Frank Vernon Skiff, the founder of Jewel Tea in 1899 worked in his father’s general store on the southeast side of the square in Newton. One of the wholesale food companies that called on his father was the Indian Tea Company. When Frank heard they had an opening for a salesman in Chicago he applied for and got the job. But, he didn’t stay long, because he had another idea. In those days it was common for peddlers in horse drawn wagons to ply the streets of Chicago, selling their wares directly to homes. A good deal of what they sold was coffee which had been roasted months before and was almost always stale. Frank’s idea was to offer his own coffee, which would be roasted every week. He saved up a few hundred dollars, bought a second hand wagon and horse, and a small stock of housewares, including his own fresh coffee, tea, spices and extracts. His first route was down by the Chicago stockyards. A couple years later his brother-in-law Franklin Ross joined him in this venture and they called their new company Jewel Tea, even though coffee was their main product. They chose Jewel because in those days anything of a superior nature was called a jewel. By the end of 1901 their sales had reached $11,000 and they began their own Jewel brand labels. Their sales grew from $25,000 in 1903 to $250,000 in 1905. In 1909, they built their own plant and a year later they reached $1 million in sales with 400 routes. By 1915, they had 850 routes scattered across a wide area in the midwest and $8 million in sales. World War I with shortage of supplies brought some setbacks but in 1919, Skiff sold his interest in Jewel Tea for $16 million and retired. He spent years traveling the world until his death in 1933. Frank Ross also retired the same year. John M. Hancock became president in 1922. His name also remains prominent today identified with the dominant tall black John Hancock skyscraper in downtown Chicago. I have fond memories of lovely dinners with many industry friends in the Signature Room restaurant of the John Hancock building over the years. My dear wife Mary and I also enjoyed some great lunches there on various trips to Chicago. It was one of her favorite spots. On a clear day you could see into Wisconsin, Indiana and way across the lake into Michigan. By 1926, motorized routes were completed and no longer did route men have to worry about runaway horses and stolen wagons. By 1966, the home delivery service was only one of the 11 divisions, which included super markets, drug stores and lumber yards. The rest of this fascinating Jewel Tea story is covered in a little booklet at the Jasper County Historical Museum, and other stories written by my friend John Britson and Dan Ehl for the Newton Daily News. There is also an interesting story by Dan Johnson from the Jasper County Tribune in Colfax on Aug. 15, 1996, about the Jewel Building, erected on the southeast corner of the Newton square in 1916 for $50,000 by Harry Allfree. He bought the property from James Rowe Merschon, who built his palatial Merschon Mansion in 1867, owned and occupied by my son David McNeer, owner of Maxim Advertising. Apparently the Jewel Building got its name because it was on the same location as the Skiff general store in earlier days. Frank Skiff’s father Vernon W. Skiff built the Skiff Memorial Hospital in Newton to honor his wife Mary Francis Skiff, who died in December 1918 and was buried Jan. 1, 1919, in Newton. Frank’s sister Blanche Skiff Ross built the Rosslyn Apartments south of the square in the early 1950s. Perhaps I will touch on some of this history in another story, but, first I must read the biography of the Skiff family.