USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 45
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The next meeting set up was at Hopewell and a house was built in 1848, and then at Pilot Grove about the same year. Ridge Farm, Carol and Georgetown meetings were established later. Sabbath schools were early established in all the meetings and reading and spelling were the branches taught. Later the Bible became the text-book. The quarterly meeting was begun in 1863 in that memorable year of the Civil war. The Vermilion meeting house being too small for the accommodation of the crowds that gathered at these times, was enlarged the same year and stood as a landmark for all the country around, until its place was taken by the splendid new brick structure which was built in 1884.
The quarterly meeting is now composed of eight monthly meetings with a total membership of one thousand eight hundred members. All of these meet- ings are not in Vermilion County, but all have sprung from this central point.
Friends have always believed in education as a means of uplifting humanity. and provisions were early made for schools. The first school was a subscrip- tion school taught by Reuben Black, who came from Ohio, in 1824-5. It was in a log house one mile west of Vermilion Grove. There were fourteen children on roll and the branches taught were reading, writing and spelling. Among others whose names are mentioned as early teachers were Elijah Yea- ger, Henry Fletcher and Elisha Hobbs. In 1849 the people got up a subscrip- tion to build a new house, but could not raise the money, so David and Elvin Haworth and William Canaday with the help of some others, built what was called Vermilion Seminary, in 1850, a building thirty by fifty-two, with two recitation rooms and supplied with proper desks and furniture. They employed J. M. Davis as principal and school opened with one hundred and ten students. This school continued for many years and prospered. The standard of educa- tion was held high, and as a result the Academy was founded in 1874. This
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was really a continuation of the old seminary, which disappeared with the advent of free schools. The present two-story brick building was erected at a cost of eight thousand dollars. A peoples' endowment of ten thousand dol- lars was raised. William Rees, John Henderson, Richard Mendenhall, John Elliott, Jonah M. Davis and Elvin Haworth were the first board of trustees. Edwin Harney was first principal. The school is under control of Vermilion quarterly meeting of Friends church, but it is not sectarian. The location of the academy is a very beautiful one, in a natural grove of three acres which was donated to the school by Thomas Hester, father of the late William Hester. Other liberal donations have been made to the institution, among which was the donation by Elvin Haworth of all his property, including a splendid farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres close by. A movement is on foot at the present to increase the endowment ten thousand dollars more, which if accomplished, will put the school on a splendid financial basis. The quarterly meeting is proud of her school and liberally patronizes the institution.
Such is the history of Friends from their beginning in Elwood township and Vermilion township and Vermilion County. Many points of interest are necessarily omitted, but we feel sure that the points mentioned will be of in- terest to many.
CHARLES W. WARNER
WILLIAM R. JEWELL
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE VERMILION COUNTY PRESS.
The first paper published in Vermilion County was printed at Danville, in 1832. It was started by Mr. Williams and R. H. Bryant. It was a democratic organ. This paper was supported for a few years and then Mr. Williams sold to Bryant who took in Mr. Loveless as a partner. Later he sold to Mr. Delay. After a while Mr. Bryant bought it back and moved the paper to Milwaukee, Wis.
The Danville News was established in 1873, and in 1874 passed under the control of the Illinois Printing Company. It was issued as a weekly paper for two years when the daily edition was established. The daily News was in continuous existence until it was consolidated with the Commercial in June, 1893. Mr. W. R. Jewell was editor of the paper during these twenty years.
The Danville Weekly Post was established in Danville in 1878, by Jacobs & Thompson. It was the only democratic paper in the county for some time and had a large circulation. The Danville Commercial was established in 1879 by the banking and real estate firm of Short & Wright. The editor of this paper was P. D. Hammond. In 1867 Mr. J. G. Kingsbury became the editorial asso- ciate of Mr. Hammond. At that same date Mr. Wright retired from the firm and Abraham Sandushy and Andrew Gundy went into the firm thereafter to bc known as John C. Short & Co. The Plaindealer was another paper previously es- tablished which the Commercial bought in 1867. In a short time the name of Plain- dealer was dropped from the title of the paper it being merged into the Commercial.
In 1878 the Danville Times which had hitherto been a bright paper under the management of A. G. Smith was merged into the Commercial and from that time the Daily Danville Commercial was a paper of the county until in 1893 when it was consolidated with the Danville News and has since been known as the Commercial News.
The Danville Press was established in 1885 and was the organ of the democratic party in Vermilion County for years, or until the split in the ranks of that party made another paper expedient. The Danville Democrat was then established in 1898 and soon became the paper most popular because of its worth without regard to its political bias. In 1907 these two papers were con- solidated and now the organ of the democratic party is the Press Democrat.
In 1873 the Rossville Observer was established by Mr. Moore. It was re- publican at first but in 1876 went with the Greenback cause. Mr. Moore continued
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its publication for three years and then went to Champaign. In 1876 Mr. Cromer commenced the publication of the "Enterprise," a republican paper, and continued it for nearly two years. He then went to Homer. The Marys- ville Independent was established in 1876 by Ben Biddlecome. It was a six column folio, independent in politics and religion, devoted to the news of the day and was well sustained by the business men. This paper was conducted in Vermilion County but a short time, however, when it was removed to Bement.
The Hoopeston Chronicle has been a force in all matters of Vermilion County. It was established by Dale Wallace before there was a business honse finished in Hoopeston and by its spirit, pluck and literary merit did more to ad- vance the interests of Hoopeston than ever can be estimated. The Hoopeston Chronicle was established by Mr. Wallace and G. W. Seaveyon, January 1, 1872. They sold out to L. F. Watson on the first of January, 1877, and on July of the same year Mr. Wallace came into control of it again as sole owner. Mr. Wallace showed his courage while managing the Chronicle to edit a racy, newsy and pungent paper which never showed any halting support nor timid opposition to any measure. The Hoopeston Chronicle has been a power since it was first established. It has lost none of its popularity under the many re- cent years' management of Mr. Charles W. Warner. Mr. Warner bought the Hoopeston Chronicle July 1, 1882. The list of papers published at present in Vermilion County is a long one but there is not one of these which outshines the Hoopeston Chronicle.
The "National Anti-Monopoly Journal" was established by J. M. Clark in 1880. It was succeeded by the "Journal," the "Sentinel," the "News," and finally by the "Herald," under different managements, and is now published by Mrs. Jennie R. Deatrich and her daughter, Miss Natalie Deatrich.
The Rossville "Observer" was established by J. H. Moore I think in 1872, but was discontinued about six years later.
The Rossville "Enterprise" was established by John C. Cromer early in 1876 and was moved to Homer, Champaign County, about the first of October, 1877, where it is still published.
The Rossville "Press" was established by Frank J. ("Tony") Pasteur in 1879. It has lived and has been consolidated with other papers in Rossville several times under several different managements, and is now published by Bert E. Pinkerton.
The publishers for Rossville are J. H. Moore, John C. Cromer, Frank J. Pasteur, George Stout, W. H. Soden, Will S. Dill, J. Gus Lane, William A. Hackman, Perry M. Warner, Ed White and Bert E. Pinkerton.
The Hoopeston publishers, aside from those connected with the Chronicle, are J. M. Clark, Billie Spence, Haven M. Haff, William Fleming, Charles P. Huey, William M. Mathis, George R. Deatrich, Cooper & Green, Lewis A. Smith, S. A. Barnes, E. Eugene Arter, J. J. Pittser, Mrs. Jennie R. Deatrich.
The papers published in Danville at this time are beside those already men- tioned : Danville Bauner (prohibition organ), Danville Record, Deutschic. Zeitung, and the Echo (colored people's organ).
CHAPTER XXXV.
TRANSPORTATION IN VERMILION COUNTY.
STAGE-COACH LINES-RAILROADS-TRACTION SYSTEM.
Earliest means of travel through the county was by way of the stage-coach. These lines were established to accommodate passengers from one point to the other, who otherwise would have to go on horseback, as well as to carry the United States mail. These stage-coach lines followed the state roads north and south and east and west. The mails were carried three times a week and, previous to the established stage-coach lines, were taken on horseback. The old Fort Clark road, or as it had been later by its changed direction, become the Danville and Urbana road, was the course of the east and west line of stage-coaches. The north and south line was on the old Chicago and Vin- cennes highway, which was changed from its original course in 1849. This relocation was made beginning at the south side of North Fork at Gilbert's ford, according to the following field notes of the surveyor: (1) S. 20 E. 1,750 to Coon's Corner ; (2) S. 8 E. 2,000 to Messick's Corner; (3) south 6,500 on line to road. John Demerst and Alvan Gilbert were road viewers at that time. It was in 1832 that a postal route was established from Chicago via Danville to Vincennes, and four years later the one from Danville to Springfield by way of Decatur. This same year, 1836, the third postal route. the one from Danville to Ottawa, was opened. This was the year that shows greatest in- terest in postal routes, since it records not only the one from Danville to Springfield, the one from Danville to Ottawa, but yet another, the one from Indianapolis by way of Danville ( Indiana) Rockville, Montezuma, and New- port to Danville, Illinois.
A few years later another mail route from Springfield to La Fayette was established by way of Danville. These routes were used by the people of Ver- milion County to not only send and receive their mail, but along which they went when occasion demanded, and these were the roads which were used by newcomers into this part of the new west. It was along these roads that all communication with the outside world was made. The eastern limits of the county was several miles from the Wabash river, and when travel along the waterways was made, these intervening miles had to be covered either by horse- back, in a wagon, or by foot.
There was a line of boats from Cincinnati direct to Perrysville and Cov- ington, and which could, in high water, hope to reach La Fayette, in Indiana ;
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but those living in Vermilion County were obliged to take their products to these river towns and haul all merchandise and other commodities back. The whole country as far west as the Sangamon was thus made tributary to, and wholly dependent upon La Fayette, Attica, Covington, Perrysville and Eugene for their supplies. It was not until the railroads were built that this section was released from dependence upon the Wabash river and the canal which ran alongside of it, that Vermilion County had a chance to develop, equal if not superior, to these river towns. To overcome this handicap of being back from the Wabash river, the people of Vermilion County tried to slack-water the Vermilion river and make it navigable to its mouth. Failing in this, they, in company with citizens of other counties, petitioned congress as early as 1831 to grant a strip of land from Vincennes to Chicago, on which to construct a railway.
The outcome of this was the charter secured in 1835 for the Chicago & Vincennes Railway. Among the charter members of this, appear the names of Gurdon S. Hubbard (who had a few years before this taken up his residence in Chicago), John H. Murphy, and Isaac R. Moore, of Danville. This was the first attempt at building a rival to the stage-coach, and it was, for the time being, a failure.
The first competition the stage-coach line had was in the completion of the Wabash Railroad, in 1856. Even then, however, the coach was not abandoned, for the steam car covered but a comparatively small portion of the territory to which the United States mail was carried. The Wabash Railroad was the first steam motor for crossing Vermilion County and now, so extensive has become the railroad in this section, that there is not a township out of the seventeen, that is not touched by one, and in several there are two or three. The county is almost fifty miles long and twenty-five miles wide, and in view of the immense territory it covers, it is remarkable and fortunate that every township should be traversed by a steam highway
Pilot, Blount and Jamaica townships have the poorest railroad accommo- dations, the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. merely clipping off the northwest corner of the former, and the southeast corner of the latter, leaving the greater body of these townships without railroad facilities; yet the towns in Jamaica, in Blount, and Collison in Pilot, are thriving little villages, and are good grain and stock points, thus giving the farmers of these townships fair outlets for their produce. Beginning with Butler township, in the extreme northwest part of the county, there are two railroads; they being the L. E. &. W., and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the "Frisco." Both of these pass almost through the heart of the township-one east and west, and the other northeast and southwest. Grant township has three railroads: the main line of the C. & E. I., the Chicago Southern, and the L. E. & W.
Ross township has practically five railroads. They are the main line of the C. & E. I., the Rossville-Sidell and Judyville branches of the road, the Chicago Southern, and the West Lebanon-Leroy branch of the Illinois Cen- tral. The east side of the township, which runs along the border of Indiana, is also tributary to the Chicago, Indiana & Southern, a division of the Big
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Four. Thus it will be seen that this township is especially favored with rail- roads. Newell township is also well favored with railroads, being penetrated by the main line of the C. & E. I., the Walsh road, the Chicago, Indiana & Southern and the Wabash. There is also a freight road running from Bis- marck to Brewer, this being a branch of the C. & E. I.
Middle Fork township has two railroads, the West Lebanon branch of the Central, and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the "Frisco." Oakwood town- ship has two railroads, and the main line of the Illinois Traction system. The Peoria division of the Big Four passes through the township from east to west, as does the traction line, while the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. runs through north and south. Vance township has two roads-the Wa- bash and the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. The latter road split- ting the line between Vance and Catlin, can be claimed by both.
Catlin township has three railroads, counting the road from Rossville to Sidell, and the trolley line. The Wabash angles through the township front the northeast to the south and west, while the Danville-Villa Grove division of the C. & E. I. cuts off the southeast corner. Carroll township has the Danville- Villa Grove division of the C. & E. I., and is also touched by the Rossville- Sidell branch of the same line, making it tributary to two roads. Sidell town- ship has three railroads, counting both divisions of the C. & E. I. and the Sidell and Olney branch of the C. H. & D.
Georgetown township has two steam and one trolley line. The Cairo divi- sion of the Big Four passes through the heart of the township, and the Dan- ville-Villa Grove division cuts off the northeast corner of the same. Elwood township has the Cairo division of the Big Four, the Clover Leaf, and the Illinois Traction System's lines. Love township, in the extreme southeast cor- ner of the county, has the Clover Leaf, which passes through the center of it.
As every one of these railroads center in Danville, with the exception of the Clover Leaf, in the extreme south end of the county, the Lake Erie West- ern, in the extreme north end of the county, the West Lebanon-Leroy branch of the Illinois Central, the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I., and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the C. & E. I., it will be seen that Danville town- ship is literally a network of railroads. Although the first railroad chartered in the limits of Vermilion County was the Chicago & Vincennes Railway, this road was never built, and it was not until 1871 that there was a railroad con- nection through the county with Chicago.
In 1835, the same year that the charter was secured for the Chicago & Vincennes Railway, one was projected from Quincy, on the Mississippi river across the state of Illinois, to the Indiana state line in the direction of La Fay- ette. This road was to be built through Springfield, Decatur and Danville, and was to be known as the Northern Cross Railroad. It is the road afterward known as the Wabash.
This plan to build a railroad across the state was but a part of the great internal improvement scheme which bankrupted the state of Illinois, and be- fore it could possibly be carried out had, of necessity, to be abandoned. The craze for internal improvements, marking these years, seems almost incredible, and has gone down in history as without parallel. It has been estimated that
-
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the expense involved for all the proposed improvements was $10,000,000, but many writers state that that sum does not nearly cover the real expenses.
Dr. Fithian was the representative from Vermilion County in the legisla- ture at this time, and he was a man of rare ability. He frankly predicted the financial ruin that would surely overwhelm the state if the legislature persisted in its wild scheme of general internal improvements. When he saw that he could not prevent the plan from being carried into effect, and that the public money was going to be wasted anyway, he turned the matter so that his county might profit by the conditions, and managed that work should begin at once on that part of the Northern Cross Railroad which ran through Vermilion County.
Accordingly, a large portion of the $1,800,000 appropriated for the North- ern Cross Railroad was expended in 1837, 38 and 39. in grading the road- bed from the Champaign County line east to the Vermilion, and in the heavy cuts and fills adjacent to that stream, and in erecting the three large abutments of piers standing in or near the river itself. Thus the heaviest and most ex- pensive part of the road. east of the Sangamon was practically finished before the crash came, which put an end to the "system." The road remained in this shape until in 1853. when the plan to extend it from Decatur east across the state was formed. The heavy work previously done in Vermilion County was too valuable to be thrown away. Another fact helped develop the road. An- other corporation was building a line up the Maumee and down the Wabash rivers. The projectors had originally intended keeping down the east side of the Wabash through Covington, making their connection with St. Louis hy way of Paris. The people of the towns along the Wabash river, had, at the time of the first planning of the Northern Cross railroad, or rather the Great Western railroad as it was later called, been very much encouraged with a prospect of having this road extended into Indiana to reach this important waterway. James Alexander, of Paris, succeeded in having a bill passed, the Indiana legislature of 1838 authorizing the extension of the road into that state. This was no sooner done than a fight arose to secure the road to Cov- ington and to Perrysville. Thanks to the prompt action of Dr. Hamilton of Covington, aided by secret information given him by Mr. Alexander, a rival town on the west side of the river was not located even though the much de- sired railroad did not come in that direction.
When the Wabash railroad, as the new project was called, planned to go down on the east side of the Wabash river below Attica to make the crossing. there was another hope for a railroad going to this, at that time, important town. But when the projectors of the new road from the east learned of the speedy completion of the Great Western road from Decatur to Danville. they changed their plans. They crossed the Wabash river at Attica, and made Danville its terminal point. They operated the section between Danville and the state line for a time, but at last withdrew and compelled the Great Western to follow them to that point. This was after the two corporations had a dis- agreement about some trivial thing. Matters remained in this shape for eight years, until the consolidation of the two roads in 1865 when Danville once more became the end of a running division. The first engine that ever ran into
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Danville was called the Pioneer. It crossed the bridge over the Vermilion river in the latter part of October, 1856. The second railroad crossing Ver- milion County was the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin, and it was completed in January, 1870. Trains ran from Danville to Pekin for nine months, before the gap between Crawfordsville and Danville was closed by the exten- tion of the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville, and made a road east and west through the county. This I. C. & D. road was extended as far west as Craw- fordsville, late in the year 1869. The connection of the rails was made on the prairie some eight miles east of Danville in September, 1870, and through trains were put on the road shortly afterward.
The C. & E. I. railroad was built and trains running in 1871. The lead- ing citizens of Vermilion county had long felt the necessity of a direct con- neetion for travel and commercial purposes with Chicago, and to this end, in 1868, secured a bill from the legislature authorizing the townships through which it was to run, to vote bonds in aid of its construction. Among the prominent ones in Vermilion County interested in this project, were John L. Tincher, H. W. Beckwith, and Alvan Gilbert. It was through Mr. Tincher's influence that the charter was obtained. The people generally in the eastern part of the county, at least, were anxious for the success of the enterprise. Danville township voted $72,000 for the construction of the road, and $75,000 for the erection of the car shops, which are located at Danville. Ross town- ship voted $24,000 and Grant township voted $18,000. J. E. Young of Chi- cago, was the contractor, and built the road. The road was originally bonded for $5,000,000 which represents the supposed value at that time. In 1874, the company failed, and the property was placed in the hands of a receiver, in the person of Gen. A. Anderson, who continued to manage the affairs of the line until 1877. On the seventeenth of April, 1877, the road was sold to a new corporation for $1,450,000. In 1872 a branch of the road was built from Bismarck in Newell township, to Brazil, Indiana. The machine shops of the road were built in the northeast part of Danville, and remained there un- til they went into new and more saisfactory quarters further east in the later suburb called Oaklawn.
In November, 1871, the route from the Ohio river at Evansville to Lake Michigan, at Chicago, was established by the completion of the Evansville & Terre Haute railroad, as well as the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes lines. In 1872, the LaFayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroad was extended across the northern part of Vermilion County, connecting that part of the county with an eastern outlet for their products. The L. E. & W. railroad was built al- most entirely by the unaided efforts of Mr. Gifford and the Penfield Bros., of Rantoul, and extends the entire width of the county. The P. & D. railroad, that project of John C. Short and others, is now known as a part of the Cairo division of the New York Central lines, was built largely by the aid of local subscriptions, and it gave the southern part of the county long needed facilities.
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