Axtell Family OrganizationPlaces named Axtell/Axtel

There are 9 populated places in the US named Axtell/Axtel. That puts the name in a tie with Smith! (Admittedly, Smith has more variations--there is no Axtellville or Deaf Axtell County.) You can get a list of "Features" named Axtell/Axtel on US Geological Survey Maps at the USGS Geographical Names Information Server. There are also 32 Roads named Axtell. There were about 8 Axtel telephone exchanges until telephone numbers became all numbers.

The 1945 Genealogy notes that Osmyn Parson Axtell (#7-205) b. 1817 was a railroad contractor in the West and "some railroad towns were named for him."

Please send pictures of these places! I will scan and return them. Address: Dan Axtell, 1674 Westminster West Rd, Putney, VT 05346.

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The 9 populated places with the name Axtell (Axtel) are:

Axtell, Kearney Co., Nebraska (40º 28' 42" N, 99º 07' 35" W) (pictures)
in south central NE, 37 mi. W of Hastings on Rte 6. This is the biggest town of the name with a population of 707 (1990). The town is a real photo-op for family Christmas cards. You can pose the family in front of the Axtell City Fire Dept., Axtell Community Hall, Axtell Library, Axtell Post Office, Axtell Medical Clinic, Axtell Dental Clinic, Axtell Swimming Pool, Axtell Barber Shop, and Axtell School with Axtell School buses. There are also the usual assortment of road signs with "Axtell."
Dean C. Axtell reports that Axtell, NE is home to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Axtell. He spent 3 hours with them in July, 1995 and found that he was not the first Axtell curious enough to meet some Axtells in a town named Axtell. Leo Axtell of Nampa, ID and Bill (William D.) Axtell from Brainerd, MN had both preceded him.
Axtell, Marshall Co., Kansas (39 52 18 N, 96 15 31 W) (pictures)
in northeast KS, 20 mi. east of Marysville just N of Rte 36, population 470. Here is Axtell Fire Dept., Axtell Grain Co., Axtell Lumber, Axtell Public Library, Axtell School, and Axtell Seamless Guttering. Carson A. Axtell, compiler of the 1945 Genealogy, lived here 1879-1887. The town has its own website (started 1997) which says the town was named after Dr. Jesse Axtell, an officer of the railroad company that started the town. This can only be Jesse [8-484], the father of Carson.  Curiously, in the biographical entry for his father, he mentions neither that his father was an officer of the railroad nor that the town was named after him. Also, Jesse never finished school because his father died so young. He likely never earned the title of "Dr."
A document in the City Clerk's office (maybe an article from the Standard) reads:
A favorite anecdote about the founding of the town of Axtell is that it began with a hunting party. Frank White, a rancher, Colonel Harbin, a representative of the Kansas Land and Town Company, and Dr. Axtell, a contractor for the railroad, were hunting near the present site of Home City. White insisted upon a town being laid out in the area of his ranch. Harbin agreed and asked what they should call the town. White said he believed everyone around there liked the doctor, so why not name it after him? Thus Axtell was born.
Buried here are Walter Robert [8-587] and his wife, Isabell.
120 miles SW of Axtell in Newton, (Harvey Co.), KS is Axtell Hospital (39-02-58N, 97-20-30W), where John Thomas Axtell [9-699] founded the Hospital in 1887. It was merged in to Newton Medical Center in 1987.
Axtell, Macon Co., Missouri (39 49 28 N, 92 28 22 W)
in northeast MO, 6 mi. N of Macon on Rte 63. Like Axtell, KS, it is just off Rte 36.
Axtell, Warren Co., No. Carolina (36 21 45 N, 78 15 24 W)
I can't find it on a map, but the lat. and long. put it near Warrenton, near where I-85 crosses the Virginia line.
Axtell, McLennan Co., Texas (31 39 29 N, 96 58 16 W) (pictures)
in central TX, 10 mi. E of Waco. Here is Axtell High School, Axtell Drive-In, Axtell Post Office, and the Axtell Water Supply. There is Axtell Windmill as a "locale" (31-15-41N, 104-07--45W) and Axtell Tank as a "reservoir" (31-10-51N, 104-01-40W). This Axtell is also famous for the Axtell Meteorite. (If that link is no good try this Alta Vista search for Axtell meteorite.) The Axtell Meteorite is composed of Carbonaceous Chondrite (aka Star Dust). It was found in 1943 and first recognized as a meteorite in 1993.
Axtell, Sanpete Co., Utah (39 03 19 N, 111 49 16 W)  (pictures)
in central UT, 7 mi. N of Salina, which is on I-70. Named after Samuel Beach Axtell, who was Territorial governor in 1874-75 before being appointed governor of New Mexico.
Axtell, Buckingham Co., Virginia (37 42 04 N, 78 36 06 W)
a very small town in Virginia, SW of Charlottesville.
Axtel, Erie Co., Ohio (41 22 07 N, 82 21 50 W)
near lake Erie, 30 mi. W of Cleveland on Rte 60. The 1945 Genealogy says Silas Axtell [6-29] b. 1785 settled at Axtell Corners in Lake County 35 mi. EAST of Cleveland on the Post Road (Rte 20). But this "Axtel" is west of Cleveland. In southern Ohio, there is "Axtel School (Historical)" at 39-11-16N, 82-23-41W. Those coordinates are near Radcliff, OH on Rte 346.
Axtel, Breckinridge Co., Kentucky (37 38 39 N, 86 28 33 W)
Western KY, about 40 miles east of Owensboro, near Rough River Lake. Cross the Rough River Dam going north on 79, in a mile or so, you get to an intersection, and 79 turns right. Axtel's about a mile or so ahead from there. Nearby Hardinsburg has an Axtel Rd. and there is an Axtel recreation area on Rough River Lake

Other geographical locations

(see also Roads named Axtell)

Axtell Park Middle School, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (43 32 54 N, 96 44 50 W)
Winona May Axtell [9-108] b. 1863 married William Hughe Lyon, a prominent attorney in Sioux Falls. After his death in 1930, Winona May donated land for the William H. Lyon Fairground and later added to the gift. The 1945 Genealogy stops there, but she has a namesake herself now.
Mt. Axtell, Colorado (38-50-17 N, 107-02-09 W)
near Crested Butte, elevation 12,055. It may have been named after Utah and New Mexico Gov. Samuel Beach Axtell. Axtel Canyon is between the Sand Dunes and Mt. Blanca in southern Colorado, 37-38-25 N, 105-32-48 W. You can stay at Axtel Lodge at High Country Resorts at Crested Butte Mountain Ski Area.
Axtell Creek, Kalamazoo, Michigan
According to the 1945 Genealogy, Sylvester Axtell [6-86] came to Kalamazoo in 1838, "where the Old Axtell house (1900) still stands, and the Axtell Creek and Axtell Street bear witness to him as one to the earliest settlers."
Axtell Bridge, Montana (45 37 24 N, 111 12 18 W) (pictures)
This is a bridge in Gallatin Co. There are roads named Axtell in Bozeman.
Axtell Windmill, New Mexico (34 38 16 N, 107 25 26 W)
This is a "locale" in Cibola Co. It is near Axtell Well (34-13-12N, 106-14-18W) and Lower Axtell Tank (34-38-19N, 107-24-30W), a "well" and "reservoir" respectively.
Axtell Creek, Lincoln Co., Oregon (44 17 57 N, 123 59 11 W)
There is also "Axtell (Historical)" as a populated place at 44-18-00N, 123-59-00W. The 1945 Genealogy reports that George Webster Axtell [9-258] moved here about 1890. The coordinates put Axtell OR about one mile southeast of Yachats, in mid-coast Oregon. Don Axtell [12-7] reports that, not far from Yachats, there are the Axtell Fish Ladders on Axtell Creek.
Grafton, Vermont
in southeastern VT 12 miles west of Bellows Falls where State Rte 121 turns to dirt. This town might have been called Axtell. In 1791, Thomlinson, VT decided to auction off the right to rename the town. Joseph Axtell [6-5] b. 1763 had the high bid of five dollars. One legend says it was $5 and a keg of rum. Another legend says he never paid the $5. In any case, he chose the name of his hometown, Grafton, Massachusetts.

Information about businesses and municipal organizations named Axtell came from a 1993 CD-ROM business phone listing. These things are notoriously out-of-date. For Axtell businesses not named after a town, see Businesses named Axtell.
Please e-mail any omissions, corrections and specific origins of these place names.

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Last revised on 04 Jan 2003 by Dan Axtell