USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 35
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An examination of the old private laws shows that it was a gen- eral custom in those days for the Legislature to require a donation of lands as a condition for the location of county seats, believing that the people of the new county should share the profits of the lucky land-owner.
The act further provided that, in the event the county seat was located within the bounds of the Saline reservation on the Big Ver- milion River-the Saline lands, by act of congress, had become the property of the state- the county commissioners should, as soon as practicable, purchase of the state the quarter or half section desig- nated for the use of the county. And the act further provided, sec-
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tion 3, that "all courts should be held at the house of James Butler until public buildings were erected for the purpose, unless changed to another place by order of the county commissioners."
Boyd and his associates, after a casual examination of the country, made their report, by which they located the county seat some six miles west of Danville and back a distance from the south side of the Salt Fork. A more unfavorable place could hardly have been selected ; the surface was cold. flat, clay ground. It is doubtful if ordinary wells could have been secured, to say nothing of cellars or drainage, which are indispensable for the convenience and health of a town. It would have been impossible ever to have attracted enter- prising men to such a spot: and if the county seat had been estab- lished there, it never would have grown to the dignity of a city, or even attained the respectability of the average modern town. It would have remained an unsightly, ragged, siekly village, not unlike several of the old county seats in the state, that lingered along for years only to die and be forgotten.
Fortunately for the future welfare of the county, Vance, the les- see, refused to yield his rights. The citizens generally were very much dissatisfied with the site selected, and sent up a remonstrance coupled with a prayer for the removal of the county seat to a more desirable location, and for relief generally. Accordingly, on the 26th day of December, 1826 (private laws of Illinois, 1826-7, page 2,) the general assembly passed an act, which recites in the preamble: "Whereas, the seat of justice of Vermilion county has been located by the commissioners appointed at the last session on land which was then and still is leased by the governor for a term of years to certain persons for the manufacture of salt; and whereas, the said lessees are unwilling to surrender the same, or any part, for the use of the county, in consequence of which no improvements can be made thereon; and the citizens having petitioned for its removal, and for remedy whereof," "therefore," it was enacted, "that Will- iam Morgan, Zachariah Peter and John Kirkpatrick, of Sangamon county, be declared commissioners to explore the county and desig- nate the place, which, on being located, should forever remain the permanent seat of justice of Vermilion county." The same sec- tion further provided, that in case the new commissioners "should locate the county seat within the Saline reservation, the state would relinquish its title to a half quarter section, or fractional section, on the Vermilion River, not exceeding eighty acres, in the reservation, upon which the county seat might be located, for the use of the county, on condition that congress would confirm the same to the
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county." On the 31st of January, 1827, the new commissioners reported to the county commissioners "that, in their opinion, the lands donated by Guy W. Smith and Dan W. Beckwith, near the mouth of the North Fork of the Vermilion River, was the most suitable place in the county for such county seat."
A most fortunate choice it was. A better site could not have been selected. In the whole state there is not a spot of ground where Nature herself has combined so many advantages of drainage, surface soil, water, coal, timber, stone, gravel and all else that is required for the successful growth of an inland city ; and the act of the commissioners in establishing the county seat here has largely contributed to the growth and development of the entire county.
The thought of making a town at Danville was not original with Messrs. Morgan, Peter and Kirkpatrick. The chiefs and head men of the "Miami-Piankeshaws " had, about a hundred years before, selected it as the place of one of their principal villages, giving it the name of Piankeshaw. It is highly probable-indeed, the writer has but little doubt, after consulting many authorities, and making a personal examination of the country on the Vermilion River below and above Danville-that the old village of Piankeshaw, referred to in French documents as far back as 1719, and in the subsequent accounts of English and early American writers, was strung along the north fork from the northwestern city limits to Main street, thence
along the Vermilion River as far as the extreme of east Danville, and extending back, in an irregular line a half a mile or more, from the bluffs of the two streams. The old corn hills, grown over with blue-grass, heaps of stone where fires had been made, the absence of forest, excepting a few large oak trees, and other appearances scattered over the area of ground we have described, clearly indicated its former occupation to the early white visitants. In fact, the Potta- watomie Indians told Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard in 1819 or 1820 that it used to be "the big Piankashaw town." We will summarize a description of the locality at the time it was determined to establish the county seat here. Let the reader fancy all the houses in and about the city taken away ; remove the fences, gardens and lawns ; obliterate the streets and walks, and all other signs of civilization ; restore the trees to the surrounding forest, and look upon the land- scape as it appeared to Guerdon S. Hubbard in 1819, to Harvey Luddington and Jacob Swisher in 1821, or to Alvin Gilbert, Hesi- kiah Cunningham, the Leneve Brothers, John H. Murphy, Leander Rutledge or William Bandy, a few years later, and before the white settlers had made many of their marks upon it. You see a line of
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stalwart oaks upon the river bluff's, and others, like solitary sentinels, seattered at wide intervals over an open plain. Westward of Stony Creek, and extending from east Danville northwest, in the direction of the woollen factory, are patches of hazel and jack oak, both of recent growth. In the vicinity of the high school, extending north and west well toward the bluffs, and embracing nearly all of Tinch- ertown. is a broad meadow, set in with blue-grass, and having the marks of old corn hills plainly visible over many acres of it. Under the hill. west of Mill street. and in the other bottom extending from the mouth of the North Fork below the red bridge, are other ancient corn fields, also overrun with blue-grass. Along the bluff's of the North Fork and Vermilion. at a convenient distance from some of the numerous springs that bubble out of the hillsides, are scattering wigwams formed of bark, or the naked lodge poles of other huts. These are only the temporary abode of roving bands of Kickapoos or Pottawatomies while on their hunting rounds. Eastward of Ver- milion street is. seemingly, a prairie, with a few stunted bushes that grow for a single season, only to be burned to the ground by the autumnal fires.
The Piankashaws are gone, and desolation broods over their ancient village. Some quarter of a century or more before the white settlers came. the rightful dwellers on the Vermilion had been swept away by the aggressive advances of their more powerful neighbors, the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos.
Beekwith and Smith having entered into bond to execute a deed to the county for the lands, severally agreed by them to be donated in the event of their being selected as the place for the county seat, on the incoming of the report of the locating commissioners, the board of county commissioners, consisting of Asa Elliott, Achilles Morgan and James McClewer, ordered the lands to be laid off into town lots, and appointed the 10th of April. 1827. as the day when the lots would be offered at public sale. Notice of the sale was ordered to be published in the Illinois Intelligencer, issued at Van- dalia, the state capital, and also in a newspaper at Indianapolis, Indiana ; these being the nearest newspapers. The town was laid out by the county, through its commissioners. Dan. W. Beckwith, the county surveyor, was employed by the commissioners to run out one hundred lots. The day of sale having come around, a large number of people were collected ; bidding was lively, Harvey Lud- dington acting as auctioneer. Forty-two lots were sold, from which the county realized nine hundred and twenty-two dollars and eighty- seven cents. The average price was about twenty-two dollars per
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lot, a trifling price when compared with their present value, as most of the lots sold were on Main and Vermilion streets, in the vicinity of the public square. It will be observed, from facts narrated, that Danville was not created as a private enterprise. It is, on the con- trary, the bantling of the whole county, whose people, in their cor- porate capacity, are responsible for its good fame and proper behav- ior. We may say that the county has, as yet, had no reason to deny, or be otherwise than proud of, its issue. The commissioners who laid it out named it after the man-"Dan " W. Beekwith-who earliest lived here, adding the " ville" to his christian name. His name is often referred to as Daniel or Danel. His name in full was Dan, without any other addition.
The day of the sale was pleasant, and the warm sun invited a large number of rattlesnakes out of their den in the limestone crev- ices on the river side at the foot of Clark street. In the afternoon the bidders at the sale amused themselves with a "snake hunt," killing seventy-five or eighty, some of them over six feet long, in the course of a short time. In this connection the writer will state that for years after the settlement at Danville the neighborhood was infested with great numbers of these serpents, not to mention black snakes, racers, moccasins, and like repulsive, though harmless, rep- tiles. The rattlesnakes would rendezvous in their dens on the hill- side through the winter, and spread themselves over the adjacent country during the summer months. Before the state quarried the stone with which the old abutments at the Wabash railway bridge are built, the rock ledges from which this material was taken stood out in bold relief along the river bluff's at and near Danville. The open seams in the ledges afforded a comfortable lodgment for the rattlesnakes. The Indians called the rattlesnake their "grand- father," and through superstition would never permit one to be harmed or destroyed. Hence their numbers multiplied rapidly in localities favorable for their protection and increase; and the in- coming whites were annoyed, and often frightened, with familiar liberties they would take in and about the houses. The writer will illustrate with one or two incidents. Mr. Cunningham and John Murphy occupied log cabins near together on the west side of Ver- milion street, south of the public square. One evening subsequent to 1830, Samuel Russel was down there courting the girls. As he was being lighted out, the taper which the young lady held in her hand reflected upon the shining skin of a rattlesnake coiled up on the doorstep at his feet. Recently Mr. Gustavus Pierson, now in the city, informed the writer that, many years ago when he was a
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lad, he. in company with his mother and brother, was spending the evening at the house of the mother of the writer, and among the other incidents which she related was one to the effect that one evening, after dusk. she went out to the wood-pile. and gathered up with her hands an apron full of fagots, which she brought into the house. and emptied upon the fire by dropping the folds of her apron. Immediately a rattlesnake. over two feet long. which she had thrown into the fire along with the fagots, crawled ont from the flames.
The government surveys were extended north of the Vermilion River in 1821. and the settlement of that part of the country went forward with commendable progress. The several township histories will show the manner. the time, and by whom. From an examina- tion of that part of the volume it will appear that the two Vermilion Rivers were the base. and that the Middle Fork, North Fork and the two Stony Creeks were the supporting columns on which the population of the county was formed. The early settlers clung to the timber. They did not expect or believe the prairies ever would or could be settled. Indeed they did not wish it; and many of the early comers were dissatisfied, and sold out their improvements and moved to newer connties. when they saw their " cattle range " en- croached upon by the advance of farms from the timber line into the open prairie. Gradually, however. the prejudice against the open prairie was overcome; people learned that they could live entirely away from the timber. Settlements were extended pro- gressively from the timber lines, until now the whole intervening space is covered with blooming fields. The monotony of the former waste, prairie landscape is relieved with school-houses, churches, villages, groves, orchards and cheerful farm buildings. Public roads and railways, lined in with fence or hedge, have supplanted the trails of the Indian and the paths of wild animals. The prairie fires no longer light up the evening sky, as in the days of yore. A popu- lation noted for their intelligence and thrifty toil have carried for- ward the beginning made by the early pioneer, and developed the resources of the county, and given it a position among the foremost in the state.
We will now look at Danville, and see how it appeared in the second year of its existence. The first houses erected here may be assigned to the following respective localities : George Wier, where Mill street crosses the I .. B. and W. Ry .; Seymour Treat. at the woolen factory: Gilbert's Tavern. a double log-house; at the west end of Main street. on the south side: Dan Beckwith's new house in Main street, just west across the ravine from Schroeder's chair
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factory; Beckwith's old pioneer cabin was on the edge of the bluff, nearly on a line between the seminary and the Red Bridge; then Amos Williams', on the bluff at the foot of Clark street; next, still following the bluffs around, and near the several springs, after the fashion of the old Indian town, was a house near the foot of Walnut street; northeast from there, and on Vermilion street, were the cabins of Hezekiah Cunningham and John H. Murphy; across the street and south of the alley was Dr. Asa R. Palmer's log residence ; west of Vermilion street and on the north side of the square, was a two-story hewn log-house, the largest and best building in the town, the property of George Haworth. The Lincoln Hall block was occupied with a hewn log-house of lesser pretensions, built by the sheriff, William Reed, who designed it for a residence, though, as we shall see directly, it was put to a more public use. Part of the ground now covered by Mrs. Schmitt's block was graced with Beas- ley's blacksmith-shop, though shortly afterward it was purchased by Leander Rutledge, and converted into the first manufactory in the county, where the lathe, run by foot, turned out bedstead posts, table and chair rounds, to the astonishment of the settlers, when they saw how real furniture was made. There were several other buildings besides those enumerated, but which the writer, at this late day, has not been able to definitely locate. There were not exceed- ing eleven or twelve families, including the heads of those we have named, living in Danville at this time. The streets had not been lined nor cut out as yet. A stranger going through would have seen the houses scattered around, without any apparent order, some of them hidden in clumps of bushes ; and if the day was pleasant, and early in the week, the stranger might have seen Mrs. Rutledge's washing "out drying " upon the limbs of the small trees on Main street, in front of her good man's door. He then could have fol- lowed the only traveled road, which led a zig-zag course, across lots, in a northwest direction, to the woolen factory.
The county commissioners' court, like our former county seats, itinerated around a good deal before the place for the transaction of public business became permanently fixed. The first meeting of the Board - composed of John D. Alexander, Achilles Morgan and James D. Butler-was on the 6th of March, 1826, at Butler's house, near Catlin. On the 18th of the same month another session was held there, at which time was selected the first grand jury which ever served for the county. We give the names, as the time will fix a date prior to which we may know the citizenship of some of the early settlers, who served the county in a responsible, judicial capac-
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ity, viz : John Haworth, Henry Canaday, Barnett Starr, Robert Dixon, Edward Doyl, John Cassaday, James McClewer, Alexander McDonald, Henry Johnson, Henry Martin, Jonathan Haworth, William Haworth. Jacob Brazelton. Peleg Spencer, sr., Isaac M. Howard, Robert Trickle, John Current, John Lamm, Francis Whit- comb, Amos Wooden. Jesse Gilbert, Cyrus Douglas, Harvey Lud- dington and George Beckwith.
At the September term, 1826, a new board appears, the names of Asa Elliott and James McClewer taking the place of Butler and Alexander. On the first Monday of June, 1827, the commissioners met at the house of Asa Elliott; and, on the first Monday of Sep- tember following, at the house of Amos Williams, in Danville. Here the affairs of the county were conducted until the county purchased the log-house built by Reed, on the Lincoln Hall lot, with the design of fitting it up for public use. This was the first court-house. It did not stand on the corner now known as Short's Bank, as supposed by some, but on the west side of the same lot near the alley. It was one story high, with space for a low attic above, about sixteen feet square, and made out of heavy logs, hewn inside and out. Sub- sequently the county sold it, with the lot, to Hezekiah Cunningham, who agreed to provide the county, for the term of two years, unless the new court-house should be completed before that time, with a place for holding courts, etc., in the upper story of the large frame building erected by Cunningham and Murphy, on the southwest cor- ner of the Public Square, and which was only removed a few years ago to make place for the splendid brick block of E. B. Martin. The first court-house was removed, some years after Cunningham pur- chased it, to a lot on the corner of North and Hazel streets, where, in after years, it was weather-boarded. and formed the prominent feature of the wings attached to it on the east and north by James Parmer. It, with its attachments, remained here until May or June, 1876, when the whole was destroyed by fire.
At the December term, 1830, the county board ordered notice to be given for the reception of plans and bids for a permanent court- house. Nothing, however, was done until December of the follow- ing year, when notice was again given, declaring that at the next term of the court bids would be received. The records show that work was begun on the new court-house early in 1832, and prosecuted with vigor throughout that year. Guerdon S. Hubbard-still living, and well known to all our old citizens - was the contractor; and John H. Murphy, the active superintendent in charge of the work, to whom special credit is due for the interest he manifested in, and
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the integrity with which he discharged his trust. The brick were mostly made by Norman D. Pahner, at his farm, northwest of the city. The building was completed in 1833, and was used for nearly forty years by the county, and until its destruction by fire in 1872. It stood on that part of the Public Square, now included between the wings of the present court-house, on the east and north, and the side- walks of Main and Vermilion streets on the south and west. It was a two-story brick building, some forty or fifty feet square, with main entrances on the south and west sides, and a door on the north. The lower story was in one room for court purposes ; the upper part was divided into four rooms for the convenience of juries, etc.
The old building in its time was honored by the presence of some of the most noted persons in our nation, called thither either in the capacities of judges or counsel. Judge Treat, now of the United States circuit court, Judge David Davis, of the United States senate, presided here as our circuit judges. Col. E. D. Baker, afterward governor of Oregon, and who was killed at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, during the rebellion, and Edward Hannigan, of Indiana, whose repu- tation as an orator was national, have filled its walls with their elo- quence. Here has the musical voice of Leonard Swett, the sparkling wit of Usher F. Linder, and the dramatic magnetism of D. W. Vor- hees, often charmed jurors and spectators. The immortal Lincoln, during the many years he itinerated the circuit, regularly attended the Vermilion courts, and in the course of a long, successful and scrupulously honest practice of his profession, became personally acquainted with, and warmly attached to, almost every man in the county.
In due time after the old court-house burned the board of super- visors began maturing plans for a new building. First they appoint- ed a committee, consisting of two of their number,-Bradley Butter- field, of Butler township, and Henry Talbot, of Sidell, with whom they associated the writer, making a committee of three. Under their instructions the committee examined three court-houses in Illinois, one in Michigan and two in Indiana, and spent much other time in collecting information as to what errors should be avoided and what advantages should be secured in the construction of the new court- house. It was the announced desire of the board of supervisors that the new building should be located on the spot it now occupies, the county having owned the ground since the donation in 1827. The peculiar shape of the ground, being barely sufficient for it, necessarily determined the shape of the building, a fact which the committee took pains to impress upon the several architects whom
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they invited to submit plans. This explanation is made to answer the ever-recurring inquiries, Why was the new court-house built in the shape it is? Why was it not constructed after the usual manner of public buildings? The limited quantity of ground owned by the county, and the number and size of the rooms required for courts, offices, vaults, etc., for the present and future wants of the county, would admit of a structure of no other form or proportion. The committee found only one architect,-E. E. Myers, of Detroit, Mich- igan,-out of the twelve or thirteen with whom they conferred, who successfully solved the problem, and his plans the committee recom- mended to the board, by whom they were unanimously adopted, after first having examined those of the other architects. The build-
VERMILION COUNTY COURT-HOUSE.
ing was erected under the supervision of an efficient committee, whose names appear in another part of this work. The supervisors as a body, as well as those of their members who comprised the com- mittee, are to be commended for the zeal and fidelity with which they managed the public funds in erecting both the new court-house and the jail. It can be said to their credit,-an unusual thing in the history of many other counties in the construction of public build- ings,- that not a dollar was misapplied, and the contractors in both instances were strictly held to the terms of their engagements, and no part of the work, from foundation to top, was allowed to be slighted in the least. Indeed, Vermilion county, as a rule that has scarcely had an exception, has been singularly fortunate in the char- acter, ability and integrity of her public servants.
EARLY SCHOOLS.
The first school in Danville was taught in Haworth's smoke- house, a little structure ten or twelve feet square. It was made of
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logs, without a floor, and its only openings were the door and a square hole cut at the opposite side for light and ventilation. It stood west of Haworth's house, and back some distance north from the line of the sidewalk, on the ground now partially covered by the room occupied by Baum's drug store. Mrs. Lucy Russell, wife of Sam. Russell, and a daughter of Solomon Gilbert, was one of the scholars, as were also her brother, Othneal Gilbert, and two or three of her sisters. Dr. Norten Beckwith was the teacher. The scholars numbered some eight or ten. After this a school-house - the first built expressly for that purpose - was constructed upon a lot on south Hazel street, and northwest from Wright's mill, set apart by the county commissioners for educational purposes. It was made of small logs, about twelve by fifteen feet in size, covered with clapboards, the chimney was upon the outside, built up with stone and sticks, and mudded after a fashion of a "Kentucky cabin," the opening occupied nearly the whole of one side of the building. At first it had no floor; subsequently a floor was laid with "puncheons," as the outside slab or first cut sawed off of a log was called. The seats were made of the same material, smooth side up, supported on wooden legs. Among the teachers who taught here at different times can be named Harvey Luddington and Enoch Kingsbury. Uncle Harvey also taught a Sunday-school here. At a later day James A. Davis reached Danville, without anything except the wearing apparel upon his person, having lost all his effects com- ing up the Wabash on a boat. Among strangers, and out of means, but with a determination that has always inspired him to do some- thing, he looked around at once for a job. Dr. Beekwith finding that Davis possessed a remarkably good education, said he was just the man that Danville needed. He wrote up a paper and circulated it through the town, and raised a list of scholars, and Davis opened a school at once in the log cabin. Being a man of energy and a thorough disciplinarian, this sterling Englishman soon acquired the reputation of a successful teacher, which he so worthily retained in the county for many years afterward.
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