USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 46
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THE ILLINOIS TRACTION COMPANY.
The Illinois Traction Company operates three interurban lines into Dan- ville each day. These lines connect Danville with every part of the county
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except the northeast and the north. There are cars which run every twenty to fifty minutes that will take passengers from Danville to Georgetown, Ver- milion Grove, Catlin, all points on the line between Danville and the western line of the county. The Illinois Traction Company runs 72 Interurban cars into Danville each day. This line accommodates both passenger and freight trans- portation. The passenger service is of the best and the line is patronized freely, particularly in the warm weather when the loss of dust compensates for the possible loss of a short time. This is true in the longer trips from Danville to Decatur and to Springfield.
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE POSTOFFICE IN DANVILLE.
Danville became a postoffice in 1828 and Amos Williams, the man who seemed to have all the offices in the township at one time, was the first post- master. He kept the postoffice at his residence in the south part of town. Mails were received twice a week from Vincennes, and twice a week from the east. The mail route south went from Danville to Georgetown, thence west to a postoffice that was kept for a while at the point which afterward became the Josiah Sandusky farm, thence south to Paris, in Edgar County, and on to Vincennes.
With a change in the administration of the government, a change in post- masters necessarily followed. I. R. Moore was appointed the second post- master, and removed the office to a store on Main street, the south side near Walnut street. Josiah Alexander was next postmaster for a while, and after him Col. Othniel Gilbert was appointed. Col. Gilbert moved the postoffice to the Pennsylvania House. In all these wanderings of the postoffice it was not without its misfortunes, or rather its means of participating in the misfortunes of others. While it was housed in the Pennsylvania House, Mr. Cassady mailed $1,000 to a firm in Cincinnati with whom he was transacting some land business. It never reached its destination. There was a man boarding at the Pennsylvania House who had no visible means of getting his living. He dis- appeared about this time and suspicion was directed to him, but the crime was never proven. Alexander Chesley was the next postmaster, and he took the office to a little building on West Main street. Soon H. G. Boyce followed him. He moved the office further west on Main street to the corner of Wal- nut street. While there the postoffice was robbed of small sums, but the thief was discovered through the means of decoy letters, and sent to the penitentiary.
In 1861 Rev. Kingsbury was appointed postmaster and moved the office to the old Presbyterian church. Here another robbery was perpetrated. A man by the name of Smith, who was a music teacher and well respected in the community, was Rev. Kingsbury's assistant, and fully trusted in the office. As the thefts were discovered, suspicion turned so strongly to him that Dr. Fithian and Mr. Kingsbury took him one side and searched him, and found some of the missing property in his boots. He was put under arrest, but was bailed out and left the country. However, he did not cover his tracks, and was found in Iowa, where he was a very prominent person. He was teaching
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a singing school and had so thoroughly won the confidence of the people that they could not believe he was other than honest, but followed him to the train loudly expressing their grief in what they thought his misfortune. He was brought back here and convicted and sent to the penitentiary. William Morgan followed Rev. Kingsbury as postmaster and had the office on the south side of the public square. Col. Mckibben succeeded William Morgan and died while in office. He kept the office in a store on Vermilion street near the Ætna House. Samuel Fairchild was the next postmaster. He was followed by C. W. Gregory who was followed by W. R. Jewell. Mr. Jewell has been post- master ever since with the exception of the time covered by the administration of President Cleveland.
DANVILLE BRANCH NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS.
The Danville Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Sol- diers was established at Danville, Ill., by act of congress, approved June 4, 1897, and was ready for use July 1, 1898, when several buildings had been completed. The cost of buildings and grounds has been $1,321,690.63. Of this amount $45,961.25 was paid for 325 acres of land. and $1,275,729.38 for buildings and improvements.
The principal buildings are the headquarters building, in which are located the headquarters offices of the governor and adjutant, and the office of the treasurer, and the printing office; also the hospital, with a capacity for 300 patients, besides room for the necessary attendants; fifteen barracks, with a capacity for 3,500 members, a splendid opera house, a thoroughly equipped library, for which building Mr. Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000; quarter- master's storehouse, mess hall, kitchen and bakery, all under one roof ; laundry, Catholic and Protestant chapels, guard house, and about twenty-five other build- ings, consisting of residences of officers, store, restaurant, etc.
Eleven commissioned and thirty-seven non-commissioned officers constitute the governing power of the Home. All of these, excepting the treasurer and one chaplain, were soldiers in the Civil war. The official staff is as follows: Governor, M. J. Barger; treasurer, W. L. Kelley; surgeon, D. C. Jones; quar- termaster, E. W. Eldridge; commissary of subsistence, J. W. Newlon ; adjutant. William H. Platt; Catholic chaplain, Rev. Thos. H. Kinsella; Protestant chap- lain, Rev. Thomas A. Parker.
To carry on the work of the Home, 325 members of the Home and 150 civilians are employed. Of the civilians, 70 are men and 80 are women; the latter being employed as nurses, cooks, waiters, seamstresses, etc. The mem- bership of the Home at this writing is as follows: present, 2,229; absent on furlough, 694; total, 2,923.
Since the organization of the Home, there liave been 13,579 members ad- mitted and 10,579 have been lost by discharge, death, etc .; 2,030 have died since the organization of the Home; 1,349 are burried in the Home cemetery, and the others have been taken away by friends or have died while absent on fur- lough.
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A band of twenty-five musicians is maintained, and during the summer daily concerts are given. Besides, there are billiard rooms, croquet grounds, etc., and during the winter months many theatrical companies give shows in the opera house. Readers are employed for the blind in the hospital and in the "old men's" barracks.
The cost of maintenance of the Home per annum is about $360,000. Be- sides the Danville branch, there are nine other branches, and they are located as follows: Eastern branch, Togus, Maine, established in 1866; central branch, Dayton, Ohio, established in 1867; northwestern branch, Milwaukee, Wis., es- tablished in 1867; southern branch, Hampton, Va., established in 1870; west- ern branch, Leavenworth, Kansas, established in 1885; Pacific branch, Santa Monica, Cal., established in 1888; Marion branch, Marion; Ind., established in 1888; mountain branch, Johnson City, Tenn., established in 1903; Battle Moun- tain sanitarium, Hot Springs, South Dakota, established 1907.
The different branches are controlled by a board of managers, consisting of fourteen members, and appointed by the congress. Their names and address follow: The President, the chief justice, the secretary of war of the United States, ex officios; Major James W. Wadsworth, president board of managers, Geneseo, N. Y .; Gen. Thomas J. Henderson, first vice president, Princeton, Ill .; Capt. Henry E. Palmer, second vice president, Omaha, Neb .; Col. W. E. Brownlow, secretary, Jonesboro, Tenn .; John M. Holley, Esq., La Crosse, Wis .; Major William Warner, Kansas City, Mo .; Col. Henry H. Markham, Redondo, Cal .; Lieut. Franklin Murphy, Newark, N. J .; Col. Edwin P. Hammond, La Fayette, Ind .; Gen. Joseph S. Smith, Bangor, Maine; Lieut. Oscar M. Gott- schall, Dayton, Ohio.
3.
SCENE ON THE GROUNDS OF THE DANVILLE BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL HOME FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS
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CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE G. A. R.
Kenesaw Post No. 77, Department of Illinois, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized at Danville, Illinois, May 5, 1880, with the following list of charter members: Edwin Winter, James A. Outland, Henry J. Hall, George W. Flynn, John W. Dale, F. M. Allhands, Wm. H. Newlin, B. F. Cook, A. Martin, George Dillon, L. M. Brown, W. J. Calhoun, John Lane, R. W. Hanford, J. H. Woodmansee, W. R. Jewell, M. V. B. Tiffany, E. J. Draper, W. E. Shedd, W. A. Payton, E. C. Abdill, Charles D. Eoff, Fred Buy, Amos S. Cowan, Edwin S. Coffin, E. W. Eakin, Alex. Pollock, J. E. Field, W. H. Craft, D. C. Deamude, S. B. Ferguson, B. Brittingham, B. R. Hefley, M. J. Wolford, H. Plasnick, Wm. J. Moore, J. M. Clark, J. G. Hull, H. V. Wilkin- son, Charles Coton, Park T. Martin, R. C. Holton, E. D. Steen, Sam J. Hall, Thomas Graves, James D. English, W. H. Taylor, James D. Harrison, J. C. Black, G. W. Jones, F. W. Penwell, O. S. Cowan, Morris Irick, C. M. Coulter, H. O. Brower, Joseph Beddow, H. A. Johnson, G. W. Dickson, James Holsen, John Slusser, Dennis Olehy, Charles H. Drake.
The charter is signed by Edgar D. Swaim, department commander, and at- tested by Charles E. Koch, assistant adjutant general. Kenesaw Post has never lapsed since its organization ; it has included the names of more than 600 comrades, many of whom are dead; others have moved away and their history is lost. Many others have dropped from the post because of infirmities and feebleness due to disease and wounds contracted while in their country's service, and to the ever increasing infirmities of oncoming old age. The present officers of the post are: J. W. Whitmeyer, commander; W. H. Byram, senior vice com- mander; P. F. Oliver, junior vice commander; W. D. Johnson, officer of the day ; A. B. Elder, officer of the guard; W. H. Taylor, chaplain; J. A. Williams, adjutant; W. B. Sheffer, quartermaster; J. P. Burchit, patriotic instructor. Trustees : J. P. Burchit, P. F. Oliver, E. Cooley. Present membership is over 100.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE WOMAN'S CLUBS IN DANVILLE.
The fad or natural demand or fashion, call it what you choose, to organize the women of a place into woman's clubs, did not miss Danville. Clubs with every reason to exist or not to exist have taken possession not only of Danville but of every village of the county. Social clubs of every description have come to stay. All these clubs naturally have an effect of dissipating the forces of the individual and the community as well. Not all the women of Danville by any means became members of any of these clubs, but a large number did.
There had been an old Chautauqua class, and in 1895 this class decided to become a part of the state federation, and organized themselves into an incor- . porated body with about thirty-five members. This organization was called The Woman's Club. Mrs. Joseph Carter, at that time the wife of the super- intendent of Danville ·schools, made great effort to bring about this organiza- tion. Mr. W. R. Jewell was also active in bringing about the making of a woman's club in Danville.
The first president of the Woman's Club was fittingly Mrs. Joseph Carter (Mrs. Jane Pennel Carter). Under her management, the club grew in num- bers, and was well organized. An ideal of the duties of the organization's opportunities was made high. Several sections were formed, in which different courses of study could be pursued, and the club bid fair to help raise the stand- ard of woman's effort.
Miss Sherman was the next president, and under her administration the club grew in numbers and efficiency. Josephine Lawrence was the third presi- dent, and the club comprised many of the women of the city. Mrs. Fannie Pearson Meeks was the next president. Mrs. Meeks is a woman of high ap- preciation of literary attainments, and during her administration the club made efforts to make progress in this direction. Mrs. Glidden was the president for the next year. She was active in increasing the membership and raising the social tone of the club. Mrs. Nanny Kelly Guy was the president immediately following. Mrs. Glidden and she made popular and efficient leaders. Jane Head Fithian succeeded Mrs. Guy. It was while Mrs. Fithian was president that the State Federation of Woman's Clubs met at Danville. This meeting was a great success and reflected great credit on the management of the Woman's Club of Danville. Mrs. Fithian is a woman eminently fitted to man- age such an affair.
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Mrs. Gertrude T. D. Samuels followed Mrs. Fithian, and under her ad- ministration the matter of domestic science was favorably considered. Mrs. Kate Aull Heath followed Mrs. Samuel as president of the Woman's Club, and made a splendid presiding officer. Mrs. Heath has had much experience in such work, and knew how to handle the club matters. Mrs. Myra Clark was the presiding officer for the following year. Mrs. Clark is a faithful worker in anything she undertakes, and the club found her always ready.
'Mrs. Clark was followed by Mrs. Thompson, and she is serving her second year as president of the Woman's Club of Danville. The club privileges are not restricted to Danville, and the women of other parts of the county are welcome to become members. During Mrs. Thompson's rule a very important work has been inaugurated in the help given to shoe the children who are with- out these necessities. The Woman's Club has done good work, both in the literary and civic field and in the domestic science line. The Woman's Club is particularly to be commended for the work they have done here since it was directly through their efforts that domestic science was put into the regu- lar school work as a study.
In civics they have worked more particularly along the line of pure food and clean groceries. Their object at present is to secure playgrounds for chil- dren. The present philanthropic work is something a little unusual. This is under the charge of the shoe and stocking section. The club works through the teachers of the public schools. There is a committee in the club who take care of all cases. When a teacher finds a pupil in need of shoes and not able to buy them, she sends a note with the child, who takes it to the club rooms on Saturday, where one of the members of this section is in waiting to take the child or children to a shoe store and buy a pair of shoes, providing also two pairs of stockings. This section has been in existence for two years and have kept one hundred and fifty children in school. In connection with this work, it is only just to credit Mrs. Muir with the success of the undertaking. She has given her time, her energies and her best endeavor into this work, and never has been discouraged nor dismayed.
CHAPTER XL.
THE D. A. R.
The Centennial Celebration with a World's Fair in Philadelphia, had one evident result, the founding of several patriotic societies. Among them was the Daughters of the American Revolution. This society was formed with the distinct purpose of promoting patriotism and increasing interest in the country, both in the present and past.
The appreciation of the history of America needed fostering, and such a society had a place in the life of the women of the United States. The eastern states soon had a large membership, and even the middle west found that many of the daughters had wandered even so far from the scene of the revolution.
Certain objections arose to the management of this society, and another was formed, called the Daughters of the Revolution. This society, however, has never been very popular so far west, it being stronger along the Hudson than anywhere else. The qualifications for either of these societies are that one's lineal ancestors had fought in the war of the Revolution. It was but recently that there were found enough women eligible to membership in Vermilion County. It was in 1905 that twelve Hoopeston women organized a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This chapter was named the Barbara Standish chapter. Mary Hall Hamilton was elected the first regent. The Barbara Standish chapter now numbers twenty-five members. Each year a calendar is issued, and some splendid papers have been read before this chapter.
To encourage interest in American history as a study in the schools, medals are awarded for the best historical sketch and for the highest grade in the classes of American history. The chapter has sent its portion to the various state and national causes, and each year enthusiastic delegates return from the state conventions. It was in 1907 that an attempt was made to organize a chapter in Danville. Enough, who were eligible, did not respond, however, until in January of 1908. The chapter was organized at that time, and the charter came the following May. The membership was limited in this chapter for a time, but this was corrected, and an active membership resulted. Mrs. Blose was the first regent, with Mrs. Ridgeley as the first secretary. Mrs. A. L. Lyons was elected regent in 1910. Miss Chesley has been secretary for two terms. The interest in the D. A. R. organization is enhanced in Vermilion County by the fact that there are four graves of Revolutionary soldiers within the county limits.
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COAL MINE NEAR DANVILLE
CHAPTER XLI.
COAL AND COAL MINES.
In the year 1669 Robert Cavelier La Salle left his trading post in Canada on an expedition to China by the way of the Ohio river. He learned before he arrived at the Mississippi river that it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico; he then changed his course and followed the Illinois river. It was during this part of his journey that coal was first discovered in this part of the continent; he found coal croppings along the river bank.
It is claimed that Illinois is the first locality in which a coal mine was opened up on the north American continent, one having been opened up as early as 1670 at what is now Ottawa. When the boundary lines of Illinois were staked off no one knew of the vast wealth of coal underlying the great level plains within, and when statehood was granted in 1818, one of the largest coal-producing states was annexed.
VERMILION COUNTY.
If La Salle had followed the course of rivers leading to Vermilion County, he would have found many croppings of coal along the Vermilion river.
The earliest mining was carried on in the hill sides by drifting in and fol- lowing the vein, or by stripping, and today one, in looking around along the river banks and nearby ravines, will see many old workings that have gradually given away to modern mining.
In February, 1855, the General Assembly of Illinois issued a charter to Ward H. Lamon and others associated with him, to permit the company to engage in the mining business; nothing was done under the charter. Dudley Lacock did some mining, but he moved to Livingston County in 1854. Lacock owned considerable coal land west of Danville, but he did very little mining on it. W. Caruthers and Mr. Ball commenced operations in 1853: further to the south William Kirkland opened drift mines east of the Wabash Railway bridge, south of Danville.
About 1860 Chandler and Donlan were the first to do extensive mining, and they were followed by Peter R. Lonard. As early as 1860 Michael Kelly began an extensive strip mining business. Charles Dobins, also William Shaw, and B. Bensel carried on a profitable business for several years in stripping along the bluffs of the North Fork.
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The real beginning of the great coal industry in Vermilion County dates from the time William Kirkland, Hugh Blankeney, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Lafferty opened up their mines in Grape Creek in 1866. J. S. Morin was in charge of the Kirkland mines ; Kirkland was unable to carry on as extensive a mining business as he wanted to, on account of scarcity of miners, and he imported two carloads of men and operated extensively by stripping with horses and scrapers north- west of Tilton. The number of men was still inadequate for his business, and a whole shipload of Belgiums were imported to work in the mines. Kirkland sold his coal principally to the Illinois Railway Co., who had tracks laid to his mines.
About 1870 A. C. Daniels sunk shaft No. 2 for the Ellsworth Coal Co. and two years later sunk No. 4 for the same company. These properties were taken over by the Consolidated Coal Co. Shafts Nos. 2 and 3 were burned down; No. 2 by accident, and No. 3 by strikers. The miners who set fire to No. 3 shaft were caught, prosecuted and sent to the penitentiary in 1874.
To Michael Kelly belongs a great deal of credit for the wonderful strides made in this industry. He left his strip mine on the North Fork, and bought some coal land in the Grape Creek field. He soon had a considerable quantity of coal to market, and was able to furnish coal to the Chicago & Eastern Illi- nois Railroad Company for their locomotives ; he also discovered another vein of coal at a depth of 90 feet ; this vein was 8 to 9 feet thick and of better quality than the top vein. Mr. L. T. Dickerson took an interest in the business with Mr. Kelly; they made wonderful progress. Later Mr. Kelly acquired Mr. Dickerson's interest ; he also purchased more land and had two mines in opera- tion. About this time other men became interested in the possibilities of the coal industry. The Pawnee Coal Co. was organized in 1888 by Paul W. Mc- Kay and Mr. Hutchinson. They began extensive operations in Grape Creek ; also the Consolidated Coal Co. began operations on a large scale in the Mis- sionfield stripping proposition west of Danville.
The Brookside Coal Company was organized by Mr. Sandmeyer and ope- rated a mine near the Pawnee at Grape Creek. The Himrod Coal Company was organized by Bernard and Charles Himrod, they took over the Pawnee Coal Company mines and also bought other land and opened the Himrod mine, under the management of Mr. W. W. Keefer, these mines made fast headway and became a big factor in the coal mining business.
In 1870 considerable mining was done in west Vermilion Heights. John Short opened up a fine body of coal land and for a long time the place was known as the "Moss Bank Coal Mine." In 1873 this property was taken over by the Paris and Danville railroad. General R. H. Carnahan was in charge of these mines for several years.
In 1879 A. C. Daniels operated the Ellsworth mines, and bought the Car- bon Coal Company, also several other mines south, and operated them under the name of the Consolidated Coal Company.
In 1873 William and Henry Butler made a contract with the Consolidated Coal Company to strip their coal in Missionfield district and for several years Butler Bros. struggled along but were unable to make the proposition pay and in 1900 practically abandoned the place, others tried it later but none succeeded.
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The discovery of a lower vein of coal in the Grape Creek district by Mr. Kelly had the effect of transferring the extensive operations to this vein and aside from small workings very little coal was being taken out of the top vein. The coal land laying west of Danville was not as profitably operated as that of the south although Sylva Parle operated a mine west of Danville near the town limits, for several years supplying coal to consumers and local dealers.
In 1892 Mr. J. G. Hammond operated the "Economy," west of Danville on the Peoria and Eastern Railway, and on account of labor and other troubles which continued for a year or two, sent to Iowa for Wm. G. and John G. Hartshorn, friends of his to help him out, they bought an interest in the business and suc- ceeded in bringing it up to a profitable standpoint. In 1903 Hartshorn Brothers and Mr. J. A. Barnard, general manager of the Big Four Railroad Company organized the Electric Coal Company, bought land four miles west of Danville, opened and successfully operated the "Electric" mine. Hartshorn Brothers and Mr. Barnard also organized the Hartshort Coal Company, which concern acquired the mine at Muncie, which was formerly owned by the Entronous Coal Company.
In 1909 the ill fated Missionfield mine came into the hands of the Hartshorn Brothers, who organized the Missionfield Coal Company, and notwithstanding the great losses suffered by former operators they were successful in making the strip proposition pay, the continued success of Hartshorn's operations in the west coal fields had the effect of greatly enhancing the value of coal land in that district, options on hundreds of acres was taken at one hundred dollars an acre in 1910.
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