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Jacket (sometimes spelled Jackett) is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...
in the southeastern corner of
McDonald County, Missouri McDonald County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,083. Its county seat is Pineville. The county was organized in 1849 and named for Sergeant Alexander ...
, United States. It is located on Missouri Route KK, approximately one-half mile north of the Missouri-
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
border and one mile west of the McDonald and
Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...
county border. The community is on the east bank of
Big Sugar Creek Big Sugar Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 waterway in the Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri. The creek starts near the Arkansas state line. B ...
.


Pioneer settlement

The hilly and rocky
Ozark Mountains The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...
land that would become Jacket had served for centuries as a home to native tribes, the last being the
Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage". Osage can also refer to: * Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation * Osage (Unicode ...
, who lived in the area until the United States government took their land in 1808 and 1815. Thus, by the mid-19th century those living in the area were mainly pioneers from eastern states, such as
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...
and
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
, and other parts of Missouri and
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
.Jacket Holds Rich Memories; ''The Times of Northeast Benton County''; December 28, 2011 The first settlers of European descent arrived in Jacket around 1840-41, among them a John Rose, James Boles and a man known as Clemons."Mountains, Yellow Jackets Leave Names in Lapland," ''Pea Ridge Country Times'', Pea Ridge, Arkansas. 1980-10-01. Clemons built a water-powered corn cracker at the spot where Otter Creek, which flows north from Pea Ridge, converges into
Big Sugar Creek Big Sugar Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 waterway in the Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri. The creek starts near the Arkansas state line. B ...
.The Big Sugar Creek Country; Pea Ridge Graphic; December 7, 1967; Page 6 Both the names Big Sugar Creek and Jacket are believed to have been coined around this time. According to local legend, Big Sugar Creek is named for the groves of sugar maples that grew on its banks and Jacket is in reference to the colonies of
yellow jacket Yellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera '' Vespula'' and '' Dolichovespula''. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of thes ...
wasps populous in the area, though an alternative theory for the origin of the Jacket name dates slightly later, to the Civil War, from bushwhackers from the south who called themselves Yellow Jackets. Clemons sold his corn cracker to Henry Schell (1810-1863) in 1846, a purchase which is said to have been possible by Schell selling a young
slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
boy for $400. Schell had previously established the community of Shell Knob in Barry County. In moving to Jacket, he brought his wife, Elizabeth Yocum Schell, and their young children to make a claim on the large tracts of land that were open in the area for homesteading. He then built a grist mill at the site of the corn cracker and had a house built west of the mill out of lumber that had been sawed at the Van Winkle mill in
War Eagle, Arkansas War Eagle is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Benton County, Arkansas, Benton County, Arkansas, United States. It is the location of (or is the nearest community to) War Eagle Bridge, which carries CR 98 over War Eagle Creek and ...
. By the time of his murder by bushwhackers in 1863, he had amassed landholdings of more than 1,000 acres.


Civil War

In the summer of 1863, the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
was in full swing, and southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas was an area torn by loyalties between the North and the South. Henry Schell’s four oldest sons were all off fighting for the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confede ...
. On July 11, 1863 he was working in his mill when he either heard or saw a group of bushwhackers heading his way. He took off toward his house by foot, but was shot as he went up the hill. His wife, daughters and some neighbor women took his body and prepared it for burial, using a meal box from the mill to serve as a coffin, and buried him in the front yard of his home. One of his sons, a blacksmith by trade, later put a wrought iron fence around the grave. Following his death, his 1,000 acres was divided among his descendants, who built homes, started businesses and set aside land for churches, a cemetery and a school. Over time, his descendants continued to subdivide their acreage and sold off plots to other families.


Early 20th-century commerce

Though Henry Schell's grist mill was destroyed by a flood a few years after his death, it was eventually replaced, by his son, also Henry Schell (1841-1928), one-quarter mile north on Big Sugar Creek. And in this new location, a central core developed for the community. Atop the hill directly north of his mill, the younger Henry Schell established the Jacket store prior to 1908, at some point taking on Jasper Armstrong (1888-1967) as a partner in the venture. Like many similar businesses, the Jacket general store served as the center of the community and acted as more than just a place to buy merchandise, but a place to meet and talk and, in later years, incorporated a gas pump. Schell was appointed the postmaster for Jacket on January 27, 1908,Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971. NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls. Records of the Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28. Washington, D.C.: National Archives; Vol. 88; Volume Year Range: 1894-1930 though mail service delivery in the community did not start until October 2, 1911. Additionally in October 1911, Schell sold out his share in the store to Jasper Armstrong's stepbrother Joseph J.Vaughn (1878-1955), who also moved his blacksmith shop to the location. Together Vaughn and Armstrong operated the store, until Jasper Armstrong moved to Powell, Missouri to operate a store there, then Vaughn partnered with a different stepbrother Thomas J. Armstrong (1893-1957) in the business, and later with Thomas and Jasper's nephew Alvin Armstrong (1893-1951). Later, Joseph Vaughn's younger brother Edgar Vaughn (1885-1976) took over the store along with Alvin Armstrong. Following Henry Schell, the office of postmaster for the Jacket post office that operated in the store changed to Jasper Armstrong in 1912, followed by Thomas Armstrong in 1918 and finally Alvin Armstrong in 1920, who served in the role until the Jacket post office was discontinued on April 30, 1930, with mail service shifting to
Garfield, Arkansas Garfield is a town in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 502 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas region. History Garfield was platted in 1883. A post office has been in operation at Garfield since 18 ...
. Ownership of the business shifted several times in the following years, with Ben Evans running it until October 1933, when a Jack Branam bought it. Then, in 1936, Tom Armstrong, who had been living in California, returned to Jacket and took back over the business. In February 1938, another merchant took his place, Joe DeMoss, though Edgar Vaughn had required it by 1941, when he sold the business for the last time. The store remained shuttered until February 1943, when Ben Evans returned and reopened it, though his return proved shore lived, with it closing again August 1 of that year. It would not stay closed though, reopening at least one more time, with Cline and Eva Carden operating it until a final closure around 1950. In addition to the mill, store and blacksmith shop, a small tomato canning factory also operated in Jacket, a venture also owned by members of the Schell family, who ran similar operations in Powell, Missouri and Pea Ridge.


Community life

An Extension Homemakers club was active among the women in the community through the 1930s and into the 1940s, while two
4-H club 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times i ...
s were established in 1937, one aimed toward boys with a focus on farming and another toward girls on sewing clothing. For most of the 20th century, both Antioch
Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * When used in the plural, a New Testament designation for local groups of people following the teachings of Jesus Christ: "...all the churches of Christ greet you", Romans 16:16. * The entire body of Ch ...
and Sugar Creek
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...
Church catered to the souls of the community. The Church of Christ, with a distinctive flagstone exterior, continues to hold services. The original one-room Baptist church was built in 1897 by a group of local men as a meeting house for two congregations, one of
Primitive Baptist Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th ...
and another of
Missionary Baptist Missionary Baptists are a group of Baptists that grew out of the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists in the United States in the early part of the 19th century, with Missionary Baptists following the pro-missions move ...
. It was designed with two doors on the front, in accordance with Primitive Baptist followings at the time that the men would enter through one door and the women and children through the other. The Missionary Baptists would use the building on the first and third Sunday of the month and the Primitives on either one or both of the additional Sundays. Over time, the two congregations merged into one and joined the Southern Baptist Convention. Starting in 1965 several additions and updates were made to the church, including the addition of an education wing at the back of the original building, to which a second story was added in the mid 1970s. The interior was modernized with paneling and fluorescent lighting, the two doors on the front of the church were replaced with a set of double doors, a porch was added and a steeple with a bell was put on the roof. Despite the updating and a surge in growth only a few years prior, by the mid 1980s membership was in decline, so in 1986 the congregation voted to close the church. In the early years of the last century, the grounds of the old Baptist church served as the location for annual
4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
celebrations and other community events. The Jacket school, also known as the Pleasant View school, taught generations of Jacket area children from the first through the eighth grade. In its history, there were at least three different buildings that housed the school. The earliest known building was replaced by a new school in 1923, and that building was destroyed by a fire the day before school was set to start in 1937, after which the final Jacket school building was constructed. In the late 1950s, all the rural schools in this area were consolidated into a new building on the Southwest R-V school district campus in
Washburn Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influenc ...
. The 1937 building remained standing until destroyed in a fire on Thursday, October 22, 1963. The fire also burned four acres of surrounding brush, until extinguished by a Missouri Conservation Commission fire crew, who estimated the value of the destroyed building at $300. In 1929, the county authorized the building of a bridge across Big Sugar Creek in Jacket, replacing the
ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
, which was unusable in high water. The single-lane bridge was built on concrete supports with steel girders and wood decking and railing, crossing the creek an eighth of a mile north of where the Civil War-era Schell mill stood. The bridge remained in use until replaced by a two-lane concrete bridge in early 1993. The south end of the current bridge sits at the approximate location of the earlier Schell mill.


Decline

Jacket’s commerce activity faded following the construction of the bridge and the increase in automobile ownership, which provided local residents with the option of leaving the community on a more regular business to do their shopping, go to work, or attend church. By 1960, the store, blacksmith shop, grist mill, post office, tomato plant and school were all shuttered. Today, only remnants of the community remain, the old general store building remains standing, though now converted into a barn, and the former Baptist church is also still extant, but in use as a private residence, while the tomato canning plant, blacksmith shop, gristmill and school are all no longer.


References

{{authority control McDonald County Northwest Arkansas Unincorporated communities in Missouri