USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Old Sandy remembers: Evans Township, Marshall County [history] > Part 3
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All corn was planted using horses and a two row planter. A "check row" wire was used to drop the corn in precisely the exact spot so that it could be cultivated in both directions. It was a boon to farmers when the "pulverizer" came out. I believe they are called "discs" now. That ended putting in oats with a cultivator. Discs soon became indis- pensible to farmers. The first one I ever saw was only six or seven feet wide.
Harrowing was also done on foot, usually with a four sectioned har- row and four horses. Plowing in the spring and fall was usually done with walking plows and three horses, but there was also two horse plows. Some few farmers did have breaking plows equipped with seats.
Threshing was also done by slow motion. After oats were cut and shocked and allowed to dry a few days or weeks, threshing began. The first threshing machine I can remember was a single unit. The straw came out at the rear end of the separator through an elevated conveyer which dropped the straw all in one place, and the stacks were made ob- long. Two or three men did the stacking and built nice and trim stacks. Then came what was called a "swinging stacker". This was another unit and was placed at the rear of the separator. A belt from the separator operated this stacker which swung from right to left, or vice versa, in a semi-circular pattern distributing the straw from the separator in a circular arc, and three men with forks built beautiful stacks. But in a few years the scene was changed again when the blower stacker made its debut, and the older methods bowed out. This marked the end of the beautifully formed straw stacks in the country which had to give way to shapeless piles of straw, but this was progress.
A twelve horsepower steam engine furnished the motive power for threshing and many other things. This engine had to have fuel to make steam. This also required water, so a good sized water tank, mounted
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on wheels was an indispensable part of the equipment.
When the threshing equipment was lined up and in order, horse drawn loads of bundles would pull up on both sides of the separator and the drivers would pitch the sheaves on to a table where two men were standing on a platform, each with a hooked knife in his hand, with which to cut the bands on the sheaves before they entered the cylinder compartment of the separator. Corn shelling has also had its evolution.
Of course, there were no telephones in the country then, but cities and some smaller town had such service, and there was no electricity outside of town either. I think I am correct in saying that the first telephone between Varna and Lacon was in the Conrad Held home, across the road from the Tax School House. I remember, also,' how obliging this family was when any one needed to call a doctor, or anyone else.
Doctors did not have automobiles then, but had to depend on horse drawn power. Some doctors kept a steady man to take care of the horses.
But, we must say something about "House Work" too. The family washing was laboriously done on a washboard, and the seemingly end- less ironings were not easy. Eggs had to be gathered and kept from spoiling without refrigeration. Butter was another item that took a lot of time and patience. The usual churn was a small barrel type affair with a plunger that was worked up and down by hand. When the ingredients finally became butter, the precious lump had to be pre- served, and this was done by letting it way down in the well by means
of a rope. Later, however, some farmers did have "Ice Boxes," but the ice had to be replenished quite often. There were many other household duties, too numerous to mention, that the ladies had to perform, including such things as sewing husking mittens. The goods was purchased by the yard and made into mittens, and sewing alsó practically everything the family wore. The list of duties in most families was in-exhaustible. Some families had a spinning wheel which allowed them to make their own yarn, which was later made into socks or stockings for the family, by either the mother or grand- mother in the household.
Butchering and canning was another arduous task which had to be
done. Lamps, burning kerosene, had to be filled and cleaned and the floors had to be scrubbed etc., etc.
Many more pages could be written on the subject, but I am afraid it is already too much.
I am also sure there are many in Marshall County who could go back in history far beyond the horizon of my memory, as I will be only 85 years young in the middle of next July, 1968.
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Chapter IV EARLY INDUSTRY FIRST OF KIND OUTSIDE CHICAGO
1865
One of the largest industries of the early days of Wenona was the Becher Flouring mill. It was the result of a long series of efforts to encourage someone to erect a grist mill, and was the first flouring mill in northern Illinois outside of Chicago.
There were five grist mills within ten miles of Wenona in 1865 and apparently all enjoyed excellent business for a farmer frequently had to wait for several days before he received his grist. Conditions were ideal for a mill as coal was available only 10 or 12 miles away, probably along the Vermillion river but no mill was in the Wenona area.
In 1865 one O. P. Ross contracted to build a mill for $2000.00 but evidently he did not carry through his project for the next year there was still agitation. A mass meeting was held at Grable's store to consider the matter and an organization set up. John Taylor was elected president, 0. M. Southwell secretary-treasurer. They were to prepare a subscription list and seek a responsible person to build a mill.
A Mr. Dobson of Minonk, Ill. offered to supply half of a $6000.00 stock issue if Wenona could supply the rest. This failed as only $1100.00 was subscribed against a public subscription required of $1400.00. The next fall Ong and Taggart of Reading were offered a $1000.00 and 2 acres of ground in Wenona, but went to Lostant because af a better offer.
Finally in 1870 Becher brothers frem southern Illinois came to Wenona and started the mill east of the Illinois Central tracks, where the State Highway buildings were located before moving south of Wenona. As the grain was fed to the big stones, large as a big truck wheel, it was then sifted through a bolting cloth which was as sheer as chiffon, only stiffer. The women of the family made beautiful cut work from this cloth. The stones gradually became corrugated and it was a delicate operation to smooth them again.
In addition to making flour which was shipped in barrels made at the plant, enormous quantities of corn were ground into cornmeal and grists. This was sold in car load lots and shipped to New Orleans.
The Becher mill was the first flouring mill built outside of Chicago. As the Chicago market increased the smaller mills were absorbed and the Becher mill turned to grinding grains for feed and sold grains and feeds. It was in operation for 30 years.
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A lumber yard was added to the old mill property about 1890, and the foreman was Charles B. Scott, son of a local business man Sam Scott. In 1894 he purchased the business, when Mr. Becher retired. Later he bought the down town lumber yard from Mr. Cook; this is now the Allen Lumber Com- pany.
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WENONA'S OLDEST COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE
In 1934 F. H. Ong wrote about the frame building at the corner of First North and Chestnut Streets. At that time an addition was being built on the west side. It is conceded to be Wenona's oldest commercial building by long odds; in fact it is so old that there seemed to be no one who knew when it came into the picture.
Some information was gathered from Austin Garvin and Thomas Gants who were old settlers in Wenona. When Mr. Garvin was a young man he resided in Magnolia and frequently came here to participate in social activities; making the trips on horse-back.
"Those trips," he continued, "were made, I distinctly remember, dur- ing the '50s, and the building was very much in commission then, and invari- ably upon Saturday nights was the scene of much revelry, consequence of the weekly balls conducted on the second floor. Whether it was erected prior to, or after, the coming of the Illinois Central railroad, in '54, is a matter concerning which I am hazy, but, it is my honest conviction that it ante-dates the advent of the railroad."
Realizing that Mr. Garvin's information was as nearly authentic as is safe to say the structure was about 80 years old in 1934.
Mr. Gants, possessed of a memory of events that was admirable, and who spent his early manhood down around Shaw's Point, on route 17, between Varna and Lacon, was born about 1850. His testimony synchronized with that of Mr. Garvin. Both were men of remarkable memories, and when they "checked" on the matter, I concluded the task of unearthing the age of the building as hopeless, unless a program of some social event, held in the upper hall, might have been endowed by posterity from a still earlier forefather.
Mr. Gravin said it was built by one of the first comers to Wenona, Austin Fowler, who conducted a general store on the ground floor, vending such articles as needles, stock fish, seersucker suits, washboilers, trunks, etc. Being the only mercantile establishment of this character in the com- munity at the time, Mr. Garvin averred he did a tremendous business.
"During the late '60s, or, perhaps, earlier '70s, the building passed into the ownership of the late Francis H. Bons, a rather reticent and retiring old gentleman, who, at death during 197, left an endowment fund that created the city's library. Mr. Bond, following his purchase, dispensed with the ballroom feature, so lorg obtaining on the second floor, and converted the space into office suites, one of which he continued to occupy until his demise," continued Mr. Garvin.
About the time of the transfer of the premises to Mr. Bond, Nr. Fowler ceased his mercantile activities and the ground level was taken over by N. T. Moulton, and son, Frank, who came this way about '73 from Mendota, and set up an exclusive hardware store. This business, among the oldest in
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the city, continued in the location until the early years of the present century, when removal was made to the Lambourn building in the south block.
After closing up the Bond estate, the building was acquired by the Star Union Brewing Company. Quite naturally, following purchase by the brewery, it became occupied as a tap room by William Lauf. Phil Connelly, Emil Strauch. When the Volstead Act stalked the land in 192C, the brewery leased the prem- ises to Charles Anthony and Otto Simon, for barber shop and cigar factory purposes. After the above act was repealed, "Chub" Johnson had a tavern in the front part, while the rear housed the cream station and shoe repair shop of Simon and Pomerenke.
In 1938 Chub sold the tavern to Edward Donnelly and when Red came home from service in 1946, he bought the lot forth of the tavern and built a dining room in connection with it. July 1952 Red sold both to Lester Funk.
Thomas Smithberger bought the building later, completely remodeling the interior into a modern laundromat and also put aluminum siding on the exterior. It now looks like a new building. It will have to be granted that it has quite a history.
The north block, wherein is located the frame structure, has not been without a danger of fire. Nevertheless, it has withstood fire in a manner that simply has to be uncanny. True, it too, has been on fire at different times, but invariably the damage has been confined to a bundle or two of shingles. In face of all this -- the old frame building on the corner continues to retain its composure and greets you with a smile upon the approach of each succeeding sun. 'Tis all uncanny, but true.
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INDUSTRIES, BUSINESSES AND RECREATION
PATCH & SWIFT FOUNDRY
Heavy industry came to Wenona with the Jesse George Foundry be- fore 1865. He sold out to Patch and Swift in 1870, and they enlarged and modernized the plant until they could beast, "one of the most perfect and complete establishments west of Pittsburgh." This foundry became famous for the quality and quantity of its work.
Stove repairs were a specialty and the firm went to great ex- pense to secure patterns of well known makes. The ornamental iron work on the buildings in the central block of Main street was made there. The foundry continued in operation until the late 1880's when it moved to Streator and continued operations until in the 1940's.
ZINC SMELTER
The Zinc Smelter started smelting in December, 1891, and contin- ued in operation for about 12 years. The original incorporators were H. S. Sherwood, E. L. Monser and George S. Monser. The smelter employee from 50 to 100 men. W. E. Monser purchased the plant in 1909 and, then, gradually dismantled it.
CIGAR MAKING
Otto Simon came to Wenona in 1902 when he started making cigars. He bought the tobacco in 300 and 400 pound case lots from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Cuba.
The tobacco was dampened in tubs over night, then the stems were taken out and the fillers hung up to dry. The cigars were made by hand and consisted of a filler, binder and wrapper. They were put in molds to shape, then cut and a wrapper put on. Mr. Simon made about 1500 cigars a week. A popular one was called 'Franz Hals' and also one was called :Reporter' which sold for 5$. The cheapest was $25 for a thou- sand and others sold for $30 and $35. They were put in wooden boxes and tin cans. He made them until 1929 when he went in the shoe and harness business with Julius Pomerenke.
Mr. Simon will also be remembered playing the French Horn in the Wonona Rand.
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GUS BECKMAN HOUSE WAS SITE OF WENONA PLANING MILL
1866
A brief announcement was made in a rejoicing mood, on October 12, 1866. The new planing mill got steam up that day. A new home for an old established business had been built and equipped, and Wenona was growing rapidly.
The building still standing today, is a monument to the building knowledge and skill of the owner, James Hodge, who was also the con- tractor and builder.
James Hodge brought his family to Wenona in 1855 from Magnolia, Illinois where he had first settled when he first came to Illinois from Ohio. He established a lumber business and planing mill and went into the contracting business. His son Lewis worked in the planing mill until the Civil War broke out and he enlisted. When Lewis return- ed from service in 1862 he served as assistant post-master for two years under S. J. Taylor, and then entered the business with his father. The factory was built soon afterward. The Wenona map of 1874 shows the Hodge planing mill on Pine Street, and the lumber yard to the east facing on Birch Street, three blocks west of Chestnut.
In the business cards it shows that Hodge had four associates; James Hodge, R. Snodgrass, J. H. Taggart and R. B. Work. They were not only contractors and builders, they also manufactured window sash, doors, blinds, molding etc., and dressed lumber to order.
It is the Gus Beckman home on Pine Street, north of Second Street North, along the G.M.O. Railroad tracks. The Gus Beckman family owned and lived in their planing mill home for over 40 years.
It seems strange to one who buys lumber today that anyone would have their own trees here on the prairies.
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PICNICS
Generation after generation of Evans Township people have enjoyed picnicking at shady spots along Old Sandy's banks. Especially popular were the woods known as Kemp's, McAdams', White's and French's. Fami- lies, churches, Sunday Schools, clubs and other groups gathered where there was shade, room for games, and the creek where youngsters could wade or dangle their feet in its cool ripples.
At Kemp's timber, northwest of Wenona, there was a wide gate where wagons (or later, cars) could be driven into the grove, and a handy stile for climbing over the fence by the main road. Here was where Bethany Lutheran Church gathered for the big social event of the year every Fourth of July. It was then called "the Swede church" because so many of its members had come from Sweden. Wagons and buggies had real horse power in those days and the "Swedes" adorned the horses with little red, white and blue flags in their bridles for this gala occasion. Upon arriving, they were unhitched and tethered to trees. Bulging pic- nic baskets were unpacked and the horses were fed oats, usually before the people ate.
There was a stand decorated with bunting where crackerjack, ice cream and pop were sold. Each child was given a slip of paper with two fives written on it. Each five meant a nickel's worth of treats. Five cents would buy a dish of ice cream. Baseball and pitching horseshoes were favorite pastimes. Children too small to do either, turned up their trousers or held up their skirts and waded in the creek. There were no bathing suits. Everybody had a good time.
YOUTH PICNIC DISRUPTED
Ed Lindgren and his sister Lettie (Johnson) recall one hot, sultry day when a youth group planned an outing at Kemp's timber. Their father, C. A. Lindgren, foresaw a storm and warned them not to go. But even in that day, teen-agers sometimes took things into their own hands so they hitched up the horses and went.
The sky turned black, the storm came and the young people scampered for refuge in the nearby Cherry Point M. E. Church which was locked but they climbed through a window. It was so dark they couldn't even see each other. The thunder and lightning were terrific. They wondered about the horses. It poured rain. There was a yelling and pounding at the door. It was Perry Griffin's father calling for help. Perry had gone wading. With the deluge, Sandy was overflowing its banks and the current became so swift it swept the boy downstream. George Esterdahl was the young hero who rescued him. Came the calm after the storm and all was well.
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CHAPTER 5.
MIDDLE DECADES
LVANS STATION
One of the colorful chapters of township history is the story of Evans Station west of Wenona. It was built near the G.Mi. & O. Railroad tracks in 1853 as a trading post. Grain was hauled to Evans and shipped to Chicago. Farmers came on horseback and in wagons to receive mail and supplies.
For years, F. A. Packingham, colorful Civil War veteran, ran a general store at Evans. In fact, he was postmaster, railway agent and Justice of the Peace too. Rural delivery was yet to come, and he served a multitude of farmers with their mail order and seed catalogues. His postal fixtures were unusually adequate, size of post considered; the array of call boxes (perhaps 100) representing reconstruction of the old Ong pharmacy at Pontiac. Evolution, represented by the advent of rural free delivery, simply put him out of business, because the patrons were no longer attracted for mail and, of course, that spelled an end of store purchases. The historic store building was razed years ago.
Around 1898 or before Mr. Taggart ran an elevator at Evans. Grain was brought to the elevator in lumber wagons drawn by horses. Later Mr. Stotler was associated with the elevator and about 1.912, Edward Haugens bought it. Shortly after he acquired it, one Sunday morining in July, it was set on fire by sparks from a C. & A. locomotive, and only for the prompt action of the neighboring farmers the building would have been destroyed. A bucket brigade carried water to the cupola, from where it was thrown onto the flames. A hole in the roof was the only damage done.
The Railroad Station was in operation until after World War I. By then all passenger trains had been taken off the G.M. & O. branch line. At present one freight train goes west one day and comes back east the next day.
The first telephone line was run from Wenona to Evans in 1897 for market reports. Cliff Statler helped build it. Later the line went to Magnolia, Varna and west.
In the late 1920's and 1930 Ed Haugens sold machinery and lumber, traded live stock and had several trucks hauling live stock to the Stock Yards in Chicago.
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When illness forced him to retire, his son Bernard took over the elevator, which is still in operation.
CUSTER
Custer, now an abandoned town, was built about 1898. It was located about three miles west of Evans Station on the henona-Varna black-top where the Chicago & Alton hailroad crossed the Rutland, Toluca & Granville Rail- road.
A depot, grain elevator and several homes were built. Ball and Twist built the elevator and Mr. Gene Jenkins, father of Cliff Jenikns, ran it for years. Later Mr. Wilkins operated it and also Bert Palm.
The first section boss was Henry Cook, a negro. James Ryan was the first conductor on the train and Mr. Albert Guderjan remembered him well.
The R.T.& N.R.R. went north to Porterfield, what is now known as the coal washer. Coal was sent there, washed and screened, ready for market. The elevator at Porterfield was also built by Ball and Twist. In later years the railroad was known as Cox's Railroad.
The Custer elevator stopped taking in grain in the late 1,20's and was taken down a few years later. Morris Stromgren of Varna was operating the elevator when it closed. The railroad tracks were taken up in the early 1940's.
Albert Guderjan took the last house down at Custer for $35.
WENONA UNION FAIR
One of the outstanding fairs in the State of Illinois was the Union Fair organized July 15, 1871. The officers of the Association were: President -- M. McCall, Vice-president -- James Freeman, Recording Sec'y -- Thomas Judd, Corresponding Secretary -- Cadet Taylor, Treasurer -- John A. McCall. The first fair was held in the Wenona Stock Yards, but in October of 1871, shares of stock in the Association were sold, and the money used to purchase 55acres of land southeast of Wenona where permanent buildings were put up. The Fair was held for twenty consecutive years and attracted huge crowds in its earlier years. In 1872 the Union Fair Gazette, 8 -· pamphlet published during the four days of the fair, had a circulation of 1500. That year the farm products show was double that of the State Fair, every entry department was full, and there had been 1832 entries all told.
The prizes were generous and brought good results. Excellent racing programs attracted crowds from a large area. Cliff Stateler recently was recounting how twenty-five cents was ample for a day at the fair for him as a small boy, and that he consumed a large sack of popcorn, another of taffy candy, and had plenty left for what ever might come up. Grant Crone relates a story his father often told them and which he said was Gospel truth. This is the story: He, Oscar Crone, hired to care
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for H. Croft's prize cattle on display at the Fair, always slert in the barn to see that no harm came to the fine animals. One night, on hearing a noise, he got up to look around, and a man, holding a gun on him, said: "I am Jesse James. Make no noise and you're safe. I want a place to rest until morning." Crone let him stay and in the morning James was gone.
Interest in the Fair gradually lessened as the years went by, and, at the meeting of the stock holders on August 4, 1892, the lenona Union Fair Association voted 148 to 6 to dissolve the organization and distribute the funds on hand among the stockholders.
GRANGE FAIR
In 1901 Evans Grange organized a Grange Fair and while it was more local than the Union Fair it was an interesting country fair where stock, products, culinary specialties, fruit, preserves and jellies were exhibited and prizes awar ed. The members of the Grange Association were Free Thi- erry, Alfred Judd, Harry Winters, Walter Wilson and Durlee Dunlap. Belle Kreider a former resident of Venona told in an interview last fall that she attended the fair in 1901, entered as a contestant in declamation, and won a scholarship to Lixon College for her prize. Miss Belle Wright, she said, tied a blue ribbon on her arm. She also remembered that she rode a horse, property of Durlee Dunlap, in one of the races. She remembers that the prettiest baby contest was always a popular one. One she remem- bers had, as some of the entries, Roberta Butcher, Villeta Thierry and Alyce Wilson and Alyce won first prize -- a very nice baby buggy. Miss Kreider went the following fall to Dixon College to use her scholarship and doesn't remember much of the Fair after that.
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CHAFTER VI
WENONA AND ITS ENTERPRISES
As the decades went by proprietors changed but business continued to increase. Records show in the late 1890's that the new Stanton Hotel had replaced the Hagy Hotel, a Whittaker Hotel operated in the same building where the Wenona Appliance is now situated, and across the I.C. tracks the first building in the block on Locust Street was the Beggs Hotel, a frame building. A large up-to-date livery barn did a flourishing business on the property now owned by Foster Motor Sales, a large Harness Shop operated by George Sprague was on the land where Wenona Produce is now located, and Parret Photography had its studio where the Wenona Coal Office, now a resi- dence, was located. The studio building was moved west after the fire, completely remodeled and is now the home of Mrs. Margaret Nolan.
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