Severance

Severance is a small town with a long and interesting history. The welcome sign says it was established in 1877, which was the year of its incorporation. However, the townsite was laid out in 1869, and settlers had been living in the area since at least 1854.

Severance was the site of several conflicts. For example, the railroad depot (built in 1874) was a violation of an agreement with Joel Ryan of Ryan's Station and resulted in a lawsuit. A more tragically violent example is that C. C. Clonch, the owner of the first cabin in the area, fatally shot two other settlers (Swintz and Waggoner) in 1855. He killed them with a single blast from his shotgun as they attacked him.

Other interesting events in the town's history include an 1896 baseball game between Civil War veterans and their young daughters. (The daughters won.)

These days, this is a little farm town where we saw lots of hills, as well as kids playing at the park. The houses and buildings seemed pretty old. Many were in good repair, and others were less so. The folks here are friendly, and one nice lady talked to us for quite a while. She said they used to have a couple of churches and a school, but they no longer do.