USA > Illinois > Iroquois County > History of Iroquois County > Part 6
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Maple Grove School in Iroquois Township in 1916.
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for a city in the world," and it might well have been just that. Lots were sold at prices higher than lots sold in Chicago. Notes given for the lots were to become due upon completion of the steam mill that was planned. Largely because of the financial crisis in the nation in 1837, Plato lost their bid for the county seat, and with this the dreams of grandeur for Plato.
The east side of the river was settled from about 1839 by Samuel Lyman, Thomas Yates and his father, Artes, Alexander Sward, James M. Moore, the last of whom settled here in 1850.
An interesting chapter in the history of Iroquois Township is that of the war between Dixon's Ferry and another ferry a short distance down stream from it. Mr. John Wilson, who owned land leading to the second ferry crossing, won the first legal battle over the issue, but this did not solve the issue. Both ferries later continued to operate in competition with each other. Beckwith's history concludes that Dixon's Ferry was captured and recaptured almost as many times as Harper's Ferry of pre-Civil War fame.
The only railroad in the township is the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw, which was built in 1858 and 1859, and runs along the southern boundary line of the township.
The northern part of the village of Crescent City is in Iroquois Town- ship, but this village was discussed in the chapter on Crescent Township.
PLATO
BARCACISTORE
Bargain store in Plato, Iroquois Township which was destroyed by fire in 1910.
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Ferry boat crossing at Plato in Iroquois Township.
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Loda Township
Loda Township is located in the southwest corner of Iroquois county, bounded on the southwest by Ford county, on the north by Artesia town- ship, and on the east by Pigeon Grove township. It has good land, gently rolling, easy tilling; however, few farms were brought into cultivation until the Illinois Central railroad gave a market for products.
The first permanent settlement, so far as can be found, was in 1843. In 1844 there was a disastrous rainy season during which crops could neither be planted nor cultivated. The first settler was forced to fight cholera, hunt wolves which killed his livestock, and tolerate the devastating rains which seemed to recur every seventh year. At this time the nearest mills were in Covington, Indiana, and at Myersvillle, Vermilion county. The nearest market for eggs and chickens was in Chicago.
Loda Township was organized in 1856 and the population in 1875 was about 2,000. Loda Township's first school was in 1849. It was held in one of the rooms of the first settler's home with about ten pupils at- tending. Later a school was held in a small cabin nearby. Education has progressed a great deal since 1879 when school was held for seven and one-quarter months and a female teacher was paid twenty-nine dollars a month. For many years the grade and high school students were housed in a two-story brick building which has since been torn down. Loda High School consolidated with Buckley High in 1952. In 1964 Loda and Buckley consolidated their grade schools in the Loda High School building for the benefit of both schools.
The town of Loda was laid out by the Associated Land Company, composed of those people who had interests in the railroad. It is not known who was responsible for naming the place Loda. There was im- mediate confusion with a place in Kane county called Lodi. Some per- son of authority, noting this confusion, upon his return to Washington, had the name of Loda's post office changed to Oakalla. He supposed the name of the town would follow suit, but habit was strong. As young as this place was, people never got over calling it Loda.
In 1855 there were only three houses, the depot, the freight house and the section house. In this year, also, as soon as a building could be put up, a real estate business was opened. Also in 1855 another man, Adam Smith, one of great energy, business capacity, and unbounded expec- tations came and purchased 16,000 acres of the railroad land. He put men to work building, farming, and developing the country. He built one of the largest houses in the country, which still stands in Loda and is still considered one of the finest homes around. He spent thousands of dollars on an extravagantly large mill; put up an extensive building for a hay-press, built a hotel, stores and other buildings on a somewhat smaller scale. He also put up on his farm a barn capable of stalling 1,000 head of cattle.
The Loda distillery was built in 1858 and 1859 by a group of English-
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men. While it was operating, business was good. Employing about 100 men, this was one of the largest distilleries in the state at that time. It had eighteen fermenting tubs and a capacity for running 1800 bushels of grain per day, making about seventy-five barrels of high wines per day and feeding 1200 head of cattle and 2000 hogs in the summer. It required four or five government officials in attendance when it was in full opera- tion. The death of nearly all the people interested in it finally stopped its operation, and shortly after it was burned to the ground. The ground where it stood is now in cultivation.
Loda, which had reached a peak before 1875, began to decline in population soon after the destruction of the distillery. At this time the building of new railroads which crossed each other at Hoopeston de- prived Loda of the trade of a large region of country. The building of the Gilman and Springfield Railroad cut off a portion of trade in that direction. A number of Loda busianess men found locations elsewhere and many of the houses were empty. What happened to the houses in Loda that once were lived in by more than 1000 persons? The people in the country who were making new farms found it cheaper to go to Loda and buy a house rather than to build one, and many of these were hauled out to the surrounding farms.
The first paper published in Loda or in the southern part of Iroquois county, was started in 1856. Known as the Garden State, it was an inde- pendent six-column paper devoted to local interests, literature, and home affairs. The Loda Independent, published in 1866, continued for only one year. The "News" was published for two years starting in 1872. The "Register" was begun in 1875, and the "Times" in 1879. Publishing the "Loda Times" for 93 years has been the Stevens Printing Co. in Paxton.
A meeting of citizens was held in June of 1863 to vote on whether or not to incorporate the village. The meeting voted in the affirmative for incorporation. Five trustees were elected and one was chosen presi- dent. The boundaries of the town were fixed to include all of the original town of Loda and all the additions which had been platted. In September 1873 the town voted to accept the general act for the government of villages, passed in 1872.
One of the first religious organizations in Loda was the Baptist church which was started in February of 1857. The original church was built in 1864. A preliminary meeting of people desiring a Congregational church was also held in 1857. The church was built in 1859 and 1860. It had quite a library of 500 volumes and furnished five prairie schools with libraries. This church was remodeled and rededicated in both 1893 and 1904. The building, sold to a Lutheran group in 1951, is known today as Immanuel Lutheran Church.
The first Methodist meetings were also held in the year 1857. The first organization was in 1859, and the church built in 1864-1865. The Roman Catholic Church was gathered here about 1870 and a church built in 1874.
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Loda has its own public library. This memorial library which was dedicated in 1897 is kept up by an endowment fund and run by a board of trustees.
The only business of any size in Loda today is the Loda Poultry Co. This business has been operating in Loda for over 85 years. It first trans- ported chickens and eggs to live markets, grew larger and processed poultry for many years and now is a distributing plant.
The newest development in Loda Township is Bayles Lake. It is a private man-made lake located one mile west of Loda. The lake itself is about two miles long and has nine miles of shoreline. The lake filled early in the spring of 1953 and has grown so much that it is really a com- munity in itself.
Railroad depot in Loda, Illinois.
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The old and new schools in Loda, Illinois.
Library in Loda, Illinois.
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Lovejoy Township
Lovejoy Township was first settled in the northern part of the town- ship. The first building erected in the township was the "Red Pump," located on the Hubbard Trail or Chicago Road at the north edge of the township. A well was dug at this location, and a log pump inserted which was painted red. The well never failing to provide water, was much in demand whenever it was possible to drive teams and herds of cattle to Chicago. A tavern called "The Red Pump" was operated there in the early days, getting its name from the well pump. The township was sparsely settled in these early days.
Lovejoy Township was formerly a part of Milford Township lying directly to the south of that township and was bounded on the south by the county line of Iroquois and Vermilion counties. Lovejoy Township was established by a vote of its people at the first election held in April 1868. The petition for separation was signed by thirty voters and pre- sented to the 1868 February term of the Board of Supervisors and was granted by that body.
At the first town meeting the people passed a resolution providing for a survey of all the lands in the township. The expenses of the survey were defrayed by a tax of so much per acre. On July 3, 1868 an election was held for the purpose of deciding whether financial aid would be given to the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad in the amount of $3,000.00. The vote was 23 for and 3 against. Lovejoy Township, in addition to this amount, had assumed $60,007.12 of the railroad indebt- edness of Milford Township, which had been voted before the division of Milford Township. The people at first were quite enthusiastic about giving aid to the railroad company, but as time passed, their interest waned and there was considerable effort made to avoid payment of this indebtedness. However, good transportation was desperately needed for the movement of farm products to market, and the building of the railroad in 1871 had much to do with the settlement and growth of the area.
Prior to 1872, there was a small settlement of the town of Wellington approximately one-quarter mile east of the present downtown area of the village. After the railroad was constructed in 1871, Wellington, the only town in Lovejoy Township, was laid out in 1872 near the center of Sec- tion 14 with the business area being built adjacent to the railroad. In order to secure switches and a depot for the new town, J. L. Hamilton and R. T. Race each donated 40 acres of land to the Railroad Company. As a result of the location of the railroad and the laying out of the town, many businesses began to operate in order to supply the needs of the village area. Among them, in the early days, were grain elevators, a livestock yard, general merchandise stores, a drug store, hardware and implements business, lumber yard, harness shop, blacksmith shop, under- taker, livery stable, hotel, draying and many other businesses and serv-
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ices. Streets were laid out, houses built, local governmental units estab- lished and the village and township were well on the way to becoming a flourishing community.
For example, the principal business in Wellington in 1878-79 was the buying and shipping of grain. It was estimated that in 1879 21,000 bush- els of flax seed was shipped as well as 375,000 bushels of corn.
In 1878 a church building was erected by the Methodists in what was then known as the southeast part of town, and cost $1500. First services conducted in this building occurred after Christmas in the year 1878. In 1904 the Methodists constructed their present church building on East Main Street. Prior to 1900, the Presbyterians had a large church on East Main Street, located on the land which is now a part of the village park. Both churches thrived in the early part of this century, but eventually the congregation of the Presbyterian Church declined to such an extent that it was disbanded in approximately 1928.
John Greer, a prominent land owner in Prairie Green and Lovejoy Townships, upon his death on January 2, 1891, provided through his will that a bequest be made to Lovejoy Township. He directed that a town hall be erected for the sum of $2,000 and that an additional sum of $2,000 be given to the township with the income from this amount to be used for the maintenance of the building. In 1894 the town hall was built, a brick building 66' x 22' containing an auditorium and stage. For many years officials of the village and township have used it as their headquarters and as a polling place. It was used extensively for the first twenty-five or thirty years for many events such as school plays, social activities, for the community, and for traveling shows of various kinds. But as newer, modern school buildings were constructed, many of the community's activities were transferred to the larger building. A Fire Protection District, composed of Lovejoy and Prairie Green Town- ships was organized in 1954, and a new Fire Department Building was constructed in 1955. Since then, the polling place for Lovejoy Township has been located in this new building and meetings of the township and village have been transferred from the old Town Hall to the newer build- ing. The cash bequest left for the maintenance of the town hall is still intact and invested, but the town hall has long ceased to be the center of the community activities.
After the first settlers of the land arrived in this area, it became nec- essary to provide schools for the children. Usually, every four sections of land comprised a school district which supported a one-room school house.
In the village of Wellington a large, square, frame school building was erected, probably around the year 1881, which served until 1930. The old building had two school rooms on each of two floors, and at the time seemed more than adequate. There are many in the community who attended school in this building, and no doubt, remember it as being a larger building than it actually was. In 1930 the School Board, composed 70
of Alta Lockhart, Van Benbow, and Perry Parrish, supervised the con- struction of a new brick building with gymnasium which still serves as headquarters for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades.
A high school building was erected in 1915 with a basement gym- nasium and served the community well for many years. Interest in bas- ketball was high during the 20's and 30's, and some very fine teams rep- resented Wellington in area competition. In 1941 a very large and mod- ern gymnasium was built as an addition to the original building.
In the late 30's and early 40's much discussion was held in regard to the discontinuance of the one-room school buildings. This consolidation was accomplished, and bus transportation of pupils to a central point became necessary. In 1947, consolidation of schools became popular and the territory of Prairie Green and Lovejoy Townships banded together into a one-unit school district. The one-room school houses soon dis- appeared, and a new grade school building was erected at Greer in Prairie Green Township. This building now accommodates the first and second grades for the entire school district.
Prior to 1920, the township roads were taken care of through the help of farmers who worked in their spare time with teams, wagons, and scoops. The township itself also used graders with steam engines to pull these machines. In the 20's rock was shipped in by railroad car, and those persons owning teams and gravel wagons were paid to unload the cars and transport the material to various roads. In 1936 a sizeable bond issue was passed, and for the first time every farmer had access to an improved gravel road to market.
In 1919 the Dixie Highway was constructed and a hard road was built to connect Wellington with the new highway. This road to town embraced the full length of Main Street to the east edge of town. In constructing this road, a cement mixer, propelled by steam power, was used. In order to provide water for this steam operation and for the cement mixing, a pipe was laid along side of the road to a nearby creek. A narrow gauge railroad track was built from the town to the road building site, and material was hauled for road building by small freight cars.
About 1881 a railroad spur from the main line was constructed from a point about one and three-fourths miles north of town in a westerly direction to serve the towns of Alonzo, Hickman, Goodwine, Claytonville, and Cissna Park. A train accommodating both passengers and freight made two round trips a day from Cissna Park. This train did a con- siderable amount of switching at all points along the way and served a useful purpose for many years. Many high school students living along this new line rode the train to attend high school at Wellington.
A large hotel in Wellington operated until 1920. It had twenty-five rooms and catered to salesmen and others who came to town on business. These early-day salesmen, in order to cover territory not served by rail-
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roads, hired teams and buggies from the livery stable to make their selling trips to nearby towns.
The village had street lights in the early days, using first kerosene lamps; later gas lights were used, and finally in 1920 electricity became available to everyone.
Lovejoy Township as a township will be eligible to observe its 100th Anniversary in April of 1968.
Steam powered threshing outfit in 1895 from Lovejoy Township.
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Main Street in Wellington, Illinois looking east in 1913.
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Post Office and General Store on the north side of Main Street in Wellington, Illinois taken in 1919.
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Martinton
This township occupies a position in the center of the northeast quar- ter of Iroquois County. Papineau is on its northern boundary, Beaver to the east, Middleport and Iroquois townships on its southern boundary, the Iroquois River, its western boundary. The C & EI railroad runs by the northeastern corner of the township.
The soil is chiefly the fertile sandy loam, common along the Iroquois River. Originally nearly one-third of its surface was covered by timber. Along its western border the timbers were quite thick and was used for building fences and houses, as well as supplying fuel.
The first settlers to put up homes in the township are believed to have been those who came to Bean's Grove, along the eastern side of the township, between 1833 and 1840. Aaron Rush is believed to have been the first settler and probably arrived around 1833. Mr. Rush moved to Wisconsin forty years later. Other very early settlers were a Mr. Cot- trell, Benjamin King, and James Williams.
In 1836 E. M. Hammond settled in this township. He was joined by a Mr. Gillespie and John Merrily shortly thereafter.
Thomas Yates, known in Illinois as an important cattle raiser, was one of the first settlers in the western part of Martinton Township. He and his father later sold out their interests in Martinton and moved their interests across the Iroquois River to what is now Iroquois Township.
In the years before the railroad, the old stage route from Bourbonnais to Middleport traveled this township. Located on Beaver Creek was the nearest post-office, called the Democrat Post Office, which dated back to Congressman John Wentworth, the long-time editor of the Chicago Democrat. The first post office built in this township came in 1871 after the railroad was brought to the township.
Porter Martin, from whom the township received its name, arrived in the area at about the same time the railroad was completed. Porter Martin's family was originally from the state of Vermont.
Mr. Martin had four sons-James, John, Warren, and Barney-and two daughters-Mrs. Stearns and Mrs. Burnham. James Martin began a mercantile business with a Mr. Beckert at Old Martinton in 1856. Martin and Beckett sold their store to other interests, and after a further series of transactions, this store became the property of J. W. Stearns and Co. This company moved the store to New Martinton when it was laid out along the railroad.
A Mr. Carrean built a blacksmith shop in New Martinton. Mr. A. O. Edison, a cousin of Thomas A. Edison, settled in New Martinton and opened up a wagon shop, but later A. O. Edison followed the trade of car- pentry and home-building.
Other early settlers were mostly from Indiana and Ohio, but a few came in later from other eastern states besides Vermont. Later in the
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nineteenth century French-Canadians from the settlements in Ashkum and Papineau became residents in the township.
At the September meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Iroquois County in 1857, the present town of Martinton was set off and named Buchanan, after James Buchanan, the President of the United States. The first town meeting was held at the Martin and Beckert store; in 1858 Thomas Maggee was elected the first supervisor of the township. Two years later the name was changed to Martinton.
The village of Martinton was laid out when the railroad was built on the land of Adam Wamba. Following the custom, Mr. Wamba con- veyed the land to the railroad so a depot could be established there. Later the railroad company conveyed the land to John L. Donovan, who platted the town, and through whom the titles of lots were received. J. W. Stearnes was the first to start a mercantile business here, bringing his stock from Old Martinton in the spring of 1872. Thomas Maggee Jr. commenced buying for the Simon & Runyan Company during the winter of 1872.
Dr. Collins, Dr. Tascher, and Dr. B. L. Evans were the first three physicians in Martinton. Henry G. Stearnes was the first postmaster, succeeded by Victor Peltier in 1875.
The village was incorporated in 1875. On September 24th of this year the county court ordered an election to be held in the village as a result of a petition requesting that it be duly presented. The election was held on October 23, 1875. Isaac Pilotte, Peter Garmache, Barney Martin, Samuel Lottinville, Levi Case, and A. Belgrade were elected trustees. Pilotte was elected president of this growing body, V. Peltier the clerk, and A. Belgrade the police magistrate.
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad depot with elevator in background.
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Perry Bridge over Iroquois River in Martinton Township. It is a 300-foot span.
BA BRE
C
WIEN
Surces lacking west.
Martinton fils.
Main Street of Martinton, Illinois looking west.
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1
no Martinton Ill.
Looking northwest on the Main Street of Martinton, Illinois in 1912
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Middleport Township
At the turn of the Century Middleport Township had a population of 2,955, with Watseka, accounting for 2,148. There were many fine homes and farmsteads but no paved roads and no paved streets. The C. & E. I. Railroad crossed the township north and south with some trains stopping at Pittwood as well as at Watseka. Crossing the township east and west, the T. P. & W. Railroad ran passenger trains each way three times daily.
In 1900 Pittwood had two stores, a barber shop, a doctor, two churches, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a lumber yard, a drug store combined with a real estate office, a butcher shop, a grist mill, an elevator, a school and a railroad station.
Watseka was a thriving community with fifty or more business houses, two newspapers, two banks, five doctors, four dentists, two grade schools in Middleport (one grade school and a high school in Belmont) and at least ten attorneys at law. There were four hotels and several boarding houses. Freight was hauled from the railroad station by horse drawn drays and deliveries of food to homes were made by horse drawn de- livery wagons.
The first movie theater was a "Nickelodeon," located on the south side of Walnut Street between the C. & E. 1. Railroad and Second Street. Movies became a very popular means of entertainment and for many years Watseka had at least two at one time and sometimes three.
The Iroquois County Fair Grounds at the east end of Locust Street between Mulberry Street and the T. P. & W. Railroad was the scene of an excellent county fair for many years, as well as for the high school football games, the county high school track meets, and all of the circuses that came to the community. Ringling Brothers, Wallace and Hagenback, Barnum and Bailey, Sells-Floto, and Buffalo Bill included Watseka on their summer itineraries.
The principal industry of the township in 1900 was farming. This was a difficult occupation as the farmers used horse drawn single row plows and walking, single row cultivators, also spring tooth rakes for hay side delivery rakes came within a few years as well as riding cul- tivators. Timothy, the primary hay crop, was used to feed horses. Other crops were corn and oats with an occasional field of rye. Wheat was grown in 1918 for the first time in any quantity. Meatless, wheatless, sugarless days were widely accepted by the population during World War I, and the farmer was encouraged to expand his production as well as include wheat in his crop plan.
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