USA > Illinois > Cass County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Cass County, Volume II > Part 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
Encouraged by the good will of the legis- lature towards them, a number of these same citizens, with others, were emboldened to ask and received from the legislature at the same session on February 16 a charter for the Beards- town Gas Light and Coke Company. The in- corporators were : C. H. C. Havekluft, Charles Sprague, Horace Billings, Thomas Eyre, Henry E. Dummer, Francis Rearick and J. Henry Shaw.
The history of Beardstown, as before stated, has been so tully covered in preceding chapters that nearly all that may be said would be but a repetition which could serve no especially in- teresting purpose. Every subject touched upon heretofore was not considered in any sense com- plete without the inclusion of historical and interesting matters pertaining to Beardstown. It has been a most important place in the settle- ment of Illinois; the earliest French voyageurs made a settlement here; the mound builders located some of their most beautiful mounds upon its site; here their successors, the Ameri- can Indians, pitched their tents and built their wigwams, and used it as a center of a most happy hunting ground, and here, into their midst, came the founder of Beardstown, Thomas Beard, who laid the foundation of the present splendid city. The subject of early industries, business enterprises, banks, schools, churches and railroads, discussed in former pages with the necessarily brief biographical notices of the men who have made Beardstown what it is, have presented to the reader as full a histor- ical review of that city as the limits of this work will permit.
-
806
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
OLD LANDMARKS RECALLED.
For the benefit of succeeding generations there should be some record of present conditions of the city. Like most cities, the value of building lots, especially the business lots, increase in value as the city grows older, if there be any material progress, and as a consequence the first buildings, which were well enough when erected, must give way to more modern as well as to more commodious ones. The first buildings erected at Beardstown have nearly all disap- peared, and most of those erected by the second and third generation. The first flouring mills, the great warehouses along the river bank, owned by so many firms whose names are now almost forgotten ; the great packing houses and retail store buildings, all have disappeared, and the very spots where they stood are now often in dispute. Some of the older people will re- call the large two-story brick building of C. A. Bussman, known as the sash, blind and door manufactory, and the Phoenix Foundry, Ma- chine Shop and Agricultural Works, of Thomas Webb & Co. Then later was the great distillery owned by McCormick, which was burned in the early seventies. The first schoolhouse is still standing, it being the brick house on Sixth street, known as the Dr. T. A. Hoffman resi- dence and laboratory. The Park Hotel, built in 1853, is still one of the most substantial buildings in the city. It was put up by Horace Billings, and was away out of proportion to the size of the city at that time, in fact it was such a finan- cial failure that at one time it was given over rent free to a tenant who would look after it and keep up the insurance. The city finally grew up to the building, and since Martin Mc- Donough, the present owner, obtained posses- sion of it, has been a great financial success, and is maintained and known among the travel- ing public as one of the best hotels in central Illinois. The old opera house which stood on the northeast corner of State and Second streets, and which had been remodeled by the Opera House Company, and used as the only place for entertainments for many years, has recently been abandoned; and though the building is a substantial one, and used as a storeroom on the first floor by a firm of clothing dealers, the room above used as the opera house has been taken over for storage and warerooms. Two splen- did new theatre buildings have been erected, with the entertainment rooms on the ground
floor. They are on lots 5 and 6 in block 32, original town, one facing west on State street, and the other south on Fourth street. New churches, new schoolhouses, new business build- ings, and hundreds of new residences have been built until now little if any of the old or first Beardstown, and scarcely any of the second re- mains. While there is a feeling of sentiment connected with those old historic buildings and scenes, that feeling has to yield to the inevit- able onward march of progress.
BUSINESS FIFTY YEARS AGO.
As an indication of the business situation, and also for the purpose of comparison with present conditions, a list of the most generally remembered business firms and professions are given as they appeared in 1860. This list in- cludes : Attorneys-at-law Henry E. Dummer, Thomas M. Thompson, Thomas H. Carter, C. H. Housekeeper, J. H. Shaw, James M. Epler and G. Pollard; Doctors Charles E. Parker, F. Ehr- hardt, H. H. Littielfield. J. R. Dowler, John Fee; T. A. Hoffinan, chemist and physician ; E. S. Carter and D. Whitney, surgeon dentists ; Shurtleff & Jones, publishers Beardstown Demo- crat ; Thompson, Fulks and Irwin, publishers Weekly Illinoisan; C. H. C. Havekluft, county judge; J. A. Arenz, notary public and magis- trate; Thomas S. Wiles, notary public and magistrate; Thomas M. Thompson, notary pub- lic ; S. Emmons, magistrate and land agent ; L. F. Sanders, fire and life insurance agent ; D. C. Meigs, insurance agent ; C. H. Housekeeper, po- lice magistrate; I. H. Harris, land agent ; San- ders & Stettenus, Treadway & Bro., Adam Fisher and J. Livermore, dealers in boots and shoes; Thomas B. Clayton, Christian French, William H. Ewing, blacksmiths; proprietors of brick yards, Fred Potter and John Baujan; J. C. Leonard & Co., bankers ; hotels, Park House, H. Billings ; National House, C. P. Dunbaugh ; Vir- ginia House, Campbell & Goodloe; and Farmer's House, G. Thompson; druggists, Menke & Fletcher, William Whipp, and Rice & Maxwell ; dealers in general merchandise, D. M. Irwin, Chase, Parker & Mclaughlin, Ed. P. Chase, Dutch & Brother, George Plahn & Co., Leonard Montgomery & Co., Nolte & McClure, M. L. Read & Co .. George Kuhl, Isaac W. Overall, C. F. Frauman, C. Nicholson, G. F. Sielschott, H. Boemler, Alexander Lammers, C. H. Seegar, John Quigg ; dealers in stoves and hardware, F. H.
·
-
807
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Rearick & Bro .; H. B. De Sollar, and C. F. Morton ; dealers in lumber, H. F. Foster & Co., Hitchcock & Montgomery ; dealers in groceries, Low & Billings, wholesale and retail, Thompson & Eames; commission merenants, Fred Krohe, J. C. Eberwein, and R. F. Knippenberg ; Thom, Webb & Co., proprietors of the Phoenix foundry and machine shop; C. A. Bussman, manufac- turer of sash, doors and blinds ; H. Mohlmann & Co., manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds ; Durand & Co., undertakers and manufacturers of all kinds of cabinet ware; Benjamin Eyre & Treadway, manufacturers of wagons and plows ; H. B. De Sollar, manufacturer of carriages and wagons ; J. H. Pfeil, manufacturer of carriages and wagons; A. Wetterau, wagons and plows; C. H. Bockmeier, manufacturer of plows; John Lehmberger, manufacturer of cigars and to- bacco; A. J. Wevers, cigar manufacturer; G. W. Weaver, proprietor of steam sawmill; Fish, proprietor of flouring mill ; E. S. Houghton, pro- prietor of flouring mill; W. E. Pearce, proprie- tor of flouring mill; and Reariek, proprietor of flouring mill.
ADOPTS GENERAL CHARTER.
The eity continued to operate under its special charter until February 17, 1896, when, by vote, it adopted the general charter under the state constitution of 1870, and the law pursuant thereof, receiving its charter May 17, 1897. The first city offieers were: mayor, W. H. Rhine- berger; clerk, W. G. Smith; attorney, R. R. Hewitt ; treasurer, Anton Rink ; aldermen : First Ward, Ernest Boles and Sylvester Wiles; Sec- ond Ward, Edward W. Weddeking and Daniel Dresser ; Third Ward, Theo. Schaar and J. A. Henning ; Fourth Ward, John Madine and Henry Nieman.
A FINE PUBLIC UTILITY.
In 1892, when Henry M. Schinoldt was mayor, the city provided for a city water plant and a complete system of waterworks, which has proven very successful. The city from that time on has been furnished at a very reasonable rate with abundance of most excellent water. The water tower consists of a steel reservoir, 48 feet high, with diameter of base 11 feet. 7 inches, and standing on a brick tower or foun- dation 68 feet high, making a total height of water tower 116 feet, and giving ample pressure
to the water in the miles of water mains throughout the city. The water system was really installed by the Beardstown Water Com- pany, and then taken over by the city by virtue of an, ordinance passed for the purpose, July 21, 1892. The city officers then were : mayor, Henry M. Schmoldt ; clerk, Christian Pilger; attorney, Milton McCiure ; treasurer, A. H. Sielschott. The aldermen were: William DeHaven, George Bar- neycastle, L. W. Pilger, W. H. Rhineberger, W. S. Glover, Theo. Schaar, G. F. Frauman and William Deppe, all of whom are now deceased, except George Barneycastle and W. H. Rhine- berger, but they have left an enduring monu- ment to their enterprise and cleverness.
ARTESIAN WELL.
An artesian well was also sunk in the city and a good supply of medicinal waters is had from a well that perpetually bubbles up on the south side of the public square near the publie library.
POSTAL FACILITIES.
The postal facilities of Beardstown are excel- lent. The postoffice is now located in a rented building at No. 102 W. Main street, but the gov- ernment has provided for erecting its own build- ing and to that end has secured title to the lot on the northeast corner of Main and State streets, being lot 5 of block 15, in the original town. E. S. Nicholson is the present post- master, and his assistant is Miss Hattie Fisher, who has held that office for sixteen years. Three clerks are kept busy with the large amount of business handled at this office, notwithstanding the fact that there has been, since 1910, a free delivery system for the city, employing fonr carriers. There are also thirce rural rontes out from Beardstown.
STREET PAVING.
In December. 1906. the city council provided an ordinance for street paving and filed a peti- tion in the county court for paving certain of the principal and most frequently used streets. They did not stop at that. but proceeded rapidly, forming district after district and completing the work of each until now all the principal streets and cross streets are covered with as splendid a brick pavement as can be found in
1
808
HISTORY OF .CASS COUNTY
any city of the state. Concrete sidewalks are , laid upon most of the streets, replacing the old board and rough brick walks that had served their day; beautiful shade trees have been grown in the parkways between the pavement and the sidewalks, and with the handsome new modern residences make any of the principal residence streets charming.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
In 1901 the citizens of Beardstown organized public library. The organization was com- pleted January 29 of that year. Many volumes were purchased and rooms rented, but the or- ganization believed there should be an especial building for the library and a public reading room and in 1904 erected a substantial and handsome building on the lot adjoining the City Hall on the west. The organization is known as the Beardstown Library Association, and now has 5,000 volumes, besides papers and peri- odicals. Edward T. Hunter is the secretary of the association.
FISHING INTERESTS.
The Illinois River is noted as being the great- est producer of fresh water fish in the whole United States. Many thousands of pounds are taken annually, and shipped to eastern markets. Beardstown has, for years, been one of the ship- ping points and it seems almost incredible the amount of fish taken and shipped from this city annually. A large number of men are engaged in the business, and some of the catches have reached as high as from 75,000 to 100,000 pounds. Charles Cole and the Beardstown Fish Company do the largest business in catching and shipping fish, although some individuals have had at times a great harvest in that line. Henry Balduff, living south of Beardstown, and owning a small lake, in 1909 caught and deliv- ered to the Beardstown Fish Company. $4,800 worth of fish at one haul, and his total sales for that season amounted to over $12,000. A great variety of river fish are caught, among the more valuable and marketable fishi being the black bass. In 1903 a company of fisher- men caught and delivered to the Beardstown Fish Company, at one haul, 2,100 pounds of black bass. The German carp, which formerly were hardly known in the western waters, now form one of the best and most marketable vari-
eties for the market, and are shipped altogether to the New York market, and annually a large number of car loads are sent out from Beards- town fisheries, practically all shipments going by rail.
A RECENT INDUSTRY.
Another of the river industries at Beardstown is the pearl fisheries. This industry did not de- velop until about 1906. Mussel shells had been lying in great banks in the bed of the river for ages without a thought from anyone of their commercial value. It was found that remunera- tive prices could be obtained for the shells at the factories, where they were cut into forms for making pearl buttons, they bringing from $12 to $20 per ton. A factory was established and conducted for some time at Beardstown, where the buttons were finished ready for the market, but now only the blanks are cut out of the shells. There are three factories cutting blanks and thus a local market is always ready to re- ceive and pay good prices to the mussel fishers for their product. There are many fishermen · engaged in this industry. Sometimes as many as 200 may be seen in their mud scows with their paraphernalia moving slowly down the stream, dragging their four-pronged hooks, and transferring their catches to the boats. Pearls are not found in all the shells, but some very valuable finds have occurred, the highest priced one so far as can be recalled by those apprised of the facts, was one that brought the finder $2.200. Many others have been taken out that brought at the local market all the way from $5 to the price above mentioned. Even the "little stuff," as it is termed by the sellers and buyers, is saleable, but only by the ounce. It brings from - $1 to $2 per ounce. This class of pearls is sent to Paris, France, and used to ornament ladies' gowns. Several pearl buyers come to Beardstown annually, during the pearl fishing season, and are ready to purchase and pay cash for any and all sorts of pearls.
AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER.
Beardstown is the division point of the Chi- cago. Burlington & Quincy Railroad, which has its shops and roundhouses here, and employs a large number of men. Including trainmen who make their home at Beardstown, there are probably more than 1,200 men employed by this
Orren Kendall
. 809
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
railroad during the year. The next largest in- dustry is the Schmoldt Cooperage works and lumber mills, owned by Adolph E. Schmoldt, who employs from 300 to 400 men, according to seasonable work. Beardstown has a population of over 7,000 and has grown too large to admit of enumerating the business interests in detail, but that the reader may have some notion of the great growth and progress of the city since 1860, reference is here made to the principal concerns. Beardstown has, in 1915, the follow- ing business houses and industries: three agri- cultural implement dealers, four automobile establishments, two bakeries, three banks, eight barber shops, four book and stationery stores, five building material and hardware firms, three building and loan associations, two button man- ufacturers, seven tobacco and cigar factories and stores, two steam laundries, five clothing stores, five drug stores, six coal dealers, seven confectioners, twenty-four contractors and builders, eight dry goods stores, four electrical supply firms, four furniture stores, twenty-eight grocery stores, two harness dealers, seven hotels, two jewelers, three livery barns, three lumber yards, eight meat markets, five millinery stores, twenty-three saloons, two hospitals and sani- tariums, six shoe dealers and many other deal- ers who handle a variety of articles and mer- chandise. The professions are well represented as follows: three civil engineers, five dentists, eight lawyers, as follows : Hon. J. Joseph Cooke, judge of the city court; Henry Phillips, master- in-chancery of Circuit and city court; W. H. Dieterich, L. W. Felker, R. R. Hewitt, Lloyd M. McClure, B. F. Thacker, and Charles A. Schaef- fer, attorneys. The physicians and surgeons are : Drs. Bley & Bley, the firm being composed of Dr. George Bley and his son, Dr. Walter Bley ; and Drs. T. G. Charles, P. A. Brandon, Henry Ehrhardt, R. H. Garm, J. F. Jones, M. J. Palmer, T. J. Schweer and Charles E. Soule.
With all the above excellent showing, Beards- town is really just entering upon its career as a city. It is fortunately situated on the largest river of the state, about equi-distant between St. Louis and Peoria, far enough removed from any other large city to prevent serious compe- tition, and having first class railroad facilities that give direct communication with the out- side world and the vast coal fields in the south- ern part of the state, and connected with its neighboring county across the river with a splendid steel wagon and foot bridge, under the
control of the city ; having permanent highways leading into the city from every point of the compass, there appears to be nothing to check the laudable ambitions and hopes of the enter- prising people of Cass County's metropolis to increase in importance and domain.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
BLUFF SPRINGS PRECINCT.
OLD BLUFF HOUSE INN-BEARDSTOWN AN EARLY MARKET-FARMERS AND DROVERS TRAVELED LONG DISTANCES-VOTING DISTRICT FORMED IN 1SS2- BLUFF SPRINGS NAMED-NOTED GRAIN SHIPPING POINT-EARLY SETTLERS-FIRST POSTMASTER AND STATION AGENT - MANY GERMAN SETTLERS - CHURCHES - METHODIST EPISCOPAL - GERMAN LUTHERAN-WELL WATERED-LOST CREEK-CLEAR CREEK-PICTURESQUE SCENERY-BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF THE ILLINOIS VALLEY FROM THE HIGH BLUFFS.
OLD BLUFF HOUSE INN.
The precinct of Bluff Springs is one of the newer voting districts of the county as compared with the others, although, for a time an old house, now near the center of the district, was a voting place, it being designated for a short period as such for Monroe Precinct, which then extended from the south line of the county north beyond the State road from Springfield to Beardstown. At a very early day, even long before Cass County was created, a large house stood on the north side of the public highway, on the present site of the splendid farm resi- dence of Charles Joncs, about a quarter of a mile cast of the collection of houses known as Bluff Springs. It was known as the Bluff House, and served as an inn or tavern. Trav- elers often stopped there for their meals although they were only six miles from Beards- town, and there also stopped the drovers and farmers who were driving their hogs to the market at Beardstown. In that day, hogs were driven along the highways, from away beyond the central part of the state, as Beardstown was the nearest and best market for them, where
810
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
large packing houses had been erected and thousands of hogs were annually slaughtered and the products packed and shipped by boat on the Illinois River to St. Louis, and even as far south as New Orelans, there being no rail- roads at that time, and for many years after the formation of Cass County. One of the first schoolhouses in the county was erected near this inn, and school was kept. up from that day on through the evolutions of the school system until the present method was adopted, and the school edifice now in the district was erected.
·
VOTING DISTRICT FORMED IN 1SS2.
The precinct was formed as a voting district September 9, 1SS2, and Louis Carls, Oliver Decker and C. T. Jockisch were appointed the first election judges. Parts of Monroe, Beards- town, Virginia, Arenzville and Hickory pre- cincts were taken to form the new district. The first voting place was at the grain office of Oliver Decker.
BLUFF SPRINGS NAMED.
A station for the railroad was established at Bluff Springs, and that name given to it when the Springfield and Illinois Southeastern Rail- road was laid through there in 1871. It is now the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad. The railroad ran south of the old State road nearly a quarter of a mile, and changed some- what the subsequent location of the residences and stores. One store yet remains beside the 1 old highway. There was never any organiza- tion as a village or town, but some of the ground was platted into lots, along the highway running north and south, intersecting the main highway east and west. The railroad ran through a part of the county farm, and later the county commissioners platted a small tract of the county farm and sold the lots. The county almshouse stands a half mile north of the rail- road station and is a very imposing looking building seen from the west as the hamlet is approached, either by the railroad or the public highway. The county farm and almshouse have been previously spoken of in the chapter on county buildings and property.
There are two general stores for the accom- modation of the people of the surrounding country, and the residents of Bluff Springs. The Modern Woodmen of America a number of years
ago built a substantial hall for the use of their society, and the order has here a large member- ship and is very prosperous.
NOTED GRAIN SHIPPING POINT.
Bluff Springs Precinct contains within its bor- ders some of the most productive soil in the county. The acreage of corn and wheat is annually very large, and the station of Bluff Springs is a noted shipping point ; more than 125,000 bushels of wheat are annually shipped from that point, and over 150,000 bushels of corn. There are two elevators located here, but they now both belong to the Bluff Springs Ele- vator Company, composed of a number of enter- prising farmers of that place. At the present time the business of the company is in charge of Charles W. Parry, a native of Bluff Springs Precinct, and a young man of most exemplary habits and business ability. He has just closed . a four-year term as deputy county clerk of this county and was especially efficient in that posi- tion.
EARLY SETTLERS.
One of the earliest settlers of Bluff Springs was Thomas C. Clark, who was born in Penn- sylvania, February 24, 1785. From there he moved to Barren County, Ky., where he married Miss Julia Ann King, of Greene County, Tenn .. April 23. 1807. They moved to Tennessee and lived there for about seventeen years and then came to Illinois, and after trying several loca- tions finally settled at Bluff Springs in 1846. John K. Clark, a son, is still living at Bluff Springs, and he was born in what was then Monroe, while the territory was yet a portion of Morgan County, May 14, 182S. Another son, an older brother of John K. Clark, Thomas Clark, was born in Tennessee. September 14, 1820, and came with his parents to Cass County while it was yet a part of Morgan County. He and his brother John obtained such learning as they could in the primitive schools of their neighborhood, and later went to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. where they took a four-year course in the schools of that place. They were above the average of intelligence, and each taught school in Cass County for several years very success- fully. Thomas Clark died November S, 1STS, from an attack of lockjaw caused by his step- ping upon a rusty nail which penetrated his
811
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
boot to his foot. He left several children, one of them being the wife of F. X. Pond, a pros- perous farmer of Bluff Springs Precinct; and another daughter is the wife of a very well-to-do farmer, Cornelius Woodward, of Monroe Pre- cinct.
Another early settler was James Buck, who came from Ohio in 1839, and entered the forty- acre tract of land on which the almshouse stands. The original patent of this land, signed by President James K. Polk, is in the county clerk's office at Virginia. Mr. Buck later moved to Beardstown.
Dr. Ephraim Rew, the first physician to locate in the west part of the county, moved out from Beardstown to a farm in section 29, township 18, range 11, in what is now Bluff Springs Pre- cinct, in 1833, and remained there until his death, which occurred May 23, 1842.
John Decker, another early settler, was born in Germany and came to Cass County in 1835. His son, Oliver Decker, was born near Bluff Springs in 1839. For one term he was county commissioner of Cass County.
Others here at an early date were as follows : Charles G. Jockisch, born in Germany, and his two sons, Gothalf and Charles T., also born in Germany, and his grandson, William Jockisch, who came with him to America in 1833, and resided near Bluff Springs until his death.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.