USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume II > Part 25
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At this time the professions have these rep- resentatives in Marissa: Lawyers-Millard McMurdo and R. S. Hamilton; physicians-A. P. Coulter, J. M. Wilson, J. W. Tweed, J. M. Campbell. The Bank of Marissa was estab- lished August 3, 1903. Its capital stock is $20,- 000. Its President is W. E. Borders; its Cash- ier F. J. Wagner. The First National Bank of Marissa was established September 6, 1903. Its capital stock is $50,000. Its President is J. H. Hamilton; its Cashier J. A. Hamilton. The Illinois Central Railroad, the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Bell and Kinloch Telephone Companies afford conveniences for transportation and communication. The Meek Milling Company was incorporated in 1901, as successor to Meek, Finger & Co., who built a mill in 1881 on the Illinois Central Railroad. The capacity is 350 barrels a day. In 1903, 303,000 bushels of wheat were bought and ground and 65,000 barrels of flour and 5,005,- 595 hundred-weight of feed were made and sold. The average cost of the wheat was seventy cents a bushel. The principal stockholders are A. J. and W. E. Meek. The value of the property is $50,000. The Marissa Creamery is valued at $5,000.
"The Marissa Courier," established August 1, 1904, is a non-partisan paper and has a cir- culation of 500. R. W. Chestnut is its editor. "The Marissa Messenger," with a circulation of 500, is edited by R. S. Coulter. "The Mes-
senger" was established May 1, 1887, and is in- dependent.
The following are the principal mercantile and business houses: General Merchandise- J. C. Hamilton & Co., Nevin Bros., S. H. Wells, P. C. Jensen; Clothing and Dry Goods-Beard & Walker, Miller Bros; Agricultural Imple- ments-E. H. Nixon & Co .; Lumber-Lyons & Whiley, Jensen Bros .;. Drugs-M. P. Jensen; Hardware-S. S. Boyle, Henry Hamill; Furni- ture-Henry Finger, Andrew Pollock; Shoes- Henry Degan; Groceries and Dry Goods- George Green; Groceries-A. J. Matthews, Bris- coe, Kolkinous, Jensen Bros .; Harness-Henry Mitze, Joseph Alle; Jewelry-E. Gibson; Milli- nery-M. J. Wilson, Alice McMillan; Confec- tionery - Henry Morgenthaler; Meat - John Hotz, Charles Michali; Bakery-Henry Swack- ert, Werlput Bros.
Church and society interests of Marissa re- ceive attention in another chapter.
The public schools were founded in 1884. There are two school buildings which cost $18,- 000. The Board of Education is thus consti- tuted: Charles Jones, President; F. Irwin, Sec- retary; P. B. Hamilton, O. M. Wylie, J. N. Hamphill, W. Stewart and Sherman Hamilton.
NEW ATHENS, or Athens, as it was first called, was laid out, in territory now in New Athens Township, by Narcisse Pensoneau, in 1836. It comprised forty-eight blocks of 461 lots and a public square, streets sixty-six feet wide, ex- cept Water Street, which is ninety-nine feet wide. It is beautifully situated. One strange thing about the history of New Athens is its variation in population. At first it grew rap- idly up to the 1,500 mark; but in 1851 there were very few inhabitants-according to one account, only five. This last assertion seems almost incredible; but in another place we find the statement that "fifteen years after its founding, New Athens was almost deserted." The first business house was a general store opened by Narcisse Pensoneau. The first physi- cians were Dr. A. Trapp (in 1837) and Dr. Ed- ward Klinchardt. In 1838, George Rock kept an inn for travelers; also in that year the first mill-a saw-mill and corn-cracker-was built. In 1838, William Brock burned the first kiln of brick. The first school was opened in 1836. John Irwin was the teacher. Soon after 1851.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
Bauman Bros. opened a store, giving local trade a new impetus. This marked the resurrection of the town. Two steam-boats, the "Pearl" and the "Silver Lake," made fairly regular trips. In 1852 a postoffice was established with Wil- liam Bennett as Postmaster, in which office he was succeeded by William Baumann in 1856. The Athens Mill Company (incorporated) built a mill in 1857, at a cost of $18,000. The com- pany also bought the steamboat "Wild Duck," to ply between Athens and Kaskaskia.
As there was another Athens in the State, in Menard County, confusion often resulted in mail and merchandise being missent, and in 1868 the St. Clair County Athens was renamed "New Athens." In 1868, "The Era," a weekly newspaper, was published there by William Baumann.
In 1866, New Athens was incorporated by vote of tlie people. The first Board of Trustees, elected December 8, 1866, consisted of William Darmstetter, John Binge, Joseph Flach, H. M. Perryman and Gustav Huelbig. In 1868, citi- zens of New Athens and others tried to improve the navigation of the Kaskaskia. They organ- ized a company and made subscriptions for that purpose, but the proposed locks and dams were never constructed. A railroad forestalled them. The first train of cars on the "Cairo Short Line" (now part of the Illinois Central System) from St. Louis, crossed the bridge on New Year's Day, 1870.
The Methodist Church was built in 1869; the Catholic, in 1870; the Lutheran, in 1878; and the German Evangelical, in 1879. The census of 1880 showed only 603 inhabitants. This de- crease was due in part to the burning of the mill in 1879 and to competition with other rail- road towns. The following business interests were flourishing in the village at that time: Five dry goods stores, kept by Joseph Flach, Isfried Probst, C. Stalz, F. H. Holst and Wil- liam Wimer; two drug stores kept by Louis Schenck and Henry Dose; the "New Athens" Hotel, by Peter Deichmann; the "Bennett" House, by Daniel Bert; the "Tremont" House, by Christopher Heirremann, and the "Illinois" Hotel, by Mrs. William Geiger; a printing of- fice, Hauft Bros., proprietors; Degen Bros., ma- chine shops; Jacob Hooes brewery, built in 1853 at a cost of $3,000, enlarged at an expense of $9,000 in 1866 and having a capacity of 31,- 000 gallons annually; Mrs. Catherine Judd and
Mrs. J. Lively, milliners; Gaines Bros., black- smiths; the elevator of Russell Hinckley, just built, capacity 5,000 bushels; the lumber yard of Fritz Overbeck, and ten saloons. Drs. Klinckhardt, F. Reder and R. J. Walls were practicing their profession there.
The present population of New Athens is about 1,000. Drs. Bechtold, Kenrich, Reder and Nolan are resident medical practitioners. The New Athens Bank, founded September 17, 1900, has a capital of $10,000, fully paid up. Its offi- cers are Peter Schneider, President, and Peter Deichm, Cashier. The Kolb Coal Company has a mine two and a half miles east of New Athens. The Western Union Telegraph Com- pany and the Bell and Kinloch Telephone Com- panies supply the telegraphic and telephone
facilities of the town. New Athens' fortunate location on the Illinois Central Railroad is favorable to its manufacturing interests. The mill of the New Athens Milling Company was built in 1883. It has a capacity of 300 barrels daily and employs twenty men. New Athens has a large modern brewery, a foundry, a stave factory, an extensive brick-yard and a cooper shop. "The New Athens Journal" was estab- lished in 1893, and has a circulation of 600 copies. It is a non-partisan, independent week- 'ly paper. The editor is G. R. Hedge.
Local churches include the Methodist, the Lutheran Evangelical and the St. Agatha's Catholic. The schools of New Athens comprise nine grades and have 220 pupils. The Super- intendent is J. P. Scheid. The Public School Library was founded with forty volumes and now has 320. The village has an efficient fire department.
SUMMERFIELD began its existence with the construction of a railroad laid out in 1854 by Thomas Casad and B. T. Kavanaugh. At that time the town-site was covered with timber and underbrush, and without one house. Sam- uel Casad erected the first building, a small one-story frame dwelling-house. One of its rooms was utilized as a store. In 1880 this building was included in Peter Kullman's store- house.
Samuel Casad, the first resident and first merchant, as well as the first Postmaster, helped much in building up the town. Later, other houses were built by him, by John Wake-
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
field, by the Rev. Thornton Peeples, and by Dr. Walker, the first resident physician. In 1854, a large steam flouring-mill and a blacksmith- shop were opened. In 1885, Andrew Hall and Thomas Casad built several tenement houses, and H. Beetle built a two-story frame hotel, the first public house in the place. In 1855 the population increased noticeably. In 1856, the Rev. Thornton Peeples built a store-house, in which Bradford & Brother, of St. Louis, opened a clothing store. In 1857, Wakefield & Phillips opened a general store in a store-house built by John Wakefield, Peeples & Dew opened still another store, and Haven & White started a broom factory, which was blown down by a wind-storm and never replaced.
Among the early residents were Charles L. and S. P. Dew, Joseph R. Padfield, John M. Casad, Charles Wakefield, Henry Ruth, George Bumb, John Schupp, Dr. A. W. Casad, Garret and Jacob Vogt, Julius Winkler, Joseph Trenz, George Peters and Jacob Schuster. In 1856, Miss Lucy Dew taught a three months' sub- scription school in Peeples' store-house. In 1860 the first public school building was erected, a one-story brick structure, 36 by 40 feet, with two rooms, at a cost of $4,000. In 1874 a $10,500 brick building 40 by 60 feet, two stories high, with four rooms, was built. After that the old building was occupied as a German parochial school.
In 1857 the Methodists built a 40 by 60-foot brick church, with a basement, that was used for public schools. In 1874 this was replaced by a larger church. In 1858 the Mennonites built a two-story brick church 30 by 45 feet. In 1864 the German Methodists built a brick church 24 by 36 feet, and in 1865 the Evangel- ical Lutherans built a brick church 30 by 40 feet.
In 1859, C. Eisenmayer bought the Summer- field Mills, built in 1854 by Casad, Wakefield & Co., and enlarged their capacity. In 1866 Sum- merfield was incorporated as a village under the general law. The population in 1880 was 1,676. At that time there were in the village five general stores, one drug store, two physi- cians, one bakery, one hardware store, three hotels, three shoe shops, three blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, one barber shop, one har- ness shop and five saloons.
Some time after 1870 a coal shaft was sunk, but the vein was too small to be profitably
worked. In 1880 Ruth & Whittaker built a grain elevator, on the railroad east of the de- pot, with a capacity of 5,000 bushels.
The population of Summerfield is now 500. Summerfield is on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road and has the Western Union Telegraph and the Bell Telephone service. The only res- ident physician is Dr. J. H. Hewitt. V. C. Eicher's feed-mill was put in operation about 1895.
Summerfield has four churches, viz .: Eng- lish Methodist; German Methodist, with Rev. Minden as pastor; Mennonite, with Rev. Van de Smissen as pastor; and Evangelical, with Rev. Zuchmueller as pastor. Each church has a Sunday School. There is one public school, having eight grades, and employing three teachers.
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FAYETTEVILLE, located on Sections 7 and 8, T. 2 S., R. 6 W., in Fayette Township, was laid out on the west bank of the Kaskaskia by Abijah Whiting and Thomas J. Pulliam, May 15, 1837. It consisted of twenty-eight blocks, of which the central one was a public square. The others were divided into twelve lots each. In April, 1855, 180 lots were added by Thomas J. Pulliam. In 1880 there were 350 inhabitants.
When navigation on the river was assured, property sold well and trade was brisk; mills, houses and stores were built and stocks of mer- chandise were brought in. Business was se- riously injured, from time to time, by destruc- tive floods and fires. Thomas J. Pulliam built the first house, and kept the ferry. In 1836. Henry Voskamp opened the first store; in 1840 he was appointed Postmaster. L. Grossmann kept the second store. J. Baumann in 1854 and 1855 built the first mill, which was destroyed by fire. A brewery built by Louis Hedweg, in 1875, was burned but was rebuilt. In 1863, William Maguire built a mill with three runs of stone, which he later sold to August C. Miller for $20,000. Later a wooden shoe factory was established. In 1856 a pontoon bridge was built across the river, but was swept away by a flood about twenty-five years later. In 1854 a Lutheran Church was erected by Henry Fiet- sam, contractor; in 1868 a Catholic Church was built.
Business interests and business people here in 1880 were: General Stores-Philip Wasem,
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY. 779
Leroy Free, Gertrude Mittendorff; Druggists- Drs. C. H. and E. E. Rembe; Hotels-"Okaw House," Vahlkamp & Bro., Fritz Baumgart, Mitchell Funk and John Suess; Blacksmith- Adolph Kreikmeier.
The present population of the village is about 400. Anton Buescher and George Biesser fill the office of Justice of the Peace. George P. Wasem and Louis Burgard are general mer- chants. Dr. Sem Lougeay is a local medical practitioner. Saloons are kept by Louis Bur- gard, Ben Dressler and Adolph Stein.
Fayetteville's school, taught by Samuel Dick- son, numbers fifty pupils. There is a Cath- olic Church, under the pastoral care of Father Becker.
LENZBURG .- There were two towns of Lenz- burg less than half a mile apart, called respect- ively Old Lenzburg and New Lenzburg. The old- er town was laid out by T. A. Schneider, No- vember 7, 1862, on the northwest quarter of Section 7, T. 3 S., R. 7 W., on the line that sep- arates Lenzburg Township from New Athens Township. It was named for Lenzburg in Switzerland. With the coming of the railroad Old Lenzburg dwindled so that, in 1880, its busi- ness interests were comprised in a general store, a blacksmith shop and a saw-mill. Lenz- burg postoffice was established in 1866. Peter Drehr was long the Postmaster.
The new town, at first called Lenzburg Sta- tion, was laid off by Peter Drehr, October 4, 1876, in Section 12, T. 3 S., R. 7 W., and con- tained at first 81 lots. This town grew as the old town diminished. In 1880 it contained one general store, two hotels, an elevator, a wagon shop and two blacksmith shops. One physician, Dr. Miles Highes, practiced there.
The population of Lenzburg is now about 550. There are two local Justices of the Peace and one physician. The town is headquarters of several coal mines. The Tirie Coal Mining Company sunk a shaft in 1892, and employs about seventy-five men. Two Kolb mines, owned by the Kolb Coal Company of Missouri, employ twenty-five men. The Illinois Cen- tral Railroad runs through Lenzburg, in con- nection with which is a line of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Lenzburg has the Bell and Kinloch telephones.
As for manufactories and the like, Henry
Serth has a big elevator, and Frank Sebas- tian a cigar factory. The town has a fire com- pany and a public school of two departments. There are three churches-Baptist, built in 1900; Methodist, built in 1904; Evangelical, built in 1873 and rebuilt in 1903.
May 25, 1903, a hail and wind-storm destroyed crops and demolished buildings in this vicinity.
FREEBURG .- November 11, 1836, in Section 19, T. 1 S., R. 7 W., now in Freeburg Township, the town of Urbana was platted by John T. Lemen. It consisted of eight blocks, divided into 128 lots, with a large public square in the center. Additions were made by Reazin Thrifts of eight lots, July, 1852; D. C. Wallace, ninety lots, September, 1853; George Smith, three blocks, on the east, September, 1853; Thomas Temple, thirty-six lots, on the east, October, 1853; Philip Rauch, fourteen lots, on the north, August, 1854; Joseph Reichert, forty-two lots, December, 1859. Additions were also made by "The Mill Company" and others. The con- cern named added twelve blocks.
The postoffice was established in 1851, with George Smith in charge. Henry Barthel, first Justice of the Peace, served from 1857 to 1878. Harbert Patterson opened up the first stock of goods shortly after Urbana was organized. Mr. Welden kept the second store. Mr. Reich- ert, the first cooper, came in 1847.
Milling early became the most important local industry. In 1853-54, Temple, Potter & Co. built a mill at a cost of $25,000, which later passed into the hands of the Reicherts, and is now known as the Reichert's Mills. In 1866 the Frederick Mills were built by Darmstetter, Meng & Co. at a cost of $40,000. In 1877 W. H. Wilderman became proprietor.
In 1859, Heizmann and Barthel built a brew- ery, which later passed to the ownership of Joseph Reichert. The Reichert Milling Com- .pany has flour mills with a capacity of 600 barrels a day. In the mill proper are em- ployed thirty men, and in the cooper shops twenty. The company owns an electric light- ing plant that supplies the mill and many citi- zens of the village with light. An extensive public lighting plant has recently been voted by the people. The town has a bank, four churches, three hotels, six general stores, two
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
lumber yards, an elevator, a steam blacksmith and machine shop, two blacksmith and wagon shops, several building firms, village water- works, a large public park and a private park with an artificial lake covering three acres. Three coal mines near by employ hundreds of miners.
The original name of the town was Urbana, but this was changed to Freeburg in 1859. Freeburg was incorporated March 4, 1867, by unanimous vote of the citizens. Messrs. James Hill, Sr., Philip J. Koesterer, John Klingel, Christ Barthel and Fred Koeberlin were elect- ed Trustees.
Freeburg Fire Company No. 1 was organ- ized April 12, 1876, with forty-nine members. An engine was bought in Philadelphia and an engine-house was built, and these are the prop- erty of the company.
The village is a station on the Illinois Central Railroad, with telegraphic and telephone con- nections.
"The Freeburg Tribune" was established in 1896; F. N. Hickman is editor and A. C. Hick- man publisher.
DARMSTADT, in Section 35, T. 2 S., R. 6 W., in Fayetteville 'Township, was laid out by Isaac Rainey, February 1, 1855. The original plat showed only thirty-six lots, one of which was already occupied by Peter Rodenmayer, a blacksmith, and another, by Henry Kaylor's tavern, erected in 1845.
In 1863 a mill costing $30,000 was built by a company composed of George M. Eckert, Her- mann H. Voskamp, Leonard Kayser, Henry Koch, William Massmann and Henry Eck- ert. May 11, 1864, this company made an addition to the town plat which came
to be known as
the "Mill Company's Addition." Later, Martin Eckert bought and operated the mill, which in 1880
had four runs of stone, with a capacity of 200 barrels of flour a day and employed five men. The flour, in order for shipment, was hauled to Marissa, six miles away, to the Cairo Short Line (now Illinois Central Railroad).
In 1880, Darmstadt had one public school and two private schools, two church buildings- Lutheran, built in 1865, and Protestant Lu- theran, built in 1877. Business in 1880: Gen- eral stores-Joseph Raith, Barnhart Twen-
haefel, opened in 1854-55; hotels-John Lehr, John Schlesinger; blacksmiths-Hartman Koch, William Ludwig; doctor-F. X. Fischer; sa- loons-John Lehr, John Schlesinger, Bernhardt Twenhaefel; wagon-makers-Jacob Theobald, Henry Steinheimer; tailor-Henry Koehler; saddler-Philip Koehler; soda manufacturer- Christian Gross, who sold about 4,000 boxes an- nually to the people of Darmstadt and sur- rounding villages; public hall-John Lehr, pro- prietor, built in 1864. The postoffice was in charge of Martin Eckert, appointed Postmaster in 1864.
The population of Darmstadt at the present time (1906) is about 300. The village has a Lutheran Church, Rev. Piekenbrock, pastor. Its school of seventy pupils is taught by August Schmelz. Philip Kirchhoefer has a large gen- eral store with a saloon attacheu.
EAST CARONDELET, reached by the Illinois Central and the Mobile & Ohio Railroads, is in the western part of Sugar Loaf Township, about a quarter of a mile from the Mississippi River. The town-plat has the form of a rectangle, and lies on both sides of Prairie du Pont Creek. It was laid out on the Prairie du Pont common fields in 1872. The first village lots were platted by Andrew Donnan; two additions were made to the town in 1872, one by Donnan & Henderson, the other by Christian Keolm, and in 1876 an addition was made by Frank Ricker.
In 1872, J. L. Strider built the first house, a story-and-a-half frame dwelling. The first store was kept by Greene & Jackson on State Avenue to the southeast of the narrow-gauge railway track. In 1873, L. G. Gross es- tablished a wagon manufactory and a black- smith shop on State Street, near Prairie du Pont Creek. In 1872, the first hotel was built by Volantine Eustch, but was burned down in 1875. In 1876, F. S. Mack & Co. erected the first flouring mill, a four-story frame build- ing with stone foundation, costing $10,000. It was a steam mill with three runs of burrs, and a capacity for grinding seventy-five barrels of flour a day. This mill, which was situated on State Avenue near the narrow-gauge track, was burned down in 1880. The postoffice was established in the primitive depot with S. H. Parker as Postmaster. In 1873 the Catholics
PATRICK FLANNERY
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
built the first church, a forty by sixty frame building, at a cost of $3,000. It was destroyed by a wind-storm three years later. The Cath- olics now have a good church edifice in the village. In 1876 a frame school-house was erected and equipped with modern furniture, at a cost of $1,200. Until its completion school was taught in a log church north of the creek, which on Sunday was occupied by a negro con- gregation. J. W. McCormick was the first teacher. James N. Carlton was the first Jus- tice of the Peace, and heard his first case in the old depot.
Meier & Co., of St. Louis, established, north of the village, blast furnaces occupying 100 acres of ground, including railway and switches. and costing more than $2,000,000. They set up three engines of 100 tons each; two fur- naces with four large Whitehall hot-air blasts to each; and a chimney 1031% feet high and twenty-eight feet in diameter at the base, the building of which required nearly 1,000,000 brick. This concern in 1880 employed 350 men, producing 120 tons of pig-iron daily and ship- ping daily many carloads of it to St. Louis and other markets. The company constructed its own railroads to make the works accessible from the Mississippi River and connect them with railways on the Missouri side of the river. This plant, which was one of the largest in the West, was moved to Missouri in 1884.
Extensive ice houses were built in 1880-81, on the river bank, about a mile northwest of the village. They cost $25,000 and had a ca- pacity of 25,000 tons.
In 1876, the village was incorporated and the following officers elected: President, Wal- ter Murray; Trustees-J. C. Sinclair; S. H. Par- ker, E. D. Ankeny, J. J. Schumaker and John Ortgier. Thomas Jamison was appointed Clerk. In 1880 the population of the village was about 400; now it is about 220. Formerly there were many negroes there; now there are compara- tively few.
BIXBY .- Three and one-half miles southeast of East Carondelet, on the Mobile & Ohio Rail- road, is the small but rapidly growing village of Bixby. This part of the Mobile & Ohio Sys- tem was formerly the "narrow gauge," bought by the Mobile & Ohio Company and changed to standard gauge about twenty years ago.
CAHOKIA .- Rev. J. M. Peck thought that in 1683 Cahokia was founded by some of La Salle's party. Reynolds says: "In 1686 Tonti, then chief and captain-general, in conducting the war against the British and Iroquois, heard of his friend La Salle being in the West In- dies, and descended to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi in search of him; but he returned with- out him. On the route he established the post of Arkansas; and, I presume, the settlements of Illinois-Peoria, Cahokia and Kaskaskia- may date their existence from the same pe- riod-1686-or before." According to another author, "Cahokia was a trading post and mis- sion station before Kaskaskia, and both were settled in 1690 or before."1 In his recently pub- lished "History of Illinois," J. N. Perrin places the date at 1700. Whatever the date, the pur- pose and effect were to convert Indians to Chris- tianity. Thus was formed the nucleus from which Cahokia grew and became the first set- tlement on the Mississippi. Close after the missionaries came Indian traders, who built stone houses and traded with the natives. Soon white people from Canada came in great num- bers and made Cahokia a thrifty, and, all things considered, a highly civilized place. The in- habitants lived simply. Early in the eighteenth century they began to cultivate the land and to erect better buildings, largely of cedar. A church built then forms part of a church built later and yet standing. Now, side by side with the old church is a handsome, comparatively new stone church.
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