USA > Illinois > McLean County > History of McLean County, Illinois, Volume I > Part 6
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Hudson Township .- The township and village of Hudson took their names from Hudson, New York, which had formerly been the home of some of the men who organized a colony and entered most of the land
SCENE ON ADAMS BRANCH, LEXINGTON TOWNSHIP.
COUNTRY CLUB, BLOOMINGTON
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which comprised this township. The very earliest settlers of the vicin- ity were Bailey Harbert, his son-in-law, Richard Gross, and Mosby Har- bert, who arrived here probably in 1828 or '29. Jesse Havens came in 1830, from Blooming Grove, and bought out the claims of the earlier settlers. Havens had been a soldier of 1812 and served as county com- missioner after his settlement in this county. His son, Hiram Havens, grew to be a leading citizen. David Trimmer was the first blacksmith of the neighborhood. The Illinois Land Association, organized at Jackson- ville, in Feb., 1836, entered large tracts of land in this township in the names of Horatio N. Pettit, one of the three charter members, the other two being John Gregory and George F. Durkitt. This was one of the many colonization schemes which flourished about that time as land speculating enterprises. Each member paid $235, for which he was to receive 160 acres of land, four lots in the town of Hudson and a share in the net profits of the whole scheme. Some timber land was also prom- ised to each, but finding a limited amount of timber to give out, caused discontent among members of the colony. Some left, but of those who remained there were Pettit and Gregory, John Magoun, James H. Robin- son, Oliver March, James and Joseph Gildersleeve, Jacob Burtis and Sam- uel P. Cox. The colony had got a good start when the panic of 1837 hit it, and things were at a standstill until about 1850. Among the buildings erected at the start was a frame structure used as school house and church. The first preacher was John Dunham, a United Brethren mis- sionary. Rev. James Latta organized the first Methodist church. The German Baptists or Dunkards also had a congregation here. The first man buried in the township was Solomon Lewis, a soldier of Captain Brown's company en route from Danville to the Black Hawk war. The company camped here, Lewis was taken sick and died at the house of Jesse Havens. The houses built by the Hudson colonists were of frame, in contrast to log houses erected in other settlements. This required sawed lumber, and a saw mill was among the first structures erected. J. Moats erected such a mill in 1836, and George Mason built a grist mill on the Mackinaw. Among the earlier settlers aside from those compos- ing the colony, were James Smith, who removed here from Smith's Grove in Towanda Township, Benjamin Wheeler, the Hinthorns, Elijah Priest, Isaac Messer and Isaac Turnipseed.
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The village of Hudson was laid out Aug. 13, 1836, by Horatio Pettit. The main street was laid out 120 feet broad, and other streets 80 feet wide. When the Illinois Central Railroad was built it passed through the township and the village, going along one side of the main street, or "Broadway." A celebration was held at Hudson under auspices of the McLean County Historical Society, at which time a boulder was set mark- ing the site of the last camping ground of the Pottawatomie Indians in that vicinity. It stands just at the turn of the road in front of F. A. Carrothers' residence. Mrs. Carrothers was a Havens.
Lawndale Township is made up of rich prairie lands and contains many excellent farms. The settlement of the township took place between 1851 and 1854, when emigrants bought lands from the government. Hon. John Cassedy, one of the early settlers and members of the Legislature, was the one who suggested the name, the land suggesting to his mind a great lawn. Cassedy was a man of great stature and equally great brain, a marked character of his time and station. Henline Creek, which crosses the township and flows into the Mackinaw, was named for John Henline, who settled here in 1828. He with his three sons, David, Will- iam and Martin, were the only settlers living here at the time of the deep snow. By the year 1832, when the Black Hawk war broke out, there were many settlers living in Lawndale, Martin and Lexington townships. They banded together and built a stockade and block house for mutual protec- tion against roving bands of hostile Indians. Jacob Spawr, an early set- tler, says this stockade was about six rods long and four rods wide. Mc- Lean County at that time extended beyond the present site of Pontiac, and was almost on the Indian frontier. Some of the settlers being in ter- ror of the unknown extent and ferocity of the Indians, fled the country and went back east. The only known Indian band in this immediate vicinity at that time were the "praying Indians" of the Kickapoo tribe, then located at Oliver's Grove in what is now Livingston County. This fear of them caused the government to remove them west of the Mis- sissippi River in September of that year. This panic over supposed In- dian dangers probably lost the county many permanent residents at that time, some leaving never to return.
While Lawndale Township contains no town or village, the town of Colfax is within a half mile of the township line and forms the trading
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center for Lawndale residents. Anchor and Lexington also furnish con- venient trading places.
Lexington Township .- Indians still had their villages in this town- ship when the first white settlers came, one band of Kickapoos being located near where Selma was afterward, and the Delawares with a band farther up the Mackinaw. In 1828 several white men arrived, including Conrad Flesher, John Haner and his sons, Jacob, John and William; Isaac and Joseph Brumhead. John Patton and family' reached the settlement next spring, having wintered near the home of John W. Dawson at Bloom- ing Grove. When Patton arrived he found the deserted wigwams of the Kickapoos, who had moved out. The Indians came back in the summer, but found their habitations occupied by white men. The red men stayed around the vicinity all summer and helped Patton build his first cabin. In the fall they removed to Livingston County to remain. Patton's house was turned into a block house or fort during the Black Hawk War, but no Indians attacked it. Valentine Spawr and Milton Smith were the next additions to the settlement. The latter became a prominent citizen and member of the county commissioners' court. The Mackinaw River and its surrounding timber proved an attraction to settlers and several mills were early built along the stream. William Haner, John Patton, John Haner and Harrison Foster were those who erected grist and saw mills. Patrick Hopkins was a newcomer about 1831 and he became well known. He and General Bartholomew made a noted trip to the Indian settlement at Oliver's Grove in Livingston County, to see if the Indians were dis- posed to be hostile. Instead, they were given a friendly greeting. Hop- kins was in demand by Judge Davis as a juryman and served many times in different court houses. James R. Dawson arrived at about the time of the Black Hawk war and he became county commissioner in 1845.
Lexington Township had two villages, one of which survived, the other passed away. The village of Lexington was laid out by James Brown and Asahel Gridley in 1837, taking its name from Lexington, Ky. The panic of 1837 struck the town as it did everything else, and it got a slow start. Jacob Spawr, who was born in January, 1802, in Pennsylvania, settled here in 1826, and located in Money Creek. He lived in the vicinity of Lexington until his death on Aug. 20, 1902, having attained the remark- able age of 100 years, six months and 26 days. Spawr's tavern was a
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favorite stopping place for lawyers and others going from one county court to another, and among the other guests at the place was Abraham Lincoln on several occasions. The village of Lexington began its pros- perity when the Chicago & St. Louis Railroad was built through the place. Noah Franklin and his bride rode to Bloomington on the first train that ran through the village. Franklin and Long built a hotel, and among the early merchants were J. C. Mahan, George Dement, and men by the name of Gregory and Knotts. Soon after the village was incorporated on July 12, 1855, the citizens held a public meeting to denounce intemperance and take measures to put the rum sellers out of business. There were two of them, Edward Gleason and Albert Hancock. They set a price upon their stocks, which sum was raised by public donations, and the liquors then emptied upon the streets. No liquor was afterward sold in Lexington for many years. William M. Smith, a prominent resident of Lexington and member of the Legislature, secured the passage of a law giving power to the town council to prohibit the sale of liquors. At- tempts to incorporate under the general law were defeated until 1901, when the change was made and Lexington had licensed saloons until prohibited under the local option law in 1914. There were three saloons in 1907 each paying $1,200 annual license. William M. Smith was per- haps Lexington's most distinguished citizen for many years, being legis- lator, speaker of the House, and member of the Railroad Commission. Bernard Claggett, another resident of Lexington, was Democratic candi- date for State Treasurer on one occasion. He afterward moved to Okla- homa and died there. W. M. Claggett, of Lexington, was superintendent of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Normal for several years and was very successful in the position. Lexington always had progressive schools and churches. The United Brethren, Methodists and Baptists were the earlier denominations. The Christian Church later organized a congre- gation, and the Catholics also formed a church there.
The town in Lexington Township which once was and is not now, was Pleasant Hill, in section 21, which was laid out in 1840 by Isaac Smalley. It had a fine location and good prospects until the location of the Chicago & Alton Railroad left it isolated, when it began to go backward. Mr. Smalley tried to get the proposed east and west line, the Peoria & Oquawka road, to pass his town, but he died before success crowned his
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effort, and when the road was finally built it ran considerably north of Pleasant Hill. Only one or two buildings now mark the site of the village.
Lexington held a notable celebration on July 4, 1901, when a meeting under the auspices of the McLean County Historical Society commemo- rated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the settlement of the upper Macki- naw. Hon. Lawrence Y. Sherman was the speaker of the occasion, and Joseph Spawr, then in his 100th year, was the guest of honor. Governor Fifer, Judge Tipton and others gave talks, and at night there was a con- cert and fireworks in the city park.
Lexington Township made the first attempt at making hard surfaced roads in McLean County. Using the beds of gravel that abound in the township, the road commissioners in 1887 began hauling it to the roads forming a central bed ten feet wide with earth roads at the side. It cost about $1,200 a mile and served the purpose of travel in wet weather bet- ter than any other form of improved highway in the county up to that time. Thirty miles of such road was constructed in the township.
Lexington people have always believed in education, and have now two as substantial schools as can be found in any place of similar size. The primitive churches have given way to beautiful and substantial edi- fices. Lexington has one of the best town parks in the county. The public library is one of the things of which Lexington is proud, being well supplied with books and also serving as a public meeting place. The busi- ness district is well built, mostly of brick buildings two and three stories in height. It is electrically lighted, with some paved streets and sewer systems. It is a fine trading center and is well known as a grain and stock shipping point. The city has two banks and one weekly newspaper, the Unit-Journal, edited by Miss Florence Wright.
Martin Township .- This township took its name from Dr. E. Mar- tin, of Bloomington, who owned a tract of 1,700 acres in the township. The land is largely prairie, with originally about 1,040 acres of timber. The Mackinaw River runs west along the northern tier of sections, and here most of the timber is located. One grove was known many years as Funk's Bunch, being on a tract of 1,000 acres which Isaac Funk owned. It was later sold to Peter Harpole and the timber became known as Har- pole's Grove. William and L. R. Wiley, brothers, bought land near the
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Mackinaw in 1835, partly located in Lawndale and some of it in Martin Township. Curtis Batterton came about 1837, both he and the Wileys being from Kentucky. Martin Batterton bought land on the north side of the Mackinaw in Lawndale Township. The Batterton and Wileys were hunters and spent much time in trying to exterminate the wolves which prayed on the stock. Deer were found in the vicinity as late as 1865. When the rush for prairie land was on from 1865 to 1870, most of the tracts in Martin Township were taken up. Martin long sought to secure a railroad when the new lines were being platted across this part of the state. It failed in the effort to get the extension of the Wabash south from Forrest, for the line was built through Gibson to Decatur. But the Clinton, Bloomington & Southwestern, now known as the Kankakee branch of the Illinois Central, was built from the northeast into the township and for two years had its terminus at the new town of Colfax. This town boomed at first, being platted on W. G. Anderson's land. A coal mine was soon started and continued in operation for many years, but finally discontinued. It was 200 feet deep and had a two-foot vein.
The village of Colfax was incorporated in 1880, and from the start was growing and prosperous. There was a large amount of grain shipped through the three elevators located there. The business district was laid out on a wide street, and the residences were of substantial and mod- ern character. It has always had schools of a high grade for the size of the town, and modern school facilities have been provided. There are several churches. For many years the question of "license" or "no li- cense" formed the main question at the local elections, but finally saloons disappeared under the state local option plan of voting and then by the enactment of national prohibition.
The news of Colfax and vicinity is purveyed by the Colfax Press, edited by H. C. Van Alstyne, and this paper has a page devoted to news of Anchor and vicinity. The mercantile interests of Colfax are varied, and it has one bank and one modern moving picture theater.
Money Creek Township .- The township takes the name of the creek which enters its borders near the southwestern corner and passes to the northwest. The Mackinaw River crosses its northeast corner. Being well supplied with water and timber land, the township was settled very early, Lewis Sowards arriving here in 1825. Jacob Harness came about
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the same time and Jacob Spawr in 1826. Being accustomed to the wild life of the frontier, Sowards moved to Wisconsin when his neighbors be- came too "thick"-that is, when there were several within a few miles of him. Gen. Joseph Bartholomew was perhaps the most distinguished of the early settlers of this township, coming here from Bartholomew County, Ind., in 1830. He had a distinguished military record in the Revolutionary War, in the Indian wars that followed and was an officer in the battle of Tippecanoe, where he was wounded. He was a distin- guished citizen of Indiana, when he met financial reverses and emigrated to Illinois to attempt to recuperate his fortunes. When the Black Hawk War was on in 1832, the people of this sparsely settled county were in fear of attacks by the red men, hence sent General Bartholomew to the Indian village in Livingston County to learn the real intentions of the Indians. They met a friendly reception, and their report served to allay many of the fears among the settlers of this county. Nevertheless, General Bartholomew believed in "preparedness," hence he advised the building of rude forts or block houses as means of defense. One such was erected at the home of John Patton near Selma in Lexington Township and the Henlines also erected one. General Bartholomew and his son Marston laid out the village of Clarksville on July 13, 1836. In a few years it had grown to quite a town, with a hotel, store, shoe shop, carding mill, cabinet shop and saloon, there being about twenty buildings. Gen- eral Bartholomew died in 1840, leaving his plans for bridging the Macki- naw River incomplete, and the town of Clarksville gradually lost prestige and population until there are only two buildings left on its site. Always interested in public affairs, General Bartholomew took an active part in the campaign of 1840 for his friend and old commander, Gen. William Henry Harrison. His exertions in the campaign resulted in his collapse and death on Nov. 2 that year. Many mills were built in Money Creek Township in the early days, but none of them remain. Among the pro- prietors of these mills were George W. Wallis, Adam Hinthorn, W. G. Bishop. There is one village in the township, Fifer by name, but it has no postoffice. United Brethren and Methodist churches were organized in the township, but only two U. B. churches remain at present, people of other denominations going to Towanda or Lexington. The C. & A. rail- road crosses a corner of this township, but there is no station in the township.
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Mt. Hope Township .- Another of the townships of the county which was settled mainly by a colonization scheme. Located in the southwest- ern part of the county, it contains 48 sections of land, of which 940 acres were originally timber. Among its earlier settlers was William Johnson, who located at a grove on Sugar Creek named in honor of him. He was justice of the peace and county commissioner 1837-40. Among the other early settlers of the region were Phillip Cline, James Murphy, Jacob Moore, John and Robert Longworth, Daniel Proctor, Ezra Kenyon and Nicholas Darnell.
The Mt. Hope colony was formed in Rhode Island in 1835 with $12,500 in capital and composed of many men of means and intelligence. It was proposed that each one's share in the new settlement would be 320 acres of land and four lots in the village of Mt. Hope. Twenty-two sections, 14,000 acres, were entered, and the village of Mt. Hope laid out. There were 6,000 acres also held in trust for the general purposes of the col- ony. Fifteen families formed the advance guard of the colony in the spring of 1837, coming by way of New York, Pittsburgh, down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis, then by wagon to this county. The settlers soon established their distinctive New England institutions, the school house, Thanksgiving day and the Congregational church. How- ever, owing to the hard times of that period, the colony had rough sled- ding and lost many of its original members. In 1845 the trust lands were sold at $3 to $5 per acre. A proposed railroad from Pekin to Blooming- ton along in the '40's was never built, and the hopes of this colony for a railroad were deferred till the building of the Chicago & Alton road in 1853, which had a station at McLean. The township of Mt. Hope was organized in 1858 with Daniel Windsor as first supervisor. The village was laid out by Franklin Price, former mayor of Bloomington, in June, 1855. Among the first settlers in the village were G. L. and F. A. Wheelock, E. G. Clark, John Kellogg, H. W. Wood, and Dr. F. P. King. The Wheelocks and Wood opened stores. The first postmaster was John Goodhue. Early grain buyers were A. H. Dillon and Mark Marions, J. S. and G. P. Barber. The grain elevator erected in 1868 by C. C. Aldrich was conducted by him many years and now belongs to his son, Frank W. Aldrich. Many saw and grist mills were built in this township in the early days, but all of them eventually were abandoned, the latest survivor being Moore's grist mill on Sugar creek in Johnson's grove,
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built about 1840. Schools and churches were among the first institu- tions of the Mt. Hope colony, the first school being in the village of Mt. Hope. There are now four churches in McLean, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and Christian. The town has one newspaper, the McLean Lens, published by Crihfield from Atlanta. Mt. Hope Township is the center of the chief dairying industry of McLean County, there being several farmers who keep large dairy herds. Snow & Palmer of Bloomington is the principal distributing means for the milk and cream. Barnes & Tudor and Leach & Sons are two others dairying firms.
The village of McLean has one of the best community high schools in the county, it having been completed in 1921 at a cost of $200,000. The grade schools are housed in good substantial buildings. Practically all lines of trade are represented in the stores of the village. A fine little park in the center of the town adds to its beauty and utility.
Normal Township .- The boundaries of Normal Township and the city of Bloomington formerly overlapped each other, that part of the city of Bloomington between Empire and Division Streets being located within Normal Township. This made a confusing state of affairs espe- cially in election precincts. This was remedied in the year when the voters of Bloomington organized the township of the city of Blooming- ton, whose boundaries were co-extensive with the city limits. Normal Township thus lost some of its territory and population.
Jesse W. Fell, who located his home on a high rise of ground north of the then city of Bloomington in 1833, began at once to secure public improvements for his neighborhood. When the crossing place of the two new railroads, the Illinois Central and the Chicago & St. Louis, was fixed, the site was first called the "Junction," and later North Bloom- ington. Jesse Fell early conceived the idea of locating here some kind of educational institution, and when on June 15, 1854, a sale of lots was held at North Bloomington, one block was named "Seminary Block." Being a strong temperance man, Mr. Fell provided in every deed for a lot sold that no liquor should be sold on that lot, thus establishing the new town as an anti-liquor community. In 1867 on a petition of the people of Normal, this prohibition was enacted into special statutory form. Pursuing his intention to secure an educational institution, Mr. Fell went to work after a convention of educators held in Bloomington on
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Dec. 26, 1853, had decided in favor of founding a state institution for the training of teachers, and this had been followed by a bill passed by the Legislature on February 18, 1857, providing for such a training school. Mr. Fell, Prof. D. Wilkins and others started in to gather funds for mak- ing an offer for the location of the normal training school at "North Bloomington." They were successful, making a much better bid than Peoria, their nearest competitor, and the State Normal University was thus founded and located here. In honor of the new school, the name of the Junction was changed from North Bloomington to Normal, and the township was likewise named. The change officially took place April 6, 1858. Mr. Fell had for many years after his first settlement here been busy in planting trees, and hence when the state committee to locate the normal school visited this new community they saw in it possibilities for great future beauty. This was one of the deciding factors in the location of the new school. The lands of Normal Township had originally been rich black prairie.
A second state institution was secured for Normal in 1867, when through the generosity of Jesse Fell, Judge Davis and others, the Sol- diers' Orphans' Home was located here.
Normal has been from its beginning a center of the nursery industry in Illinois. Jesse W. Fell had a nursery of limited extent, while along from 1855 to '59 Cyrus R. Overman conducted a nursery in company with his brother-in-law, Capt. W. H. Mann, a veteran of the 94th Illinois and father of the famous congressman, James Mann, who died in 1923. The F. X. Phoenix nurseries were famous in their day, and later Capt. Henry Augustine conducted a large nursery, which is now owned by his son, A. M. Augustine and run under the name of the Augustine Nursery Co. George J. Foster, H. K. Vickroy and B. J. Vandervoort were other nurserymen of later years.
The town of Normal was incorporated in 1865 under the general law. The first trustees were L. A. Hovey, Wesley Pierce, D. P. Fyffe, John A. Rockwood and S. J. Reeder. For many years the town struggled under the handicap of lack of paved streets, but some fifteen years ago, under the mayorship of O. L. Manchester, an era of improvement struck the citizens and practically every principal street of the town was paved before they stopped. Broadway, which is a boulevard, is one of the hand- somest drives to be found in any town of the state. Two of the state
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