USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 16
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The values of farm lands had a gradual but steady increase during all the years from the close of the civil war until the time of the world war. Of course there were slumps in 1873 and following years, and again in 1893 and the few years succeeding, because the general business condi- tions of the country had suffered depression. Grain and stock raising continued to be the chief agricultural industries. Grain elevators sprung up at nearly every town in the county, and shipments went out from this county to all the markets, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and even to Kansas City. The completion of the east and west railroads,
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the New York Central and the Lake Erie lines, through this county, opened up an outlet for grain to the east, which before had been lacking. This made competition serve a better turn for the farmers.
We can pass over some of the incidents of the agricultural progress of the county for the period from 1865 to 1900, and come on rapidly to the modern era of power farming. This period is of only about ten years' duration up to the present time.
Mechanical power succeeds horse power in many operations on the farm in the present day. It began with the introduction of the stationary machinery, such as the threshing machine, and the horse-drawn reaping machine. But then came the era of the automobile as a means of trans- portation, which was followed in its second decade by the general intro- duction of gasoline engines in the operations of plowing, cultivation of grains, handling of grain in the barns, power churning, and the operation of machine shops on a small scale on the farm.
What were called farm tractors marked the next step in this era of the development of mechanical power in farm work to succeed the use of horses. The manufacturers of motor cars for transportation de- veloped a more heavily built machine with greater power and with huge flanged wheels for making its way over plowed fields or rough ground. This was the tractor. Behind it might be hitched a series of plows, two, three, four, or even as high as eight blades in one diagonal drag. The engine was propelled by gasoline in what is called technically an internal explosion engine.
About the year 1915 was held in Bloomington a national tractor dem- onstration, when scores of different types of farm power machines were here for a week and gave an exhibit of their work in fields east and south of the city. Another similar demonstration on even a larger scale was . given the following year. These public exhibitions of the modern methods of farming on a large scale attracted perhaps the greatest crowds of peo- ple ever drawn together at a public event of any kind in McLean County. It was estimated that as high as 100,000 people attended the demonstra- tions during the week of the second year's tractor show. The affair was engineered by the Bloomington Association of Commerce, in co-operation with the farmers of the vicinity and of the county in general. On certain days a long line of different makes of tractors plowed parallel strips of a field which had been in oats stubble. The farmers were therefore able to
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compare the methods of the different makes of tractors. The net results of all this public show was to introduce scores of tractors on the farms of the county within the next year or two. Many farmers learned to run the machines who might not otherwise have had their attention called to them. It must be said that not every farmer who tried running a tractor made a success of it, some failing for various reasons. But on the whole, the era of power farming in this county can be dated from the great tractor demonstrations of 1915-16.
The World War period formed a distinct era for the farmers of this and other central Illinois counties. Under the urge of government agen- cies, the amount of food grains produced was increased by a large per- centage. Prices, too, went up to heights that were undreamed of before, and a period of unusual prosperity seemed at hand for the farmers who carried on their work in a sensible manner.
Land values likewise arose to heights that had never before been reached, and farm lands in McLean County sold as high as $400 per acre and more in some instances. Many deals were made on that basis, and while some of those who handled high-priced lands lost by later deflation, those who could foresee the natural recession that must come did not stand to lose.
For two or three years after the world war saw the hardest period that farmers of McLean County have experienced in this generation. With the drop in prices of grains and stock, many of the farmers were unable to market their crops at a profit at all, inasmuch as they had paid inflated prices for labor and other factors which had entered into the production of their crops. Indeed, very serious losses stared in the face scores of farmers in the county. Values of land decreased in correspond- ence with the general drop of farm produce. But by the year 1922-23 it was thought that the low-water mark had been reached, and it is hoped and expected that a new era of farm prosperity is awaiting the land owners and tenants of this county who judiciously carry on their work. It cannot be expected to reach the high-water mark of war times, but the great slump of 1920-21 is definitely passed, and the scale is turning upward in the years 1923-24. Prices for farm lands as recorded in some of the March first deals for 1924 ranged from $200 to $300 per acre for land that is well situated and in good condition. Of course some tracts that are poorly located or have meager improvements sell for much less per acre.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
From the last published annual report of Harrison Fahrnkopf, that of the year 1922-23, some interesting facts are gleaned about the agricul- tural resources of the county, as well as to the activities of the farm bureau, as follows :
"In the value of all farm property McLean is the second richest county in the United States. Los Angeles County, Cal., is the first, with a value of all farm property in 1920 of $396,915,164; McLean County is sec- ond, with a value of all farm property of $267,337,088.
In the value of crops harvested McLean County ranks as the seventh richest county in the United States-this is according to the figures for 1919. Los Angeles County, Cal., again is first, with a value of crops harvested in 1919, $62,212,843; McLean County is seventh, with a value of crops harvested in 1919 of $26,887,618.
"The counties of Los Angeles and San Joaquin and Tulare, Cal .; the county of Aroostook, Me., the county of Lancaster, Pa., and the county of Whitman, Wash., are ahead of McLean County in the value of crops harvested for 1919."
The following agricultural facts concerning McLean County are gleaned from the federal census of 1920:
Value of land in farms
$230,357,416
Value of livestock on farms
11,022,626
Value farm buildings
19,294,099
Value implements and machinery
6,665,947
Value of all farm property in McLean County_ $267,337,088
McLean County has 4,309 farms:
Owners operate
1,707
Managers operate
109
Tenants operate 2,493
4,309
Approximately 58 per cent of the farms of McLean County are oper- ated by tenants ; 40 per cent by owners, and 2 per cent by managers.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
1920.
Total No.
Total Value.
Horses
34,542
$3,648,621
Mules
2,935
376,552
Beef cattle
26,185
2,033,582
Dairy cattle
26,412
1,752,331
Sheep
14,166
189,160
Swine
133,576
2,532,091
Chickens and other poultry
467,080
474,898
1919.
Receipts from sale of dairy products
$781,910
Receipts from sale of chickens and eggs
605,301
Average production of milk per dairy cow
294 gallons
Total Acres.
Total Bu.
Corn
289,012
12,076,089
Oats
167,011
5,738,363
Wheat
56,741
1,092,772
Barley
376
9,282
Rye
2,043
28,208
Total Acres.
Tons.
Timothy
12,758
15,345
Clover
13,827
15,677
Alfalfa
2,178
5,111
Timothy and clover mixed
10,732
13,208
Rye
2,043
1
CHAPTER XVI.
PUBLIC UTILITIES.
DEVELOPMENT CO-EXTENSIVE WITH CITY AND COUNTY-CRUDE METHODS AT FIRST-ILLINOIS POWER AND LIGHT CORPORATION-DEVELOPMENT OF STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM-FORMER OPERATING COMPANIES-FIRST ELECTRIC LIGHTS-DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY-GAS COMPANIES-TELE- PHONE SYSTEMS.
Nothing tells the story of the growth and development of McLean County, particularly the city of Bloomington, the county seat, like the his- tory of its public utilities. In fact the economic and industrial part of the county's history would not be complete without recording the early strug- gles and vicissitudes of the sturdy and far-sighted pioneers of the utilities, who not only had civic pride and faith in their community, but the temer- ity to launch projects considered at the time extremely precarious financial ventures because of the scarcity of money and the crude tools and equip- ment they had to furnish service with.
The history of the utility properties in the county, furnishing power and light, the heating service, street railway lines, and the Illinois Traction System, now controlled by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, is an interesting one.
Figures on the company's books, particularly those from 1912 to 1924, give a splendid idea of how the growth of the population, the increasing of homes and enlargement of industries in McLean County have made demands and are still making them upon the properties of the public utilities.
In 1912, or about the time of the installation of the modern electric meter to measure service for customers, the power company now operated
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, had 2,138 meters in service. A survey at the beginning of the year 1924 showed there were 12,326 meters in service.
And, from a few thousand persons carried annually on the early horse- car line of the pioneer days of the community, the company's modern and up-to-date electric power lines now carry millions of people annually, for · in 1923, 4,655,974 passengers were carried on the city railway lines of Bloomington and Normal. The heating service, too, furnished by the exhaust steam at the electric power plant of the company, inaugurated in 1900, shows the growth of Bloomington. At the opening of the year 1924 the company was serving 291 customers with heat.
The figures at the beginning of 1924 also showed the city railway lines had 18.2 miles of track; 281/2 miles of Illinois Traction System roadway in McLean County, and 10,061 feet of steam heating mains.
To furnish the electric power for lighting and the street car service, the company has a 5,000 k. w. steam generating electric power plant.
A total of 22 modern electric cars were in service on the city railway lines in Bloomington and Normal at the beginning of 1924.
And at the time this was written it required the services of 200 em- ployes, headed by D. W. Snyder, Jr., general manager, to operate the properties of the Illinois Power and Light Corporation in McLean County, with an annual payroll of $300,000.
Twenty-two towns and villages in the county receive their electric light and power generated at the Bloomington power plant of the cor- poration. .
One electric transmission line, 50 miles in length, is in service out from Bloomington, and supplies power to Chenoa, El Paso, Enright, Grid- ley, Hudson, Kappa, Kerrick, Meadows and Lexington. The line was built in 1912 and carries 33,000 volts. Another line, 11 miles long, carrying 6,600 volts, extends from Gridley to Flanagan. The company sells cur- rent to the LeRoy Electric Company, which has a line 23 miles in length, 13,200 volts, from Bloomington to LeRoy, running through and furnishing light and power to the villages of Cooksville, Colfax, Downs, Ellsworth and Gillum. The company also sells current to the Shirley Electric Com- pany, the Secor Electric Company and the Carlock Electric Company. The Shirley Electric Company has a line 12 miles long, carrying 6,600 volts, from Bloomington to Shirley and Funk's Grove. The line of the
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Secor Electric Company is 10 miles in length, carries 6,600 volts, and operates from El Paso to Secor. The line of the Carlock Electric Company is 12 miles long, carries 6,600 volts, and serves the towns of Carlock and Congerville. The Illinois Power and Light Corporation also has one and one-half mile of line from Bloomington to the car shops of the Chicago & Alton Railway. . This line carries 33,000 volts and supplies the shops with power. The company has a fine electric substation at Morton, with 6,600 · volt transmission line to Tremont and Groveland.
It is in the story of the street railway system, the second public utility promoted in the county, built from Bloomington to Normal, that the halo of historical romance is around. A company of public-spirited men of the time, composed of the late Henry C. Fell, Norval Dixon, Lyman Ferre, William C. Hendryx and William A. Pennel, was formed in 1867 and started to build a car line from Bloomington to Normal. Little money was ex- pected to be made from the enterprise, the improvement being built largely as a matter of civic development.
Work was begun on the line which extended from Grove street in Bloomington to Normal, stopping at the Illinois Central and Chicago & Alton Railway depots. The cost of the construction was $60,000. Before any cars were operated, the late Asa H. Moore, then superintendent of the Chicago & Alton Railway, purchased the property from the original build- ers in 1868. The service, 30 minutes between the two towns, was started The cars were hauled by two steam dummy engines. The panting, puffing dummy engines with their scarfs of black smoke trailing behind in the city streets and the noise of their shrill little whistles, became very annoy- ing to the populace and pressure began to be exerted on the city fathers to abate the nuisance.
As a result of the objections the company was compelled to take off the dummy engine from its cars entering Bloomington at the car barn, at Park street and University avenue. Mules were hitched on and the little courtesying, bobbing cars, carrying their 10 or a dozen passengers, were hauled by the animals the remainder of the trip to the downtown district of Bloomington. After one year of operation in this manner the engines were discarded entirely and mules substituted over the whole line.
In addition to the passenger service the road did an extensive freight business, hauling cars of wheat direct from the tracks of the Chicago & Alton Railway at Normal to the Novelty Mills, then located where the
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
Illini Theater now stands-Market and East streets. To reach the mills a spur was built from the main line on Main street. The freight business of the line lasted until 1873. When the Bloomington and Normal railway was built the track was constructed of 25-pound rails, costing $30 per ton. The weight of the rail in the system was gradually increased from time to time until today the greater part of Bloomington street railway system is equipped with 90 and 100-pound rails, costing $60 a ton. The entire section of the Bloomington system in the downtown district was rebuilt in 1922 and 1923. Heavy rails, solid manganese switches, frogs and curves and Dayton resilient steel ties were used in the new work.
During the regime of Asa Moore in the operation of the Bloomington & Normal Railway demands for expansion began to be felt within a few years after the first rails were laid.
In 1881 a line on Chestnut street in Bloomington was constructed from the main line to the Chicago & Alton Railway tracks. In 1883 the Front street line was built from Main street over Front street to Robinson street, south on Robinson street to Grove street, then east to its terminus at the Illinois Central Railway tracks.
That section of the system known as the "Union Depot Line" was constructed in 1884 from Main street to the Chicago & Alton Railway Com- pany's tracks. Mr. Moore experienced some opposition in the building of this section of the system because of a franchise held by Messrs. McBeam and Foster, two highly influential men of the time operating a bus line over the street. Mr. Moore, however, acquired their rights and built the car line and the bus service passed into history.
In 1888 an eastern syndicate headed by W. H. Patterson and John Graham purchased the system from Mr. Moore.
Mr. Patterson made his residence in Bloomington and was general manager of the railway. During his regime numerous extensions were made. The Miller Park line on Allin street was built from Washington street to Wood street; the line on Main street was extended from the Big Four Railway tracks to Lincoln street; the Center street line was con- structed to Seminary avenue and Mason street; the Clinton Belt Line was built and the track extending south on Robinson street was taken up and laid north on Robinson street to Washington street and extended east on Washington street to Towanda avenue.
In 1890 the street railway system was electrified, the mules were un- (13)
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
hitched from the cars and disappeared forever. With so much develop- ment of the system that had gone on, the company's property became mortgaged to the extent of $200,000. Unable to lift the mortgage the company faced serious financial difficulties. A local syndicate composed of A. E. DeMange, John Eddy, George McIntosh and Montgomery Evans, organized a new company, lifted the mortgage and took over the operation of the system. The new company began further extensions and improve- ments at once.
Immediately upon acquiring the property a passing track was con- structed on Main street, extending from Front street to Jefferson street. In 1899, the Front street line, only running as far east on Washington street to Towanda avenue, was extended east to Vale street and south on Vale street to Grove street.
In 1900 the line on South Main street was extended from Lincoln street to Houghton's Lake. Considerable opposition was encountered in extending the line south beyond the city limits at LaFayette street, from the board of county supervisors, but the track was finally laid and service installed.
In 1902 a franchise was secured from the town of Normal for the building of the Normal loop and Fell avenue lines, and both were built. During this same year the Chicago & Alton Railway subway was con- structed, doing away with a dangerous grade crossing at the intersection of Franklin avenue and Beaufort street. During the year a line was built on Gridley street from Front street to Oakland avenue and then on east to the Illinois Central Railway tracks. This was known as the Oakland avenue line.
The following year the Chestnut street and Center street lines were looped together by extending the track down Mason street from Seminary avenue to Walnut street and west on Walnut street to the right of way of the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, crossing a corner of the steam road's track and joining the Chestnut street line at its terminus.
The same year, 1903, the Front street line was looped with the Oakland avenue line, the Oakland avenue line being run east on Oakland avenue to Vale street and thence north to the terminus of the Front street line at Grove street. A passing track, four blocks in length, was installed on Vale street to facilitate service.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
The next change in the destinies of the Bloomington & Normal Rail- way, which had begun in 1867 as the Bloomington Horse Railway, came on Jan. 6, 1906, when Mr. DeMange and his associates sold the system to Hodenpyl, Walbridge & Company for a price stated to be about $1,000,000, who later conveyed the properties to William B. Mckinley, at that time, and has since been, very active in building up public utilities in Illinois and the Central States.
Mr. Mckinley having previously acquired control of the Consumers Light & Heat Company, of which a word will be said later, the street railway company and the light company were merged into one company, becoming the Bloomington and Normal Railway & Light Company. Many changes were made in the properties after the merger, particularly in improving the character of the construction and equipment.
The Oakland avenue-Front street loop was abandoned, the Front street line terminating at Vale and Taylor streets. The track on Vale street from Taylor street to Oakland avenue was torn out and the line extended east on Oakland avenue to Mercer avenue.
Since Mr. Mckinley purchased the property over $675,000 has been expended on the street railway portion of the property. The first two double-truck electric street cars to operate in Illinois were operated on the Bloomington system and later the interurban railway. The latest im- provement to date is the Birney street car or "one man" car, which is rapidly being adopted in leading cities of the country because of its safety features. A big percentage of street railway accidents is cut down where Birney cars are in operation. The car is operated by one man, who acts as both motorman and conductor. The car cannot be started with the door open. This style of car has reduced accidents to almost nothing.
All of the public utility services in McLean County at the present writing, with the exception of gas and water, are furnished by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation which acquired the properties in July, 1923.
William B. McKinley is chairman of the board of this company; Clement Studebaker, Jr., president; William A. Baehr, vice president and general manager; H. E. Chubbuck, vice-president; H. L. Hanley, vice-pres- ident and general attorney; Scott Brown, vice-president and secretary; George M. Mattis, vice president and treasurer; and P. C. Dings, chairman of the finance committee.
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
The first electric lights that the residents of Bloomington saw were four that flickered and sputtered high in the sky, suspended from the courthouse dome one night in the year 1880.
The lights were placed on the courthouse for demonstration purposes by the Leo Daft Electrical Company, who had built a small plant near the street railway car barns, University avenue and McLean street. The company had ambitions to use the power for commercial lighting purposes. It was the belief of the electrical men at that period that a wide area of city could be lighted by suspending the lights high in the air. In some cities they placed them on tall steel towers.
About the time the Leo Daft company started, other electrical men, backed by capitalists, were turning their eyes toward Bloomington as a field for activity. A plant, later known as the Jenny plant, was built on the present site of the power house of the Illinois Power and Light Cor- poration on Roosevelt street. It was begun in 1880 and finished in 1882. Then some capitalists came in from Ft. Wayne, Ind., and built what was known as the Ft. Wayne plant.
About the same period A. E. DeMange started the Bloomington Elec- tric Company and took over the Ft. Wayne plant.
A company known as the Union Gas & Electric Company, also began developing gas and electric service, paying more attention to gas than electricity. It is still in existence, furnishing Bloomington with gas. In 1890 the city railway was electrified, the power furnished by the Leo Daft Company.
Then the historical fire swept Bloomington in 1900 and soon after there was a movement to organize a new power and light company. The result was that the Consumers Power & Light Company came into exist- ence. A new plant was erected and finished one year after the fire. Be- sides furnishing power and light, the company announced it would fur- nish heat as well.
The new company was formed by a coterie of Bloomington business men. Among them were Wolf Gresheim, Robert Johnson, W. S. Harwood, George S. Hanna, Albert Wochner, C. W. Robinson, C. M. Harlan, George McIntosh.
W. S. Harwood was president; G. S. Hanna, vice-president and treas- urer; C. W. Robinson, secretary, and M. G. Linn, now managing the power
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
plant of the Illinois Power and Light Corporation at Des Moines, Iowa, was general manager.
Mr. DeMange, then at the head of the Bloomington Electric Com- pany, and others acquired the power plant and properties of the Bloom -. ington and Normal Railway.
Both the Consumers Power & Light Company and the city railway were operated separately until William B. Mckinley purchased, in 1906, first the Consumers Power & Light Company, then the Bloomington & Normal Railway Company, and merged the two under the control of what was then known as the Mckinley system, operating many public utility properties in Central Illinois.
When the Illinois Power & Light Corporation was formed in 1923, merging the McKinley and Studebaker interests of Illinois into one vast company, the Bloomington properties came in under the control of the new concern and is now operating them.
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