Westbrook

Stubblefield, five miles north of Grandview in eastern Johnson County, was initially settled by the John B. Westbrook family in 1857. Westbrook built the first steam mills in the county, which he eventually sold to John Stubblefield, for whom the community was named. In 1868 Stubblefield contracted with Christian Hudzietz, a German immigrant, to operate a sawmill and gristmill at the Westbrook site. A distillery was added later by Reavis and Files, Distillers, but was sold at public auction in 1876 to satisfy overdue taxes. The United States government leased the distilling operation in 1877. A post office was established in 1877, discontinued in 1889, reestablished in 1892, and discontinued permanently in 1900. At one time the community included-in addition to the mills and distillery-several stores, three churches, a physician, and a telephone exchange. A school was established there in 1884. After the distillery exploded in the early 1890s, killing two men and burning nearby buildings, Stubblefield began to decline. In 1917 the Stubblefield and Greenbrier schools were combined to form Greenfield. By that time Stubblefield had ceased to exist as a separate community.