowlton High School. It was announced in the summer of 1919 Knowlton would no longer offer grades 11 and 12 to the students.
In May 1921, the Knowlton Odd Fellows Lodge merged with that of Diagonal. Also in 1921, the Chicago Great Western Railway moved the section crew from Knowlton to Diagonal, the post office closed, and the depot shut down.
Game over.
But Knowlton got off to a fast start having the coal shoots on a mainline railroad in 1887.
Freight service began in January 1888. The depot was completed in December 1887 and Knowlton had a doctor, a newspaper, and a preacher by 1889. By 1890, Knowlton had two churches and a post office.
From what I can determine, William Sherrill and J. F. McGinty co-founded Knowlton in 1887.
Sherrill sought business ventures elsewhere after a few years but McGinty had business dealings until it was clear the town could not be saved. McGinty was very active in fraternal organizations such as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Leander Elmer “Gan” Yaryan closed his store in May 1932; it was the last business in Knowlton. The town still had a school but it was lower grades only.
Knowlton forfeited its incorporated status in 1926.
The bridge over the railroad tracks was built in 1940 and the old high school was razed in 1941. It was replaced with a new rural school as there were still many homes in the vicinity.
That school was purchased by the Mount Ayr School system in 1956.
