Ewell

Ewell, on Farm Road 593 ten miles north of Gilmer in northern Upshur County, was probably established soon after the Civil War. A post office opened in 1886, and by 1890 the community had two mills and a blacksmith shop. Ewell grew rapidly during the early 1890s; in 1896 it had two shingle mills, two sawmills, a cotton gin, two blacksmith shops, and Methodist, Baptist, and Primitive Baptist churches. After 1900, however, it began to decline. The post office closed in 1905, and by the mid-1930s the community had a church, two stores, a school, and a few houses. The population in 1940 was listed as 150. In the mid-1960s it dropped to 100, and only a community center, a church, and a few scattered houses remained. In 1990 Ewell was a dispersed community with an estimated population of 100. By 2000 the population had dropped to twenty.