Newport

Newport is on State Highway 59 between Farm Road 1288 and Farm Road 2127, twenty-four miles southeast of Henrietta in extreme southeastern Clay County. It was established by L. Hancock in 1872 and was originally known as Bear Hill. A post office opened there in 1878, and the next year the name was changed to Newport-a word formed from combining the first letters of the surnames of seven leading residents. By 1900 Newport had a population of 176. It had increased to 280 by the mid-1920s and stayed at that level through the 1930s, when twelve businesses operated locally, and into the mid-1940s. By the mid-1950s the population had dropped to eighty-five, with three businesses. From the 1960s through 2000 the population of Newport was estimated as seventy. By 1990 Newport reported one business, and the town had spread into Jack County.