USA > Illinois > Fulton County > Fairview > History of Fairview Township and the village of Fairview : 139th anniversary, 1836-1975 > Part 5
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The other business was Cook's Furniture Store established in 1852 which he sold to J. F. Belue in 1894. On September 15, 1915, C. S. Voorhees and H. E. Rose became equal part- ners with Belue, and operated under the name of J. F. Belue and Company? They purchased their first motor hearse in the fall of 1918. On January 1, 1926, Mr. William C. Wilson bought out the control of Belue and Rose, and the firm operated under the name of C.S. Voor- hees Company3 On January 1, 1955, the Un- dertaking and Funeral Home was sold to Ray Root and is now operated as the Root Funeral Home. On October 14, 1967, Wilson had a sale and liquidated the entire stock, thus ending a chain of furniture dealers which extended over a period of 115 years of which seventy-five were spent in the same building. Later the building was used by Francis Mitchell as a Recreation Center, but is vacant at the pre- sent time.
There are two stores in operation today which had an early beginning. One of these is the Taylor Building, now occupied by Van Liew's Radio and TV Shop, in which Joseph Taylor established a meat market in 1876. It is not known who occupied the building between 1903 and 1920. There was a res- taurant in the building sometime during that period, but the building was vacant when Wheat and Allen purchased it in 1920 tohouse their meat market which had been located directly across the street. In 1928 Allen sold his interest to Bruce Voorhees. The store was then known as Wheat and Voorhees until 1936 when Wheat became the sole owner under the business name of Wheat's Mar- ket. In 1946 Joe Tiezzi became a partner of Wheat. In 1956 Tiezzi bought Wheat's in- terest, and operated the store as Joe's Mar-
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ket until he moved to the Hill Building on March 18, 1974.
The other store, originally known as the Hill Store, started in 1882. Mr. Hill's two sons, Guy and Cecil, assumed control of the store in 1919 and operated as the Hill Brothers. Guy became the sole owner in 1924, and resumed the name of Hill's Store until September 4, 1945 when Donald W. Ekstrand became the owner. Thus, for forty- five years the Hill's Store was widely known in the Fairview area where farmers brought their butter and eggs to trade for groceries and other essentials. Originally, Hill bought salt, flour, and wire in a car load lots, op- erated his own bakery, and shipped bread by railroad to Ellisville and London Mills. One year when a late freeze killed all the local fruit, Hill bought a car load of pears from the State of Washington, and had to peddle the pears from house tohouse all over Fulton County to get rid of them. Every fall he ordered serveral car loads of potatoes, stored them in the basement and then spent many days in the spring taking off the sprouts. So the modern cold storage and fre- quent deliveries have saved the merchant much work and trouble. Donald Ekstrand worked for the Hill's several years as a young man, and from experience learned not to buy potatoes and pears by the car load lot. After Ekstrand acquired the store he continued the grocery business along with paints, hardware, and general supplies until May 1971 when ill health forced him to retire. On August 31, 1971 the store was sold to Warren Simons who operated it until August 31, 1973 when he sold the building and contents at public auction. The Fairview State Bank purchased the building, later selling it to Joe Tiezzi. After remodelling the building, Tiezzi moved in on March 18, 1974 and held Open House May 3-4, 1974 as Joe's Market.
After the completion of the Fairview School in 1900 enrollment increased yearly and in 1917 it became necessary to build a large one room addition on the north to meet the increased demands. The high school con- tinued to grow, and in 1920 Mr. William C. Wilson, Principal, and Board Members A.C. Wilson, C.S. Voorhees, and J.C. McCombs deemed it advisable to organize a community high school district. During the summer and fall of 1920 the Fairview Community High
School District No. 214 was formed, a bond issue of $100,000 was voted, and the following men were elected to the Board of Education: Charles Otto, Jerome Lawson, Guy Alcott, Dr. W. L. Crouch, and Marion Hart. The Board purchased 12.8 acres of land from William Polhemus, and in the fall of 1921 actual construction was begun with Aldrich and Aldrich of Galesburg as architects. In September 1922, the building was in use, and the first graduating class of F.C.H.S. was Ruth Stout, Leonard Hageman, Louise Wilcoxen, Hazel Suydam, Mildred Seble, Ern- est Goodin, George Vollmar, Sylvester Cluts, Burton White, and Hollie Langfried. William C. Wilson was the Principal.1 In 1932 the district began to furnish transportation. The first bus driver was Reynold Conlon of Rapatee who retired in May 1974 after com- pleting forty-two consecutive years as a bus driver. Conlon noted that the pupils today are basically the same as when he started as a bus driver; also, the roads are much im- proved and the busses are much more com- fortable and easier to drive. He stated times have changed during his forty-two years of service, which he substantiated by producing one of his early contracts as a bus driver. The contract reads as follows:
"Party of the first part agrees to furnish a school bus with capacity not less than will comfortably accomodate 24 high school pu- pils, beginning September 4, 1933, to start the transportation of the school students to the Fairview Community High School. Route of transportation - Rapatee south to State Road 97, west and east from this point along State Road 97, to accomodate all of the stu- dents that have registered to attend the school from north side of School District 214, and those attending said school from non-high school territory in Knox County. To deliver the students each morning in time to be pre- sent when school is called to order at 9:00 a.m., and return the pupils to their homes, as near as possible, along said route at the close of the school day about 4 p.m. of each school day, and to continue the service from the day above written til the close of the school year of' 9 mos. or 180 days.
For the above mentioned services the party of the second part agrees to pay to the party of the first part one hundred thirty-six dol- lars and eleven cents ($136.11) at the end of
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each school month.
It is further agreed that in the event that the road leading north from Fairview, known as State Road (1) is gravelled, then after com- pletion of the said gravelled road, party of the first part agrees to furnish transporta- tion for one hundred dollars per month for the remaining months of the school year from the completion of said gravelled road.
EMERGENCY RIDER
To be attached to and form part of all con- tracts of teachers employed to teach in the Community High School District 214 for the school year beginning September 4, 1933.
The same to apply to the person contracting for the transportation of students to attend the said school by bus. If there should be a short- age of school funds for Educational purposes, due to non-payment of taxes levied for that purpose, the Board of Education reserves the right to close school at any time without ob- ligation to pay salary for the unexpired part of the school year. If the shortage should not be more than one month's payroll, rather than close the school, the bus contractor agrees to furnish transportation one month without pay, the same applies to all teachers."
The above contract was signed by all par- ties concerned. Yes, times have changed, but remember those were days of the great de- pression when people were glad to have a job at any price.
In 1948 when the county schools underwent reorganization and consolidation all the schools in Fairview Township became a part of the Spoon River Valley Schools, Community Unit District No. 4. The new board composed of Charles Weber, Wendell Owens, Harold Omer, Ralph Deushane, Floyd Blout, Ray Simkins, and Cecil Melton together with the administrator, L.B. Delabar, organized the district on a 6-3-3 plan. Before school began in September part of the district withdrew and Simkins and Melton were replacedby Wel- don McWilliams and Dale Hatch. In Fairview Township the Community High School became Valley Senior High School with H.E. Wood as Principal, and the Fairview Grade School was retained as a grade school with Gladys Spiss as Principal.
Valley Senior High School became increas- ingly crowded, and the need for a new build- ing to house the high school became appar-
ent. Beginning in 1953 and extending to 1971, six different elections were held asking for a new building and all were defeated mostly because of site locations. In early 1972 the Board of Education, Robert Pumfrey, Michael Schulthes, Waldo Ray, Jr., Clarence Barker, Wayne Mahr, Alfred Morey, and Daryl John- son together with Administrator Ercil Little, in cooperation with a citizen's site commit- tee, selected a site at the intersection of State Routes 97 and 116. After the site was agreed upon Phillips, Swager, and Associates of Peoria were engaged as architects.
Due to excessive costs of bringing all build- ings up to standards required by the Illinois Fire Safety Code, it seemed more feasible to provide housing on the selected site for grades K-12. Accordingly, a referendum was called on March 11, 1972, for a $1,595,000 bond is- sue for grades 7-12, and a $645,000 bond is - sue for grades K-6. As a result the issue for a building for grades 7-12 passed, while the issue for grades K-6 failed by a narrow majority. The Board and Administrator rec- ognizing the large support for a complete housing of all grades on the site, a second election was held on May 20, 1972, for the K-6 building which passed by a substantial majority.
On September 17, 1972, ground breaking ceremonies were held, and construction was initiated immediately. The buildings were made available for occupancy on September 10, 1973. The two buildings occupy 94,360 sq. ft. on a forty acre site. Construction cost was approximately $20.86 per sq. ft.
On December 9, 1973, Dedication Ceremon- ies were held in the new buildings with an administrative staff composed of Ercil Little, Superintendent;" John C. Dennis, High School Principal; Kenneth Williamson, Elementary Principal; and Ruth Swearingen, Curriculum and Guidance Coordinator. Thus, after strug- gling for twenty-five years under crowded conditions the Spoon River Valley School Dis - trict No. 4 has a completely modern facility for the use of the boys and girls of the dis- trict.
In 1942 a tornado passed through the Town- ship and the Rosedale and Maple Grove Schools were demolished. The Maple Grove School was rebuilt, but the Rosedale pupils were transported to the Fairview Grade School. Schleich, Sunbeam, and Smith, in add-
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ition to Rosedale, were closed prior to 1948 and the pupils were transported to Fairview. After consolidation in 1948 the pupils of Pis- gah and Pleasant Hill were transported to London Mills Grade School and Oak Grove pupils were brought to Fairview, thereby ending the one room school in Fairview Township most of which had existed over one hundred years.1
The churches were affected by the age of mechanization as well as business. Following the original construction of the Methodist Church Building in 1898, the building has undergone the usual renovation and modern- ization processes in order to meet the ever increasing demands of the Church. The build- ing has been redecorated and the basement rooms have been remodelled to provide ade- quate and efficient facilities for Sunday School Classes and meeting rooms for church related activities. Around 1970 the Church was af- filiated with the West Side Parish, an organ- ization of eight Methodist Churches for ad- ministrative purposes and spiritual guidance. The Church is served by Rev. Eugene Kar- rick and Rev. Herbert Tompson, and occa- sionally by lay leaders.
Through the years the interior of the Re- formed Church has undergone alterations in keeping abreast of changing trends and the desires of the congregation. The pews were removed and replaced with conventional seat- ing; modern heating and lighting facilities were installed; and an end addition made to house a new pipe organ, the gift of William Polhemus as the Garrett V. Polhemus Fam- ily Memorial. However, the beautiful but simple walnut panel work of one Stephen V. Robinson, lends great dignity to the church today as the Twentieth Century church-goers may enjoy it as they view the north, south, and east gallery fronts. The exterior of the building has undergone very little change in appearance since the early 1900's. It is a familiar landmark in Fairview, and remains as one of the older buildings of notein Fulton County.
In addition to the Rev. A. D. Wilson, who answered the call to become the first pas- tor of the newly organized church in 1838, and served until his retirement in 1857, there have been fifteen other ordained ministers who have served in the pastorate of the church. Probably the best remembered of these pas-
tors to the present generation are the late Rev. J.P. Winter and Rev. Bartel Bylsma. Rev. Winter was pastor from 1911 to 1927. He continued to live in Fairview after retire- ment, and very often substituted for the in- cumbent pastor when necessary. In 1954 he wrote "A Brief History of Fairview". Rev. Bylsma, who served the church from 1950 to 1966, is remembered for his fine work with the young people, and for the many improvements in the facilities of all the church properties. The present pastor is Rev. Willis Vander Kooi who came to Fairview in 1967, and has con- tinued the good work of his predecessors.
The first settlers who came to Fairview in the early and middle 1830's came here to es- tablish a home, a town, and a community in which they could carry out their chosen trade or profession. They started small factories, cleared land for farming, established churches and schools for the training of their children, and set aside burial plots for their loved ones. As the settlers were widely scat- tered the need for a burial plot was usually a family project, although in some instances three or four families might join together in securing and maintaining a burial site. In the Township there have been at least eight burial sites, varying in size from small to large. As the Township became more densely settled, and more roads were established the people began to rely on better situated cemeteries as opposed to isolated burial plots which were often one-half mile or more from a road.
The origin of these cemeteries is very hard to trace due to the customs of the times. A title to a piece of land was kept by the owner, and not always recorded until the land was sold. As the cemetery ground was not sold a deed was seldom recorded. In many cases a small parcel of land was given for a burial site by the land owner, and his de- scendants honored the gift for a man's word was as good as a deed in those days. In other cases the cemetery was started as a private resting place in an orchard, or some other beautiful spot, and as time passed it was en- larged upon by relatives and neighbors.
Of the eight burial plots known to have ex- isted in Fairview Township only five are to be seen today, four of which are being used as burial grounds at the present time, namely: Foster, Lyons, Coal Creek Lutheran, and
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Fairview. Markley Cemetery has not had a burial since 1927.
There is a small private cemetery located on a hillside within a hundred yards or so, south of the Knox County line. There were stones placed there more than a hundred thirty years ago. All of the names are still legible:
David Cope, born in 1765, died Dec. 16, 1845, age 79 yrs.
Joseph Cope, born in 1771, died June 15, 1845, age 73 yrs.
Elizabeth Cope, born in 1790, died Sept. 18, 1850, age 60 yrs.
Joseph Cope, born in 1828, died Mar. 27, 1849, age 20 yrs.
Mariah Vaughn, born in 1819, died July 25, 1846, age 27 yrs.
The stones have been removed from the grave site, and are piled along the fence. There are other private cemeteries within Fairview Township with dates from in the early 1830's to about 1870. Most of these cemeteries, when no longer used as a burial site, suffered the fate of growing up in weeds, fences falling a- part, and generally becoming unknown to most people.
The Markley Cemetery is located in the south center of the NW 1/4 of Section 31. There is no available evidence as to the origin of this cemetery. The oldest dated stone found here is:
Eliza, dau. of John & Eliza Markley, died Dec. 1, 1838, age 6 yrs. There are quite a few stones dated in the period from 1830 through 1850. There are only three stones dated in the Twentieth Century, which are 1905, 1915, and 1927 - the last date being for J.E.G. Hibbard. There are twenty-one head- stones in the cemetery with thirty-one known burials.
Foster Cemetery is located in the SE cor- ner of the SW 1/4 of Section 26. There are no authenic written records available as to the founding of this cemetery, nor do any of the older citizens of the community have any knowledge or recollection of its origin. It would be logical to assume that the Foster Family started the cemetery as Johnathon Smith, who came to Section 26 in 1836, was married to a Foster whose parents are buried here. The oldest dated stone here is that of-
Rev. Lewis Foster, 1760-1832, and wife, Ann, 1762-1839.
It is reported by the descendants of the Fos- ters that they were buried in a plot north of Middlegrove and later their bodies were re- moved to the Foster Cemetery. It is an ac- cepted fact that this is one of the oldest cem- eteries in Fairview Township as burials were made here before Fairview had a ceme- tery which was started in 1839. The Foster Cemetery is still very much in use today, as it contains two hundred seventeen marked graves with about three hundred burials.2
Lyons Cemetery is located in the NW corner of the SE 1/4 of Section 8. The origin of Lyons Cemetery like so many others has dimmed through the passing years. The only records found as to its origin began in 1907 and are as follows:
Wm. H. Daily to Lyons Cemetery Ass'n by deed dated July 5, 1907.
Trustees Lyon Cemetery Ass'n to Lyons Cemetery by deed dated July 19, 1907.
Harvey A. Craig & wf (4/5 acre) to Lyons Cemetery by deed dated Jan. 23, 1939. The oldest dated stones found are:
Jane S., wife of A.A. Shreves, died Sept. 23, 1837, age 27 yrs.
Margaret, dau. of L. & F. Shreves, died Aug. 20, 1838, age 1 yr.
There are two stones in 1839 with quite a few in 1840! A Jared Lyon was buried here in 1851, also his wife and son? While there is no known record as to the naming of this cemetery, it could be assumed the cemetery was named for the Lyons family.
This cemetery was hit by a tornado on May 14, 1961, and the northeast, or oldest por- tion, was the hardest hit as it received the brunt of the wind and debris. The old lime- stone slabs were broken off at ground level, and sometimes smashed into four or five pieces. These broken pieces are piled to- gether in two different places. These stones dated from 1837 to 1860 with most of them being children's stones as a child's stone is usually smaller and will not withstand as much impact. There were sixty-three readable stones in this group with about seventy-five or eighty broken by the storm. There are five hundred marked graves with about seven hun- dred fifty burials in this cemetery.
The Coal Creek Lutheran Cemetery is located in the NW corner of the NW 1/4 of Section 19 on land which was owned by Samuel Gourley. The Evangelical Lutheran Church
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and Cemetery, as it was first named, is the latest of the eight original plots in Fairview Township. The first known records of the origin of this cemetery are as follows:
Samuel Gourley & wf to Trustees of Evan- gelical Lutheran Church by deed Sept. 22, 1868.
Geo. Burnett & wf to Trustees Lutheran Church (1.61 acres) by deed Oct. 29, 1888. Joseph T. Gourley & wife to Coal Creek Lutheran Cemetery Associaton by deed April 30, 1915.1
The oldest dated stone is -
Mary Williams (Dau of) G. C. & Elizabeth Williams, 1851-1858.2
In 1850 the Church was organized and met in a schoolhouse until 1866 when Samuel Gourley gave the ground for the Church and Cemetery. The Swygert family gave $600 of the $2,000 needed for the Building? There were quite a number of burials prior to 1866 and one could assume there was a burial plot there as early as 1858. There are two hundred twenty marked graves with approximately three hun- dred forty burials. Today, the cemetery is almost filled with graves, and on the average there is about one burial a year there.
The Fairview Cemetery was started and sponsored by the Dutch Reformed Church. There are more records available as to its origin. From the records of the Church the first ground was a gift from Daniel G. Pol- hemus. The additions to the plot are as fol- lows: first, William T. Vandermeer; second, Daniel G. Polhemus; third, Peter Ten Eyck; and fourth, Julia Powelson.4
These records do not completely corres- pond with the records of deeds at Lewistown, which are as follows:
Daniel Polhemus & wife to Reform Church, by deed, 1846.
Daniel Polhemus & wife to Reform Church, by deed, 1862.
G.D. Polhemus & wife to Reform Church, by deed, 1878.
Abram Powelson & wife to Reform Church, by deed, 1890.5
Due to the failure of people to file deeds, or to file late, and to the possible deeding of other land to the church rather than to the cemetery could account for the differences.
This cemetery was started in the fall of 1839 by the burial of a sixteen year old boy, the son of William Wyckoff. His stone reads
as follows:
John Bainbridge, son of William B. & Eliz- abeth Wyckoff, died Nov. 16, 1839, age 16 yrs.
A sister, Anna Margaret, died Dec. 16, 1839, age 5 yrs. On these two stones and down to 1842 the name Wyckoff as inscribed on the stones was spelled "Wikoff". Whether this may have been an error on the part of the engraver of the stone, or later the family changed the spelling of the name is not known. Following the first burials in the new ceme- tery, two burials in the Foster Cemetery were exhumed and reburied in the Church Ceme- tery. Their stones read as follows:
Sarah E. (Dau. of) Peter and Catherine Pumyea, Nov. 22, 1832-Sept. 18, 1838.
Sarah Leah (Dau. of) Rev. A.D. & J. Wilson, Sept. 25, 1839, age 10 mos. 10 days.6
There are several other stones that carry dates prior to the Nov. 16, 1839 burial which would indicate other reburials.
In 1970 Eugene Suydam made a very inten- sive survey of the cemeteries in Fairview and surrounding Townships for the Fulton County Historical Society. From this sur- vey he has made some observations of his- torical value concerning the origin and de- velopment of the cemeteries in this vicinity which are as follows:
1. There were many burials prior to those for which stones could be found, as many early graves were marked by a field stone of sandstone, lime rock, or glacerial rock.
2. Some of these field stones may have car- ried an inscription of a kind, but due to e- rosion they are no longer legible or even visible.
3. Some stones carry old dates which when traced down indicate they were of children who died in their native State, or died be- fore reaching this destination, and their names were placed on the family stone as opposed to an individual stone.
4. As river transportation increased in the early 1840's the settlers began to get shaped and lettered stones from the East. These were usually of soft marble which were much easier to shape and letter, but there was a tendency of the soft marble to revert to limestone and the legibility of the lettering soon dimmed.
5. Many children died under the age of six months, and it seemed that if the child
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was born between July 1st and December 31st he had a two to one chance of surviv- ing than if born between January 1st and July 1st.
As a generation or two passed from the es - tablishment of a cemetery the maintenance of all cemeteries, both private and church sup- ported, became increasingly difficult to a- chieve for various reasons. As an example, The Fairview Bee of May 20, 1909, carried this notice: "The work for the care of the Cemetery at Fairview has been commenced for the year, and we take means of notifying all that assessments on lots are now due. We will appreciate if all will hand in the amount or send it to the committee, as we need the money to carry on the work. O. L. Wilson and H.W. Spiss, Committee"
In 1960 the voters of Fairview Township approved the creation of the Fairview Town- ship Cemeteries. This organization was to be governed by a Board of Trustees who would have the power to levy a tax for maintenance and upkeep of the cemeteries in the Town- ship; to adopt rules and regulations pertain- ing to the cemeteries; and to employ a care- taker and supervise his activities. The Board of Trustees, consisting of three members, was elected by the people. The first Board of Trustees was George Vollmar, Marnell Con- lon, and Gordon Stout.1
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