Neuville

Neuville is on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line and Farm Road 2140, nine miles south of Center in southern Shelby County. It was founded during the latter part of the 1800s and was named for the Stephen de Neuville family, who settled in the area in the 1840s. A post office was opened in 1901 with William J. Neuville as postmaster. The Neuville community had a hotel, several stores, a large lumber operation, and a population of 450 by 1914. By 1925 its population had declined to 300, and it was reported at this level through the mid-1940s. In 1938 the community had two schools, one for seventy-five White children and one for thirty-five Black children. After World War II Neuville began to decline, as much of the timber in the area had been cut over. By 1949 the population was estimated at 100, and by 1966 it had declined to twenty. The local school district had been consolidated with other districts by 1955, and the post office was closed in the 1960s. In 1984 a small lumber mill was still in operation; at that time the community had an estimated forty-three residents. This estimate remained the same through 2000.