Crystal Valley: a blacksmith, clear streams, and a town name
Crystal Township took shape around Jared Gay's 1861 blacksmith shop, and his wife Catherine named it for the clear streams running through it — the first town meeting was held in that very shop.
Jared Gay arrived in this corner of Oceana County in 1861 to work as a government blacksmith for $600 a year. The settlement of Crystal Valley began to take shape around his shop. When Crystal Township separated from Weare in 1865, its first town meeting was held in that same blacksmith shop.
The name came from Gay’s wife, Catherine. A local history account says the area’s clear streams suggested “Crystal” to her. That story ties the township’s name to a feature settlers could see around them, not to a distant person or place.
The early settlers were a practical bunch with one soft spot. Dr. James Kitteredge came in 1863 meaning to give up medicine and farm a quiet patch of section sixteen. The neighbors would not let him. Sickness out on the frontier was constant, and folks kept knocking, and the kind-hearted doctor kept answering, so his retirement into farming never quite took.
Crystal Valley remained a small community. The township’s history page now preserves photographs and markers connected with Gay’s log house, the blacksmith-shop site, and the early township meeting.
Sources
Last reviewed against the listed sources: July 12, 2026.