USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 4
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
the Kickapoos and Foxes on one side and the Ottawas and Chippewas on the other, which occurred in a fortification near the Sangamon river. This seems to identify the Arrowsmith "battle ground" as the site of an an- cient struggle of hostile tribes. The late Hiram Beckwith of Danville, a noted Illinois historian, held to the theory that the McLean County Indian battle ground was the scene of a fight between Indians and French gar- risons from Fort Chartres.
The village of Arrowsmith was founded when the railroad, afterward known as the Lake Erie, was built through the township, for which Ar- rowsmith township voted the sum of $25,000 in bonds to aid in its build- ing. Trains began running through the village in 1872, and at once it became an important grain and stock shipping point. The only stone quarry in McLean County was located near Arrowsmith for many years, but was later abandoned, since the stone was of poor quality. The land upon which this village is located belonged to Anderson Young, Jonas Fry, James Crosson and M. Ullmer, ten acres each. When it was decided in 1871 that the railroad would run through this place, the town was platted. S. E. Cline put in a scales the same year and he and James Lari- mer began buying and cribbing corn. The railroad switch was put in and a depot built in 1872. Larimer & Jones built the first store north of the railroad, and W. H. Thompson moved his store from Cross Roads in 1873. The postoffice was also moved to Arrowsmith from that place. R. S. Crum built the first residence. The village of Arrowsmith was organized in 1890 and since has had a good growth. The population is 400 and it is well supplied with religious and educational facilities.
Bellflower Township .- This township was originally named Prairie when the township organization was effected in 1858. It was the only township in the county which possessed no timber. The first supervisor, Jesse Richards, chose the name of Bellflower, that being his favorite ap- ple. It is the most southeasterly township of the county. It was first used as a cattle range by the pioneers of Cheney's Grove and other sec- tions. The township possessed much wet land, classified by the govern- ment as swamp land, and this was donated by the county commissioners in 1857 to secure the location of the Normal University in the county. Springfield parties bought up this land, but it was not drained and occu- pied until after the Civil war. Much of the land of the township has al-
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ways been owned by nonresidents and operated by tenants. Neverthe- less it has become one of the best farming sections of the county. The people voted in 1871 $30,000 in bonds to secure a branch of the Illinois Central railroad through their township. It was the first township in the county to erect a township high school, the structure costing $9,000, being built in 1905. Its example in this respect was in later years followed by many other townships. With the I. C. railroad running through the cen- ter of the township and the Wabash cutting off a corner, there are six shipping stations in the township, namely the village of Bellflower, McNulta Switch, and Laurette on the main line of the I. C .; and Meharry and Sumner on the Rantoul branch of the Central, and Osman on the Wa- bash. Just over the line in Champaign County are two others, Harpster and Lotus .~~ han par
The village of Bellflower was platted and laid out by George N. Black of Springfield, who owned much land in that vicinity. The first man who engaged in business in the town was R. E. Moreland, who began buying grain in August, 1871. A. and A. J. Henry started in business there the following winter. John Nichols built the first residence and started a grocery in 1871. A. Libairn started a general store about the same time. T. B. Groves erected a home and started a hardware store in 1872. Other early business men were J. W. Eyestone, E. L. Rush, R. Rome, Hiram Rush, and G. W. Stokes. The first postmaster was A. H. Marquis. Bell- flower has always been a great grain market. Many churches and sev- eral fraternal organizations are included in the community interests. Originally an entirely prairie township, yet the people have planted many trees and the town and countryside are well supplied. The population is about 500 people.
Bloomington Township .- The settlement of Bloomington township grew out of the original settlement of the county, at Blooming Grove. As stated elsewhere, the grove was first called Keg Grove, owing to the tradition that Kickapoos had found a keg of rum there soon after the white men arrived. Before the whites came here there had been an Indian village at the timber farther east, known to early settlers as Old Town timber, after the old Indian town. The nearest white settlements prior to that of Blooming Grove were at Peoria, 40 miles distant, and at Starved Rock, old Fort St. Louis, 60 miles north. John Hendrix and
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
John Dawson came to Blooming Grove in April, 1822, and next year Dawson's family followed. Dawson in 1826 moved to Old Town timber, later named Dawson township in his honor. Other settlers followed the first two, until by the year 1831 there were 50 families living in and around Blooming Grove. Burnham's history of Bloomington gives the names of these families as follows: John Hendrix, Rev. E. Rhodes, Jere- miah Rhodes, William and Thomas Orendorff, Rev. James Latta, Henry Little, John H. S. Rhodes, William Goodheart, William H. Hodge, William Lindley, Mrs. Benjamin Cox, David Simmons, John Benson, James Ben- son, George Hinshaw, William Chatham, Moses Dunlap, William Waldron, Anthony Alberry, William Thomas, John Canady, James Canady, Oman Olney, Joseph Walker, Sr., William Michaels, John Lindley, Joseph Bailey, Harbord, Achilles Deatherage, William Walker, Timothy M. Gates, William Lucas, John Cox, Dr. Isaac Baker, Maj. Seth Baker, H. M. Harbord, Parr Rathbone, John Mullins, Michael Allington, Nathan Low, John Benson, Jr,. and Benjamin Depew. There were also a number of single men liv- ing in the grove at the time. Just north of the grove and within the territory afterward inside the city limits lived Henry Miller, James Tol- liver, James Allin, John Greenman, William Evans, John Maxwell, John Kimler and James Mason. The young single men in the city limits when first laid out were William Dimmitt, William Evans, jr., Frank Evans, William Durley, Merritt L. Covell, W. H. Allin, William Greenman, Esek Greenman, Samuel Durley, John Durley and Samuel Evans.
James Allin seems to have been the first man to see in this flourish- ing young settlement the chance to secure the county seat of a new county and to build up here a little city. He therefore platted the town, and on July 4, 1831, the first auction sale of lots was held. There were probably between 250 and 300 people in the settlement at that time. A postoffice had been established at Blooming Grove in 1829, and it was moved to the town in 1832, being named Bloomington, probably as a natural adaptation of the original name of Blooming Grove. This was the third place in the United States to be called Bloomington.
From Milo Custer's investigations it appears that James Allin en- tered the east half of the southwest quarters of section 4, township 23 north range 2 east of the third principal meridian, eighty acres, on Oct. 27, 1829. This roughly comprised the land now in the city of Blooming- ton between East, Monroe, Roosevelt avenue and Oakland avenue. Allin
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
later bought from Robert H. Peebles another 80 acres lying north of his entry. A commission of the legislature in the winter of 1831 had been appointed to investigate a site for the county seat of a new county to be organized under act of the legislature of Dec. 25, 1830, and named McLean County. This commission reported to the county commissioners at their session on May 16, 1831, that James Allin had obligated himself to do- nate 22 acres at the north end of Blooming Grove settlement. Dr. Baker was employed to plat this tract into town lots and advertise their sale on July 4. The sale was held accordingly at the date advertised. Timothy B. Hoblit, one of the county commissioners, acted as auctioneer, and Dr. Baker as clerk. The people in attendance followed the auctioneer around from lot to lot until all were sold. There were six lots to a block, three fronting each street running east and west, with an alley between. The record of the county commissioners of date Feb. 10, 1833, shows that deeds were executed to buyers of the lots in the original town plat as fol- lows: James Latta, Martin Scott, A. Gridley, Nathan Low, William R. Robertson, John Maxwell, Ebenezer Rhodes, Cheney Thomas, Solomon Dodge, Caleb Kimler, Jesse Frankeberger, Jesse Havens, Fredrick Trim- mer, M. L. Covell, John W. Dawson, David Wheeler, Alvin Barnett, Jona- than Cheney, Joseph B. Harbert, Eli Frankeberger, Hezekiah M. Harbert, Richard Gross, William Harbert, Samuel Durley, Orman Robertson, Bai- ley Kimler, Bailey H. Coffey, Lewis Sowards, John W. Harbert, Isaac Baker, Absolom Funk. Several of the lots offered at auction on July 4 were not disposed at that time but were sold at later dates, as shown by deeds of record.
The block which had been set aside for the site of the court house, bounded by Main, Jefferson, Center and Washington streets, was not all held out from the sale, but two lots fronting on Jefferson street were sold, that at Jefferson and Center to James Latta for. $16, and that at Jefferson and Main to M. L. Covell, who paid $80 for this and four other lots. The buyers of these two lots afterward disposed of them to other parties, and finally the county commissioners purchased the lots for the county, the Latta lot for $100 in 1847, the Covell lots for $210 in 1849. Thus the entire square became county property.
The young county seat had a steady growth at first, and by 1836 had à population of 450 people. It was the center of trade for all the settlements in McLean County. The country around was farmed after
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a crude fashion, wooden plows being more common than iron, and wheat was cut with a sickle. Markets were distant and not of easy access. Stock, mostly hogs, were allowed to run almost wild, and driven long distance to market. The town had a comparatively slow growth until the advent of railroads in the '50's gave it a new impetus.
The history of Bloomington township and the city of Bloomington were so closely interwoven as to be inseparable for many years. More of the details of the growth of the city is given under its proper heading. The territory of the original town or village was approximately one mile square. It was incorporated as a village in 1843 and elected trustees until 1850, when it was organized as a city with mayor and aldermen. The city council thereafter made many additions to the city.
The city was finally divorced from Bloomington township, when in 1911 the voters of the city voted favorably on the proposed organization of the township of the city of Bloomington, whose boundaries should be co-extensive with the city limits. This left a strip of land lying on three sides of the city which is now known as Bloomington township. The cutting off from this outlying township of much of its revenue by trans- ferring all the taxable property of the city to the township of the city of Bloomington, left Bloomington township much handicapped from a financial standpoint. Normal Township also lost by the change, for part of the Normal township lay inside the city limits of Bloomington. Since the date of this reorganization, the city and township have been governed jointly, very little difference being made in the procedure except as to the collection of taxes.
The part of the former Bloomington township which was left after the organization of the township of the city of Bloomington maintains its township government, with school trustees, highway commissioners and other necessary officers. Its business relates mostly to roads and school affairs. It is handicapped in many ways by smallness of its reve- nues due to the exclusion of a large portion of its taxable property from the present township by the formation of the city township. The pres- ent supervisor of Bloomington township is George W. Knight.
Blue Mounds Township .- This township, consisting entirely of prai- rie land, takes its name from a ridge which was to be seen in the early days located in section 28, but which is now not visible from a distance
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owing to the obstructions of hedges, orchards, etc. Being prairie, the . township was not settled until a later period than sections of the county which had timber. The land composing the township was largely govern- ment or railroad lands, which were held off the market for some years after settlements had been made elsewhere. The first settler was sup- posed to have been Thomas Arnold, who located in 1853 on section 27. In the next year came J. S. Stagner and W. L. Burton and others. There were several farms taken up before the years 1857 and 1858, when the general panic and failure of the wheat crop bankrupted many farmers. James H. Doyle was the first supervisor when the township was organized in 1858, and David Wheeler was supervisor when the civil war broke out. Many soldiers went into the army from this township, but owing to there being no postoffice their enlistments were credited to other townships. After the close of the civil war was the great rush of settlers, and most of the farms were taken up by 1867, many by returning soldiers, who married and established homes.
When the Kankakee branch of the Illinois Central road was built in 1884, it resulted in establishing two villages or grain shipping points. One was Cooksville on the eastern border, the other Fletcher, on the western. Cooksville was named after F. W. Koch of Bloomington, who owned land in the vicinity. The German form of the name was anglicized. The village was incorporated in 1901 with about 300 inhabitants. Blue Mound township possesses on an average about the best prairie soil in the county, and its farms are prosperous and well kept of late years in spite of early hardships. Money Creek flows through the southwestern part of the township, while two small streams unite in the northeast and flow into the Mackinaw river.
Cheney's Grove Township .- Jonathan Cheney, who with his family had lived at Blooming Grove, set out to find another location in 1825, and decided to build his home at another grove to the north and east. This grove of 3,000 acres of timber ever after took the name of Cheney, and his home became the center of the new settlement which grew into a township and the town of Saybrook. The grove is located at the head- waters of the Sangamon river, which flows through it and makes a de- lightful place in pioneer times or the present. Until about the year 1829, the Cheneys were the only settlers at this grove, but in the latter year
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came James Van Scoyoc and the Robert Cunningham family, followed the next year by the Means, Riggs and Myers and the Ball families. During the year of the Black Hawk war, 1832, some of the families were removed to locations farther east in Champaign County, for the sake of safety. The settlement grew in permanent character, and many of the families intermarried. The land of part of this township is not as rich and deep as some of the other black soil townships. Being hilly and roll- ing, it suffered from hard rains. The settlers in the early years had to go long distances for their milling and supplies, to Bloomington or Mack- inawtown, or eastward to the Wabash river, since most of the mills of the time were run by water. A village called Saybrook was established, but it had a very slow growth in the first years, until after the railroad was built in 1871. Robert Cunningham built a grist mill and a saw mill on the banks of Sangamon, but the flow of water was uncertain. In 1850 he changed to steam power. The postoffice which was established in 1831 under the name of Cheney's Grove was changed to Saybrook in 1865. The Methodist church and school board united and built a two- story building along in the '60's.
Cheney's Grove furnished many soldiers for the civil war, and one company recruited here became Co. F of the 116th Illinois. In the world war the township furnished its full quota of soldiers for every branch of service.
A new era dawned for Cheney's Grove when the charter for the rail- road was obtained from the legislature in 1867 through the efforts of W. H. Cheney, son of Jonathan Cheney, who was then state senator. Senator Cheney was elected in 1865 to fulfill out the unexpired term of Isaac Funk, who died that year. Cheney defeated Col. John McNulta, who ran as an independent republican. Cheney tried to get the road built through. the south side of the grove near his own farm. By the gift of $10,000 from the village of Saybrook and $50,000 from the township, a station was secured for Saybrook, deflecting the line to the south a con- siderable distance from a straight line. After the railroad was built, Saybrook had a more rapid growth than formerly, and became one of the flourishing towns of the county, in spite of several bad fires it experienced.
Saybrook's business section is among the best built of any town in . the county. It has several large brick structures of two and three stories. Flourishing lodges of Masons and Odd Fellows are located here, and a live
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
post of the American Legion. The churches are the United Brethren, Methodist and Christian. The school system includes a community high school and the grades, with a gymnasium in a separate building where basketball and other sports are carried on. There is a live Parent-Teach- ers' Association. Two live clubs for women are the Fortnightly and the Progressive Literary club. They are both devoted to serious studies. The little park in the center of the city is the scene of annual chautau- quas, band concerts and other public entertainments. The Weekly Ga- zette supplies Saybrook and vicinity with readable weekly news, con- ducted by Frank Woolley. J. S. Harper, a veteran newspaper man of McLean County, made his home at Saybrook for many years. The city has a volunteer fire department of ten men, with horse-drawn gasoline pump for equipment. In case of emergencies, water from the railroad tanks can be used.
Chenoa Township .- The name of this township was meant for Che- mowa, which Matthew T. Scott, its earliest settler, gave it. He came from Kentucky, and Chenowa was the Indian name of Kentucky and he be- stowed it upon his new settlement. The postoffice department made a mistake in first noting the name, leaving out the "w", and refused ever afterward to correct it, hence Chenoa was the word that stuck. The prairie lands of Chenoa Township long remained unsettled after other portions were taken up. The Chicago & Alton railroad having been built through the township in 1854, settlers began to come after that. By 1856 there were rumors of a new road to be built east and west. Matthew T. Scott, a young man from Kentucky, had taken up a large tract of land in the vicinity, and he wanted to found a town where the new road would cross the Chicago & Alton. To locate the spot, he went east and found engineers running lines. Being an amateur engineer, he was able to calculate about the place where the line would reach the Alton road, and there he took up land and laid it out in town blocks. Meantime, another man, W. M. Hamilton, formerly a friend of Mr. Scott, started a rival town east on his own land lying considerably east of the Scott tract. The Hamilton plat was called "East Chenoa." The latter plat became the more popular section of the town for residences. In 1854, J. B. Lenney, then living in Pennsylvania, was informed by friends living along the Mackinaw river that there was a good site for a town at the new railroad
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
crossing. He sent his brother-in-law, John Bush, to erect a building there for store and shop, but after arrival Bush was dissuaded from building. Next year Mr. Lenney himself arrived and put up the building which became known as the Farmers' Store, west of the Alton and south of the T. P. & W. tracks. Mr. Bush erected a building for a hotel known as the Bush House, and Mr. Lenney put up a residence in "East Chenoa." John M. Bryant built the "National Hotel" in 1856. The first drug store was built back of the Bush House in 1857 by Dr. Stevenson, the first practic- ing physician. In the same year George Lounsberry built a blacksmith shop and he with Louis Ziegler erected a wagon shop. The first depot was built on the Wye, some distance north of the present one, and occu- pied by Samuel Emery as a hotel along with the station uses. But it caught fire while the first meal was being prepared and burned down. The town was organized in Aug., 1864, and elected J. B. Lenney as presi- dent, Thomas Sandham as clerk, and R. C. Rollins as treasurer. The town's charter of 1868 forbade sale of liquors within the village, but in 1873, the place was incorporated under the general law for towns and villages, which permitted saloons, resulting in Chenoa having saloons for many years when other towns of the county were without them. The first mayor under the city corporation was J. R. Snyder. In fixing the boundaries of the town, the board included the plats of both Chenoa as laid out on the Scott land and East Chenoa on the Hamilton land, with the territory lying between. The election on organization as a city was held Aug. 5, 1873, with 150 votes cast for it and 18 against. Chenoa has many churches. The Presbyterians organized a congregation in 1860, the Catholics in 1863, and the Methodists built a church in 1867. A Con- gregational church was organized July 21, 1867. The Masons formed a lodge in Chenoa in 1859, and The Times was started as the first news- paper in 1867 by Silas P. Dryer and James McMurtrie. Chenoa now has a population of 2,000, has many good business buildings, a fine school house, many blocks of paved streets, a modern brick railroad station and one newspaper, the Times-Clipper, edited by W. H. Hawthorne.
The township of Chenoa formerly comprised the territory now in- cluded in Yates Township, which was later separated and formed a sepa- rate organization. Being located within a mile of the Livingston County line, much of the trade of Chenoa is drawn from Livingston. The farms were taken up in large tracts in the early days, and even yet much of the
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
land is farmed by tenants rather than by owners. The estate of Mat- thew T. Scott still owns a large tract of land, Mr. Scott having left it to his widow, Mrs. Julia G. Scott, who died in 1923.
Chenoa at present is a modern little city, having much pavement, good schools and other advantages. It is on the main line of the Illini trail state hard road. It has several churches and one newspaper con- ducted by W. H. Hawthorne. The Roman Catholic church was built in 1869, the Baptist church founded in 1866 and the Methodist church the same year. One of the strongest Congregationalist churches in the county existed there for many years, and there was a Presbyterian church also. Chenoa has suffered much from fires, having been swept by sev- eral which were very destructive.
Chenoa adopted the commission form of city government in 1916, and in April, 1917, held its first election for commissioners. Park C. Gil- lespie was elected mayor over John H. Ketcham, and the commissioners elected were W. A. Chapman, C. F. Churchill, S. T. King and L. J. Schultz. The second election for mayor and commissioners was held in 1919, when the following were elected: Mayor, W. A. Chapman; commissioners, Jacob Balbach, B. F. Elfrink, L. L. Silliman and T. W. Weatherwax. In the quadrennial election of 1923, Mayor Chapman was re-elected, and Messrs. Balbach, Silliman, Elfrink and Weatherwax were also chosen again. The city clerk in 1923 is F. M. Power, the treasurer V. L. Nickel, and the police magistrate is M. F. Quinn. The 1923 supervisor for Che- noa was V. L. Nickel.
Cropsey Township .- Col. A. J. Cropsey came to this county in 1854 from Joliet and settled in the northeasternmost part, which was named Cropsey Township in his honor. It was nine miles by six, in 1877, the six miles to the south was cut off and named Anchor township, leaving Cropsey only half a township in extent. After a short residence in Crop- sey, Col. Cropsey moved to Fairbury, where he became an influential citizen and was elected to the Legislature. In the Civil War he became major of the 129 Illinois regiment, which was made up in Livingston County. However, many of the enlisted boys were from McLean County. Being far removed from the county seat, the people of Cropsey in 1858 sought connection with Ford County, but the project was voted down by the voters of other sections of McLean County. In the year 1877
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