USA > Illinois > Moultrie County > Bethany > A history of Bethany > Part 4
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Mrs. Scheer recalled that the first movies in Bethany were shown in the Vadakin Opera House. Aaron DeBruler, Charlie Harned and Jim Bushert operated the movie house from 1920 into the 1930s.
Most of the movies were shown in the summer. In the winter, the Opera House offered such plays as "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "The Face on the Bar Room Floor," "Rebecca of SunnyBrook Farm," and, certainly, "East Lynn."
Charlie and Edith Harned operated the Cozy Theater on a first-floor in a downtown building.
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Chapter 6 Bethany - In Its Growing Years
Bethany was shocked May 5, 1902 by the death of its cherished doctor, Eleazar A. Pyatt, who died of dysentery.
Pyatt had served as assistant surgeon-general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Dr. E. A. Pyatt
After marriage in 1865 to Anne E. Mahaffrey in Tennessee and their move to Mt. Zion in 1867, they came to Bethany six months later. They had six children. Mary Grace was the first wife of Warren Wilkinson.
When Dr. Pyatt arrived in Bethany, he had to borrow money to pay for the medicine. By practicing economy, he later owned 900 acres near Bethany and he left a $100,000 estate. His residence, later to become the home of Paul and June Ekiss, was considered the finest in Moultrie County at the time.
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Josie Norton, pictured in upper right hand corner, was a mem- ber of Bethany's most prominent black family.
One of Bethany's most respected citizens was one of the village's two black families. Ely Norton, born in 1833, a Civil War veteran, was the first barber in town. He also served on the village board.
Ely loved fishing and he did so nearly every day after work. He enjoyed giving neighbors some of his catches.
Ely and his wife, Fannie, had two daughters, Fannie and Josie. Ely died in 1911.
David Mitchell owned land on the east side of town, a part of which he donated to the Marrowbone Cemetery. The first person buried there was Mrs. T. H. (Mary McCord) Crowder, as well as Mr. Crowder and his second wife. So were the Nortons and their daughter, Josie Norton Gray.
Bethany's other black family was the Mose Watkins.
North of the depot was a park, where the Bethany band played weekly. East of the park was the Park Hotel, which later became the Logan Hotel. South of the station was the three-story Kendall Hotel.
The coming of the auto knocked out the Kendall Hotel in two ways. The auto lessened the need for small town hostelry.
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Operated by Mr. and Mrs. Abner Kendall since the turn of the century, it was demolished in 1928 to make way for a gasoline station.
For three decades, traveling salesmen received room and board there for $3.50 a week. And they could hire a horse and buggy from the livery stable for trips around Marrow- bone township for $1.50 a week.
The meals served there were a gastronomy delight. Many elder citizens told me of enjoying a bountiful meal there for 25 cents.
Kendall also operated a shop at the west side of the hotel, where he repaired wagons, made wooden chain- operated pumps and even turned out coffins.
Something exciting seemed always to be happening at the Kendall. Once a despondent painter, unable to find work, shot himself in his hotel room, the bullet narrowly missing a lodger in the adjoining room.
Lake Fifteen, a popular place for Bethanities before the Shelbyville dam and lake went in, is a natural spring east of Bethany. Near it is the Bone-Vaughan-Mitchell cemetery. The Mitchell Bridge, near the cemetery, was taken out in 1935 after Highway 121 was built.
Todd's Point was located in both Shelby and Moultrie Counties. It became a ghost town when the railroad passed it by. One marker at the cemetery in Moultrie County has an inscription in German.
Bethany, at the century's turn, had four doctors, and all were kept busy. Besides Dr. Pyatt, there were Dr. Davis, J. H. Vadakin and Dr. Miller Hamilton.
Dr. C. R. Lawrence was the first dentist to open office in Bethany shortly after the century dawned. Then came Dr. H. W. Waters in the 1920s, who practiced for more than 20 years, and he also played in the band.
Today Bethany has no dentist.
When Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patents ex- pired in 1894, new telephone companies sprang up all over the nation, making long-distance calls a farcical operation.
Bethany had "centrals" before the 20th Century was far along, and they doubtless knew more gossip than anyone else in town.
But the first telephone in Bethany was a homemade one - installed in 1897.
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Early switchboard in Bethany. Bill Reining is the repairman.
W. H. Logan, who owned a general store, was an inven- tive genius.
His mother-in-law, Mrs. Thomas H. Crowder, who lived a mile north of town, along the railroad tracks, was serious- ly ill. To keep in touch with her, Logan used the barbed wire fence along the way and had a phone at both his store and Mrs. Crowder's home, according to Mrs. Raymond Scheer.
Although expected to die shortly, Mrs. Crowder was seen washing out her bed sheets and nightgown in the front yard so as to look presentable when she passed on.
Shortly after, telephone poles began to rise in Bethany connected by wires. And it was a bell-ringing system.
Thomas H. Crowder, Mrs. Scheer points out, was the great grandfather of Mrs. Ward (Mary Davisson) Thomas, who was the Bethany telephone operator when it went out of business in 1965, for the town was then on the dial system and needed no local operator.
So Mary was transferred to Sullivan's office, where she worked for a few years.
In the early days, the operator was Goldie Thomas, who operated on a high-back, swivel chair, and for years, Bill Reining, clad in overalls, served as the repair man. He was always on call in case one phone was out of order.
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Edith Cordray started her career as central in 1917, when she was paid 17 cents an hour.
"Telephone batteries were then only $18 a barrel and they came in by freight," said Mrs. Cordray.
Mrs. Raymond Scheer's grandmother was known as Aunt Camilla to everyone in Bethany, and it took no telephone call to get her out of her house. She made a career of visiting all the sick people in Bethany to cheer them up.
The Wilkinson Bros., dealers in lumber, tile and coal, es- tablished their business in Bethany in 1882. Members of the firm were four brothers, Jasper, John J., Warren A. and William, all natives of Vinter County, Ohio. They were sons of Jacob and May Wilkinson. Later, Porter Wilkinson took the business over and it endured until 1971.
Horses were the only means of transportation between 1880 and 1900. There was even a stagecoach line running from Paris-to-Springfield.
J. P. McCord was a most busy blacksmith for 50 years, and youngsters enjoyed watching him work with anvil and forge. Hitching posts arose at every store in town.
W. P. McGuire
The first big store building in Bethany was put up by W. P. (Uncle Billy) McGuire. It was a general store, which also served as a postoffice. The first drug store was built by James W. Bone and Dr. George W. Hudson.
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The cost of living was much lower shortly after the turn of the century. But so was a man's pay. One dollar a day was considered high pay. The section men on the railroad were paid 90 cents a day, and they often worked 10 hours or longer. P. Jack Bushert, father of Jim Bushert, carried water to the men working on the railroad near Bethany.
Coal cost only $1.90 a ton, including delivery. Country butter was considered high at 15 cents a pound. A 50- pound sack of flour cost 98 cents. It wasn't unusual for a grocer, or doctor or barber to receive his pay in farm produce.
J. W. (Mac) Mahan, Bethany's depot agent from 1901 until his death May 25, 1925, was the first person to own a car in Bethany. His wife had to get out and help hold horses when they met on a road.
Dr. Vadakin bought a Buick in 1902, from John Weidner, who had just taken over as Buick's dealer in Bethany. Shortly after, A. R. Scott bought a Stanley Steamer.
Jack Sample secured a Jackson the same year, but he had to call Alva Armstrong to jack up one wheel to get it started.
By 1910, autos were common in Bethany. Troy Scott in 1909 had the dealership for the Moline auto, and soon after added the Overland to his line. Later, he drove nothing but a Haynes.
Kent Williamson had a Lexington agency in Bethany in 1913-14-15. He had two fine sons, Kent and Joel, now liv- ing in Sun City, Phoenix, Ariz., and a daughter, Betty, married and living in Decatur.
In 1912, Bethany became known as the state egg basket, when stores handled 15,000 dozen of eggs in a short period.
The Vadakin Opera House had a barber shop and bathroom in the basement. J. L. Riggin was the owner, assisted by Jack Adam.
West of the Marrowbone County Bridge is the location of the Norris-Pesch Devils' Lane. In the early days, the two land owners disagreed on the boundary line and each built a fence. The space between the two fences was known as Devil's Lane.
Freeland's Point had a store and a shop. The "Buffalo Wallow," was a part of the Warren Ferguson farm, which
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later became the Joe Roney farm.
Even on Jan. 1, 1900, Bethany had a population of 800. Business houses then included the Echo office, located over the Hudson Bros. Clothing Store; Hogg Bakery, Scott State Bank, post office, a millinery store, a restaurant and the Wilkinson Lumber yard.
Ed and Albert Biely had a photographic studio, and Charles Roney and Dave Lindsey an implement business. The two livery stables were the busiest places in town. They rented out riding horses and horse-drawn vehicles, as well as caring for horses that farmers drove into town. The streets were always alive with buggies, surreys and wagons.
Shortly after, L. O. St. John opened a jewelry store, which he operated more than three decades. And Kivet Starr had a small lunch counter. From 1900 to 1935, Charles and Joe Dedman ran a meat market, which became Cordt's Meat Market in 1935.
I remember Dedman's well. Every morning before school I was sent to the meat market and to Will Bone's to pick up a bucket of milk.
Since the meat orders varied little from day-to-day, I often bought meat for two days in two packages, hiding one behind the hedge near Bone's house, to be picked up the next day, thus to save a trip.
It was winter so the meat wouldn't spoil. However, the practice ended after some animal discovered and devoured my hidden package.
On Nov. 21, 1908, a large, new grocery store was opened by W. R. Stables and Claude Harris. Stables later bought out his partner. He was assisted in the operation of the store by his son, Dutch, a fine high school athlete in the 1920s. Although engaged in farming, Dutch has never lost his interest in sports, and is one of the University of Illinois' most frenetic fans.
Stables operated the grocery until 1944, when he sold out to Mike Wimmer. When Stables had the market, the farmers all came to town on Saturday night. So sometimes he would stay open until 12:30 a.m. Sunday to accom- modate them.
And C. B. Smith operated his drug store for more than 30 years, first in the bank building and then in the Vadakin building on the southeast corner of the intersection of the downtown streets.
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Even more enduring was the Bethany Grain Co., which has been in business since early in the century. Stockyards stood near the railroad tracks until they were torn down in 1939.
Walter and Lute Hudson opened a large men's clothing store in 1917. Then it was known as Hudsons' Bros. It became just Hudson's after Walter left for a YMCA job at Nelsonville, Ohio.
T. L. (Lute) Hudson, tall and lanky, was both a good golfer and tennis player. He was a member of Bethany High School's board from 1918 to 1931 and he also put in 25 years on the board of the Presbyterian Church. For many years, he and T. A. Scott, president of the Scott State Bank, played golf several times a week at the Sullivan Country Club. T. L. also served as scoutmaster.
After T. L. Hudson died July 6, 1936, his son, Marvin, . operated the store with the help of his brother, Tom, who died shortly after, until it was sold in 1951 to Herman Garrett. He closed it in 1965.
Bethany in those days had two jolly women in Fannie Younger and Della Hull. With the first bow to Women's Lib, Fannie became the first woman named to the Marrow- bone Grand Jury in 1941.
Della was prominent in Republican politics, entertain- ment, and you never caught her without a smile on her chubby face. But no one could push her around.
In the early 1930s, Della opened a restaurant in down- town Bethany, and I recall winning a prize for naming it.
But the big news came later. In those days, outdoor toilets were behind each store building. They were unsight- ly, and businessmen in 1931 decided to tear them down. All agreed, except Della. All others were demolished, but Della held firm and won her court fight.
In May, 1917, Bethany was hit by a tornado and hail storm. Not a house or building in the town escaped without some damage.
Prior to 1920 the only fire protection was the old bucket brigade. That year Bethany bought its first fire truck.
The first bus line was started through Bethany in 1932. Today the bus stops only at the highway running through the north end of town.
Another great step forward for Bethany came in 1935 when the water tank was filled and ready. And in 1940, a
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water softener was put into use.
The passenger train on the Illinois Central Railroad made its last regular run through Bethany in March, 1939, a victim of the motor car. For years, the train had brought mail into Bethany. But from then on, it has come by truck or car on the Star Mail Route.
Dr. Hamilton came to Bethany in 1901, and in 1914 he sold his practice to Dr. R. C. Coffey, who retired early in the 1950s, after serving Bethany so well as its only physi- cian.
During the flu epidemic of 1918, he worked day and night, caring for the ill. Some weeks, he only got a few hours of sleep.
In 1911, sewer tiles were put down under Main Street to a depth of 12 feet. This ended the puddles that often formed in the street, as well as the mud holes.
In 1915, the Bethany Town Board decided it needed better streets. So all the roads were oiled.
P. J. Bushert, Marrowbone road commissioner, also kept the township roads well oiled, and visitors said they were the best dirt highways they had ever traveled.
Around the 1910 era, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Brown ran a shoe repair shop on Main Street. He was deaf and blind. Mrs. Brown could see but could not hear. But they certain- ly were skillful when it came to repairing shoes.
Bethany has never had a Good Humor Ice Cream Man, such as operated on city streets. But, before the days of the refrigerator, many icemen made calls at Bethany's homes, first by horse-drawn wagons, later in trucks. The housewife was provided with cards, the corners of which were labeled 25, 50, 75 or 100. Whichever weight the lady wanted was hung on the topside of the door.
Kids on bicycles or foot would follow the iceman around to eat the shavings when he chipped the ice to the desired size.
In 1900, there was a large hardware store, owned by Sylvester Armstrong, father of Alma Armstrong, who later had his own hardware business.
In those early days, most households had fireplaces, which helped heat the house. Wood or coal stoves were also used.
Candles still were used to light some homes in 1900. But they were soon replaced by kerosene lamps. The only street
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AUFSUR
. ... ..
STIC RAN
Interior of Armstrong Brothers Hardware. Ma and Pa Armstrong at front table with Alvah and Maude Armstrong at back table.
lights were located on posts and were coal oil lamps. The village policeman carried a ladder around to climb up to light them at night.
Fire at Bethany, Ill. CALA 15 19151
Destructive fire of 1915.
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One of the most destructive fires in Bethany came in 1915, when eight buildings were leveled. They were the Mckinney Blacksmith Shop, where the fire started, the monument shop, Armstrong & Sons Implement Store, the poultry house, Wilkinson's planning mill, a buggy and paint shop. All were located in the block west of Punch Brown's Garage.
Many businessmen have done interesting things for Bethany.
For years, each December, Lew Davis would place a barrel of peanuts in his garage office. They were free to all customers to eat, as long as they left the shells on the floor.
Punch Brown, who has been in the garage business for more than 40 years, and who bought out Davis, has con- tinued the practice.
And, when Joe Garrett was the depot agent before it was closed, he always played Santa Claus for anyone who wanted his service.
When Snap Blanchard operated a restaurant in the Depression Years of the 1930s, he would let the high school teachers use his car.
Ken Blackenship, who bought out Blanchard, had a parrot who kept yelling for Nelly, Ken's wife.
Gurly Graham had the best restaurant ever in Bethany, offering only quality dishes, but it didn't last very long.
Bethany had an active Boy Scout Troop when the Rev. Howard Osborn, the Methodist minister, presided over it in the 1920-30 era, when the Scouts camped each summer at Robert Faries, near Lake Decatur.
In 1975, there was no longer Boy Scouts in Bethany, but there were active Girl Scout and Cub Scout groups.
The most active youth group in Bethany in 1975 was the Marrowbone Merrymakers, a collection of 30 girls, who are the counterpart of the boys' 4-H Club.
Competing in sewing, home economics, etc., they are the best in the county each year. But, since winners can't repeat, the Marrowbone Merrymakers have won on alter- nate years for the past two decades. Glenn Austin, the pepperpod of the Scott State Bank, has two daughters who spark the organization.
Bethany has had few farout characters, but one was Wes Love, a bearded fiddler, who lived in the country.
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Town character - Wes Love - forerunner to Wayne Lowe.
In the 1925-1940 period, he would come into town to fiddle and, outspoken, he often was beaten up by the young men loafing downtown.
During the 1920-1940 period, Hunter Moody maintained the Moody Airport at his family farm in Marrowbone Township. Many Bethany residents took their first flight in Moody's plane. He also served businessmen who wanted a fast trip to Chicago or some other city.
Snow has been little trouble to Bethany in the 20th Cen- tury.
But it was engulfed by a snowstorm in February, 1914. It started snowing early one morning, and the flakes con-
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tinued to bombard the town for three days. Huge drifts six feet deep blanketed the community.
Nobody could budge from his home, and stores and schools were closed, nor could rural mail carriers make their appointed rounds. A freight train was stalled for two days south of Bethany, and the village was without train service for three days.
Snow removal equipment was not available but, luckily, the thaw came fast.
Many Bethany men wanted to be their own boss and to work outdoors. For example, Lyman Manship was a house painter, who worked from 1920 into the 1950s.
There were so many good-hearted women in Bethany, who, though perhaps short of funds, filled their houses with happiness.
Of course, the one I remember best was my late Aunt Emma Hill, with whom I often stayed as a boy. While of little means, her heart was brimming with love, and there was nothing she wouldn't do for me.
She was visited at times by her sister, Cord Bankson, who spun tales of the beauty of the city Berkeley, in California.
I never dreamed at the time I would be spending most of my life in Berkeley, thanks to the late George Dunscomb, the former owner of the Berkeley Gazette, whose brother, Jobey Dunscomb, was a longtime coach at Windsor, Ill.
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Chapter 7 Hidden Success Stories
Although Bethany's population has increased, the business district has diminished.
However, there are a few big businesses in Bethany that a visitor would scarely be aware of, including Hollis Dick's, a huge transportation service, hidden away in a big lot in the southeast part of town, and the John Deere plant on the highway northwest of town.
Hollis A. Dick, a husky blond, operates 31 huge trailers, including tank carriers for hauling oil, with the aid of 12 employees.
In 1974, Dick's rigs traveled 677,000 miles. Most of the hauling is in Illinois, although he does hit 16 Midwestern and Eastern states with such loads as fertilizer and auto parts.
The business acutally started in 1925 when Homer Keown began hauling cattle. In 1941, he was hired by the Shipping Association of Bethany, operated by Charley Ekiss.
Keown quit in 1937 to drive a school bus. A stickler for keeping his bus clean, he would put in 26 years at this job and his wife, Vera, 31 years.
In 1937, Hollis O. Dick, a Bethany High athlete, borrow- ed $700 from the Scott State Bank with which to buy a truck. Gradually he expanded his business.
Following his death in March, 1955, he was succeeded by his son, Hollis A. Dick, who also is known as Steve, who had cut his teeth on the steering wheel.
As the cattle business faded, Steve went heavily into edi- ble oil, which he carried in tank cars, and other com- modities.
Dick is helped in his bookkeeping by his wife, Barbara, whom he married June 27, 1962. They have a daughter, Marcia. Dick prepared himself for the job in a business course at the University of Tennessee.
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The John Deere plant is operated by F. H. Bland & Sons. F. H. Bland came to Bethany in October, 1940 from Marshall County, to open the Deere sales agency with Clyde Brown, after they had bought out B. A. Reynolds.
It was Bland & Brown until September, 1942, when Brown quit to go into farming.
F. H. Bland has now retired but his wife, Erma, who has a brilliant mind, remains the bookkeeper.
The business in 1975 was operated by C. L. Bland and Dale Bland, sons of F. H. Bland, and Charles Alan Bland, C. L.'s son.
An extremely busy place, the Blands do a million dollar business a year. They have a big parts department, and all employees are skilled merchanics who have studied at the factory at Moline, Ill.
They also operate a Cessna 185 Skylane. If a farmer needs a part for his equipment right away, the Blands will fly to Moline and get it for him in a few hours.
Big farmers also are flown over their vast acreage by the Blands so they can inspect their crops.
The Blands have eight employees, and they have a large trade area that includes such towns as Arthur, Mattoon, Shelbyville, Assumption and Monticello.
The Blands also own the Goodyear building in down- town Bethany, which they lease out.
All are outdoorsmen who like to camp in the wilderness to fish and enjoy nature.
Bethany also has many fine builders.
Hubert Flannell, who works for the Pittsburg Plate Glass Co. in Mt. Zion, is putting in the Redbird Hill develop- ment, east of Bethany, which will have 60 homes. He has been a stone mason for 15 years.
Hubert's wife, Norma, works for the Scott State Bank, and they have a son, Dan, a law student at the University of Illinois.
Dick Brown is another young builder who built such mansions as the Junior Younger home, as well as several elegant houses in Sullivan.
Mark Wheeler is Bethany's biggest builder. He has put
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up 50 homes in Bethany, as well as the new high school building.
A longtime mayor of Bethany, he led the city into ownership of its own gas, electricity and water supply.
An astute contractor and builder, Mark is in demand all over the state. In the summer of 1975, he was putting in a big Boy Scout building in Pana, Ill.
One of Mark's sons, Tom, is public defender for Moultrie County. He has two other sons, Jackson and Randy, and two daughters, Patricia and Shirley.
Another prominent establishment is the L. W. McMullan Funeral home in downtown Bethany. McMullan purchased the business from Bob and Dorothy Tohill in 1968. McMullan long has operated in Sullivan.
Carl Crowder for three decades had been the wheel that made Bethany go. He was the most active in the county in Republican politics. He served as postmaster under four presidents: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower. He also operated a successful insurance business. But Carl was suffering emphysema in the summer of 1975 and had to be hospitalized.
Many of my questions of early Bethany elicited this response: "Better see Carl Crowder." But Carl couldn't talk. He died a few months after I left Bethany, Sept. 16, 1975.
Carl was lucky to have peppery Mrs. Mike Wimmer carrying on his insurance business for him.
The late George Fulk of Bethany rates as an authority on international affairs.
A highly educated man, he attended all the world peace conferences and wrote several books on world politics.
His mind was always on world problems and their solu- tion. Though he owned a large farm, he knew nothing of farming.
One warm August day in the early 1930s, his wife, Cora, who now lives in Decatur, had been ill and unable to prepare lunch for five threshers. So she asked him to drive them into Bethany for lunch.
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Fulk knew nothing of cars, either. His old car then had both an accelerator on the floor, as well as one on the steer- ing wheel. George adjusted the speed for 25 m.p.h. and started driving the laborers into town.
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