Jermyn, on the western edge of Lost Valley in Jack County, was founded in 1909 as the site of the roundhouse, depot, and office building for the Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad and was named for its president, J.J. Jermyn. Land for the town was donated by Oliver Loving II, grandson of the “Dean of Texas Trail Drivers,” and W.P. Stewart. After many lots were sold, the town entered two decades of prosperity and progress. A school was built about 1912, and Jermyn developed numerous businesses, including a hotel, garage, bank, two general stores, blacksmith shop, land office, cotton gin and warehouse, restaurant, drugstore, ice house, lumber yard, confectionary, U.S. Post Office, and a newspaper, the “Enterprise,” later succeeded by the “News.” After the Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad was sold to the Frisco System in 1930, a gradual decline began. By 1936, the line had curtailed passenger service and then ended all service. Highway construction hastened the economic demise of both the railroad and the town as citizens moved to cities for work and businesses closed. Today, the post office, two churches, and a general store still function, part of the school serves as a civic center, and ranching is the current economic base.