DHPA Jewish Historical Resources
Grant County
Marion, the county seat of Grant County was settled in 1826; it was organized in 1831. The original inhabitants of the area were the Miami Indians, but several battles and treaty negotiations ceded much of the land to the American government. Grant County has a strong Quaker history, who came in the 1820s and 1830s, drawn by the rich, fertile farmland. Natural gas was found in the county in 1887, stimulating growth, but this gas boom did not last for more than a decade. While there are several larger communities in Grant County (Converse, Fairmount, Fowlerton, Gas City, Jonesboro, Marion, Matthews, Swayzee, Sweetser, Upland and Van Buren), it was the city of Marion that attracted the majority of the Jewish population; a small community flourished in Gas City.
