Postmasters Jefferson

Michael Ryan's second appointment on this list, from 1874 to 1886, spanned the winter Jefferson was shut in. Smallpox came in the winter of 1880-81 with Hahn Patten, brother of a sawmill owner, exposed while hauling wood to Sioux City; he and a young son died, and his body lay seven days before the coroner found two men willing to bury it. Every road out of town was quarantined and guarded, and a quarantine house took requests, whiskey and tobacco foremost. About 150 people fell ill and 82 died.

What the plaque says

Postmasters - Jefferson Michael Ryan, Nov. 30, 1874 Battist Brouillette, March 8, 1886 Peter M. Limoges, April 26, 1886 Michael Ryan, Jr., May 18, 1897 Frederick A. Bechard, Aug. 4, 1908 Eugene E. Brault, Jan. 9, 1914 Aglae Bosse, June 23, 1919 Mrs. Aglae Bosse, Aug. 24, 1921 Harry A. Beavers, June 20, 1937 Mrs. Audrey Ryan, Dec. 31, 1953 Bernard M. Montague, Sept. 30, 1957 Erected 1966 by Eugene P. Kent In honor of his father, pioneer druggist, and mother, Mr. & Mrs. John P. Kent Postmasters Jefferson William Mathers (Willow) Aug.29, 1861 Desire Chaussee " Jan.13, 1864 Charles P. Heath " Feb. 6, 1865 Owen F. Stevens " Mar.26, 1868 Joseph F. Culliman " Oct.23, 1868 Joseph Dupins (Adelescat) Nov. 17, 1869 Michael Ryan " Jan. 5, 1871 Felix Vincent " Dec. 11, 1871 Edward Walters " Dec.23, 1872 Changed to Boreman May 26, 1873 Changed to Jefferson Sept. 2, 1873

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ponca State Park — 7.6 mi
  Oak ravines and bluffs at the downstream end of the Missouri's last unchannelized reach in Nebraska, with a three-state overlook and the river's resource and education center.
• National Music Museum — 22 mi
  One of the great collections of musical instruments in the world, on a college campus in a prairie town, built around a band teacher's thousands of horns, fiddles and curiosities.
• Spirit Mound Historic Prairie — 28 mi
  A lone hill north of Vermillion that Lewis and Clark walked to on a scorching day in 1804, now one of the few places left where you can stand exactly where they stood.

More markers nearby

• Grasshopper Cross — steps away
• St. Peter's Church Jefferson — steps away
• First Flour Mill in Dakota — steps away
• Twelve Mile House — 0.3 mi