Selma

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     The Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota Railroad, built in 1886-1887 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad built in 1887, intersected each other northeast of the town of Kincaid. The Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota called their station Tribley and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad called their station Selma. Selma was surveyed and platted in the spring of 1887 and the name stuck and Tribley was absorbed into Selma. The town depot was built in 1887 on land owned by George Harvey.

     A town grew around the Selma station absorbing the Tribley Station and it was laid out and platted in 1887. The first store building was a general merchandise business built by Francis Irwin. Rufus E. Camp and S.A. Thorne both managed stores. Thorne’s store burned in 1904. A blacksmith shop and later a garage and shop were operated by J. I. Canady.  Dr. N.F. Jackson was the first physician in Selma with a good practice. In later years he moved his office to Kincaid. There was a good drug store and a lumber yard in town. In 1919 W.A. Smethers erected a building and had an implement dealership in town. 

     Two churches were in Selma. A Christian Church and a Methodist Church built in about 1895. The Christian Church burned. In 2001 the Selma Methodist Church and the Kincaid Methodist Church congregation merged. They built a new church in Kincaid and named it the Selma-Kincaid United Methodist Church and dedicated it December 2002. .

     The local school was Hickory Grove and served the surrounding community until District 97 was formed unification of several other school districts. They erected a new two room school with a full basement. The school still stands today, but it is abandoned. The post office was established in 1887 and closed in 1956. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad still exist and is located north and west of town. It is now the Union Pacific Railroad. At this writing there are no businesses in Selma. There are only three residences in town, two mobile homes and one wood frame house. The town streets are still there with street signs. Selma probably had a population of about seventy at one time.