Pomona, the fourth largest town in Franklin county in 1910, is located in the valley of the Marais des Cygnes river and on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific railroads, 10 miles west of Ottawa, the county seat. The original town site consisted of 320 acres of land. A. Jones erected the first building, for a residence, and within a short time Rev. L. Rickseeker built a store which was used for drugs, general merchandise and the postoffice. A. H. Scranton built the second business block, which afterwards was converted into a hotel known as the Pomona House. At an early date Pomona became a considerable manufacturing center. A furniture factory was started in 1870 by Krouse & Sons; a steam flour mill was erected the same year by H. O. Kelsey. Within a year a school house was built that would accommodate 200 pupils. The first religious services were held in 1870, and in April, 1871, the Methodist church was organized. The Presbyterian church perfected an organization in 1873. Pomona was started on a temperance plan by the founders and from the first prospered in a marked degree. Today it is the banking, shipping and supply town for a rich agricultural district, with a number of retail stores, lumber yard, hardware and implement houses, money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities, good schools, hotels, and some manufacturing establishments. It is an incorporated city, and in 1910 had a population of 523.