USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois > Part 10
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Oreana.
Oreana was platted in 1872 on land owned by H. C. Bower. Two general stores, two elevators, a blacksmith shop and a substan- tial modern school house are located in the village. A Christian church, a Baptist church, a Modern Woodmen lodge and a Knights of Pythias lodge are here located. The population is about 150. But one doc- tor. C. A. Mallory. It is situated about seven
niles northeast of Decatur in the most of time productive rolling prairie lands.
Oakley.
Oakley was platted in 1850 on land owned by Withany Real Two general stores, two elevators, and one blacksmith shop consti- tute the business of the village. A Modern Woodmien lodge, a U'mted Brethren church and a modern school house are located here The population is 200. It is situated five miles erst of Decatur on the Wabash Rail road.
Elwin.
1.1win. originally Wheatland, changed to is present game on account of a Wheatland in Will county, was platted in 1850 on land owned by William Martin and Daniel 11. Hwood. The village has a general store. an elevator, a blacksmith shop, one doctor. Joseph Leslie, a Methodist church and a well arranged school house: population about too. It is located five miles south of Decatur on the Ulimon Central Railroad in South Wheatland township m a very for- tile prairie corn and oats producing spot.
Boody.
Bons to on the St Louis branch of the Wabash Railroad about four miles south- west of Decatur in Blue Mound township. in a fine corn and wheat producing locality. It was platted in 1870 on land owned by Frederick Neintker, who entered it from the government in 1850. It has two gen- eral stores, one elevator, one blacksmith shop, one shoe store, one Umted Brethren church, one town hall. a two-room school hotte; two doctors. The secret societies The Fraternal Army. The Modern Wammen and The Home Circle. Popula
Macon.
Macon was platted in 1850 on land owned by the Illinois Central Railroad. it was in- corporated April 10, 8%). The first store
rentewas built ny 1850 by Charles Withus and Charles Sammens. The first dwelling house was erected by A. J. Harris i 1850. he beginning the work on Sunday.
There are at present two general stores, two hardware stores, one furniture store, one drug store, two show stores one milliers Store, two banks, two implement houses. one lumber yard, two elevators, two barbier Shops, one meat market, three restaurants. one bakery, two blacksmith shops, two liv ery stables, one sale stable, two hotels, two veterinary surgeons, two doctors, one in- surance office, one newspaper. The Macon Record, a Catholic church, a Presbyterian church and a Methodist church.
In lodges they have . \ Masome, an Odd Fellows, and a Supreme Court of Honor. I also has a six room school, one of the best frage houses in the county, which occupies a central location. The population Is Son. It is about nine miles south of De- catur in South Macon township in a fine farming community. It has a system of public water works, the water coming from a deep well.
Forsyth.
This village was platted in 18og on land owned by Edward O. Smith, and named after Robert Forsyth, the general freight agent of the Ihnois Central Railroad. It contains at present two general stocks of goods, one blacksmith shop one elevator. one Methodist church, a one room when house, a Modern Woodmen lodge, a Knights of luthias lodge and an Odd Fellow - lodge The population is 200. It is located Six miles north of Decatur in a very productive
Hervey City.
Herses City was platted in 1872 on land owned by P' S. Unten, located jour miles southeast of Vi Zion, in Mt. Zion township The postoffice at this placeis known by the Sofroment as Outten Postoffice The vil
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.
lage contains one store and two elevators. The population is about sixty-five. The surrounding country is typical Macon coun- ty land.
Hight.
In 1900 an elevator was erected about three-fourths of a mile southeast of Hervey City on the Jesse Vowel land; C. A. Hight of Dalton City being one of the owners of the elevator gave the station the name of Hight. The place now has an excellent school house and a dwelling house, also a small depot.
Mt. Zion.
This village was platted on land owned by S. K. Smith between 1825 and 1830. It was called Wilson Postoffice, but in 1830 a Cumberland Presbyterian church was erect- ed there and named Mt. Zion church; the name of the town was at once changed to Mt. Zion. The first house in town was built by Andrew Wilson near the present site of John Scott's house.
The village contains three general stores, one implement house, one harness shop, one lumber yard, one blacksmith shop, one bar- ber shop, one elevator, two doctors, a Cum- berland Presbyterian church, a Methodist church and a two-room school house. The school house was built for a college and was used for that purpose until the school was removed to Lincoln, Illinois. The popu- lation is about 300. It is situated about five miles southeast of Decatur in Mt. Zion township.
Harristown.
This village was platted on land owned by J. H. Burkey. It was named Summit, because it is the highest point between Indi- anapolis and Springfield, but when the rail- road was completed it was changed to llar- ristown in honor of a railroad official in Springfieldl. It contains a general store, a blacksmith shop, an elevator, a restaurant, a Methodist church, a Church of Christ,
and a two-room school house. It has a population of 150. It is situated about eight miles west of Decatur in Harristown town- ship; the surrounding country is beauti- fully undulating and very fertile.
Maroa.
This city was platted in 1854 on land owned by the "Associated Land Company" and the Illinois Central Railroad Company. It was incorporated as a city in 1867. The first house was built by G. J. Schenk in 1855. The "Prairie Hotel" was built by William Greer in 1858; in the same year the first school house was built, and Robert Collins was the first teacher.
The city contains two dry goods stores, four grocery stores, two drug stores, three blacksmith shops, two implement houses, one furniture store, two hardware stores, three restaurants, two barber shops, two millinery stores, two hotels, two meat shops, two lumber yards, two banks, three saloons, one harness shop, one livery stable, two ele- vators, a Methodist church, a Christian church, a Presbyterian church, two school houses, one of two and the other of six rooms. Lodges: Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Modern Woodmen, Rebekah, Rathbone Sisters and Eastern Star. One lawyer and three doctors are lo- cated there. Population, 2,000. It has a system of water works owned by the city ; its water supply coming from a deep well. There is also a private electric light plant which supplies the city both as to city and private use.
Warrensburg.
This village was platted in 1872 on land owned by J. K. Warren ; town assumed his name. There are in the village three gen- cral stores, one drug store, two restaurants, two hotels, one lumber yard, two elevators, one harness shop, two livery barns, one bar- ber shop, one paper, "The Warrensburg Times," a Methodist church, a Congrega-
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PAST AND PRESENT (1) \\CON COUNTY
tional church, a Church of God, also a four room school house. The population is com.
The village is located eight miles north- west of Decatur on a ridge overlooking the country to the north and northwest for many miles. For a picturesque site there is none in the county its equal. The village supports two doctors.
Argenta.
The village of Argenta was platted on land owned by Russell B. Rogers in 1873. when the Decatur, Monticello & Champaign Railroad, now a branch of the Illinois Cen- tral, was constructed. The fortieth parallel passes through this place dividing it almost equally.
The first house was built by George M. George in the northeast part of town. The first store room was built by William Illis ; it was destroyed by fire, then replaced by the one now owned by William Kidder. The village contains two general stores, two hardware stores, one furniture store. two barber shops, one harness shop, two res taurants, one hotel, one meat market, two elevators, one bank, one lumber yard, one hvery barn, one paper, "The Argenta Hustler." a Methodist church, a Cumber- land Presbyterian church, a United Breth- ren church. amt a Christian church, also a four cum school house; two doctors and one dentist are located there.
Niantic.
This village was platted about 1853 on lool owned by Jesse Lockhart. Ogmally the inhabitants named the place Long Point. the railroad called it Prairie City and the 1ยป stal department knew it as Lockhart. Later these three elements united in nam ing it Niantic in honor of some town in Connecticut bearing the name of some In dian tribe:
Ficorge Wree built the first house in Nian- tic. now occupied by Dr. A. Hall as an of
fice. The business is as follows Three general stores, one drug store, five grocery stores, one meat market, one shoe store, 180 restaurants, two bakeries, three barber shops, two confectioners, one harness shop, three blacksmith shops, one real estate firm, two hotels, one coal shaft, three gram dealers and implement houses, one lumber yard, one hardware store, one bank, two doctors a Komm tathohe church, a Chris tian church, a Methodist church. Lodges: Old Fellows, Knights of Pythias. Modern Woodmen, Ancient Order of United Work- men, Fraternal Crystal Light, Royal Circle. Fraternal Army, Yeomen of America ; also a modern four room school house as good as any you will find in a village of its size.
Bearsdale was established when the P. D. & E. Railway was built, and is located in the west part of Thekory Point township. taking the name of the original settlers, Hear. It has two grain elevators, two stores, a blacksmith shop and a postoffice.
Prairie Hall was established soon after the Vandaha was built ; it lies in the east part of Mt. Zion township. A general store, two gram elevators and a postoffice are lo- cared there.
Heman, formerly Bullardsville, was estab- lished on the P .. D. & F. Railway a few miles west of Warrensburg, some time after the building of the railroad. It has an ck- Vator, a store and a postoffice.
Walker, located in the south part of South Macon township, was established soon after the building of the Illinois Central Railway. It has two elevators, a store and a post- office.
I mery, located in the south part of Maroa township, was established soon after the construction of the Illinois Central Rail- road. It has two grain elevators, a store and a postoffice.
Sangam m, heated in the west part of Sangation township, was established soon after the building of the Wabash Railroad.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.
It has two stores, a grain elevator, a black- smith shop and a postoffice.
Wykles, about three miles west of Deca- tur was established but a few years ago. It contains an elevator and a postoffice.
The Lost Towns of Macon County.
In 1836 John and Thomas Moffett platted the town of Madison where the Madison school house now stands. The town grew for a while but was finally abandoned.
The town of Murphreysboro was platted in 1839 on what is known as the Volgamot farm south of Newburg in Friends Creek township. It was for a time a rival of De- catur, but eventually lost its prestige.
The town of West Danville, better known as "Dantown," just east of Newburg, was platted by Daniel Conklin about 1838. It grew for a number of years making quite a conspicuous village, but finally succumbed to decay ; nothing remains but one residence and the old distillery to tell of its halcyon davs.
The Schools.
The educational facilities of Macon coun- ty have kept apace with those of any of the adjacent counties.
During its first decade the houses were few and far between; these houses were built by donations of material and labor, and the teacher was dependent upon the parents for his pay, which was sometimes as low as ten dollars per month : he boarded around, day or week about, thus securing his board free. Wood was furnished by the parents and chopped by the large boys ; the house was swept once a day by the large girls.
During this formative period the teachers were divided into the following classes : The school teacher who taught the school ; the school master who mastered the school, and the school keeper who kept others from getting the school. There were, however, some excellent teachers in those days, who
were conscientious and well prepared. This class, in consequence of the meager stipend could not long remain in the profession, thus necessitating constant recruits, who were, not infrequently, penniless adven- turers exploring the west, trying to turn a dollar by teaching. The pioneer teacher being examined by the board of directors, needed really but two qualifications-a rugged physique and an aptness in the fun- damentals of arithmetic, as the following question put at a prospective teacher who taught the school in the Garver settlement demonstrates. Question : What will be the cost of sixty bushels of wheat at a dollar per bushel ? The teacher's ready answer promptly closed the examination and se- cured to him the authority to take charge of the school. It is true, nevertheless, that the teacher was plied with all kinds of knotty problems, which did not in any event involve very intricate manipulations in their solutions, yet they were so considered by the patrons, and woe unto the teacher who could not solve them as by magic.
The teacher by the aid of the board of directors usually formulated a set of rules which were tacked upon the wall and re- viewed every morning as part of the day's task. The government was administered by the rod or intimidation, and by courting the favor of the older boys and girls. There was an unwritten law, not included in the directors' rules, permitting the pupils to bar out the teacher in order to compel him to treat ; the teacher was often subjected to very rough and unwarranted treatment on these occasions. This custom, we are glad to say, is now obsolete.
The methods of teaching were quite dif- ferent from those of the present. The books in use did not follow the lines of least resistance, as our psychologists advo- cate, but on the contrary, seemed to follow the lines presenting most friction. A care- ful inspection of the following list of books
will enable you to decide this for yoursch : Reader. all grades. New Testament , speller. Webster's Elementary : arithmetic, Smily. Is practically completed the list. Ich Stor's Elementary Speller, which was cer tanky very comprehensive and chiving to the beginner, was used in the first five years of the child's school hie to the exclusion of everything else.
The single rule of three of single proper tion, was the climax in arithMetical attain- ment The methods of recitation in all the branches were purely mechanical. no thought work being attempted.
It was customary to sinds aloud one un accustomed to It could not distinguish the study from the recitation. If the singing of the chip is an index to the ability of the chopper how gratifying to the teacher must this tingling and tintinnabulating, rising and ebbing of the voice have been.
The school houses were. likewise, worthy of mention ; they were alspost invariably of logs, and were chinked and daubed.
Some of them had no floors, and those that this have were floored with puncheon howed out upon one side, smoothed by the children sliding back and forth on them. The school house was heated by a large fire place located at one end of the room. These fire places were very large, being a receptacle for sticks of wood ent mio card lengths. The chimneys were made of wood and clay. As you would naturally suppose. most of the heat from the fire-place went up the hage chines, instead of warming the room of warmed the outside The windows were usually made by cutting out a log upon one side of the house, making the windows - rather wide but not very high. No supply of glass being accessible for these first houses, these are things in the wall that have been described were covered over with greased paper. the object in greasing the more transparent and also taggher so as to
must have been an esthetic light that was admitted through these tallow doppel win- How panes whatever the result may have been, it was the only make slutt until glass could be scented
He seats in these old school house's would prove a nightmare to this generation They, too, were made of slabs, hewn upin one side, with no lazy back attach nent The little fellows were placed sale by sale on these rough hewn benches. . eight or ten in a row, scarcely any of them able to reach the floor with their feet. Less were driven into these slabs from the lower side. These were not always of the same length, so that at times the benches would rock from side to side, greatly to the an- nov ance of the children perched upon them. "The writing desks were made of split logs. and at a later date of planks, which were arranged around the sides of the room, usually under the windows pins were driven into the walls and the slabs or planks land upon them. they were not of that gilt- edged and varmshed type of today, but were quite substantial These are the desks that the boys took such a vicious delight in defacing with their jack knives; they cut upon them all sorts of hierogly phical char actors, checkerboards and representations of human beings and otherwise."
The first school house in the county was built m 1825 on the old Wudick farm, now owned by the I' M. Wakof estate, located three and a half miles southwest of De- cator. The second was built in 1828 on the 1. . Smith lant Abraham Lincoln at tende I single and spelling school in this
The modern school is the outgrowth i the free-school les passed by the Illinois legislature in 1855. Like all laws n has im dergone many changes sted its enactment most of which have resulted in gond
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MACON COUNTY.
in order to place the school law on a par with the advanced condition of our present schools.
The result of the school law has been a better and a more uniform system of work throughout the county and state. The coun- try schools of this county have forged ahead of other counties of the state by adopting and following "The State Course of Study," which originated in Macon county and has here, practically, been de- veloped to its present state of efficiency. It has ushered in the alternation of work, whereby the school carries the even num- bered grades : one, two, four, six, eight and ten one year and the odd numbered grades : one, two, three, five, seven and nine the next year. This reduces the number of classes and gives, in addition, two years of high school work. The high school work, also music and drawing, have for the last six years been very creditably done. The above work has in a large measure been responsible for better scholarship in the teacher.
Another result of this law is a careful sys- tem of taxation for the support of the schools, which gives a longer term, now an average of eight months each year, and a more professional trend to the teacher ; one who has prepared especially for the work, by attending a good normal school after completing from two to four years of high school work ; the compensation is so much better that teachers are justified in pre- paring for and in entering teaching for a life work.
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The school-house has in a sense kept in touch with the private residence as to mod- ern appearances and conveniences. Outside of Decatur there are twenty-three brick and one hundred and nine frame houses; many of these are modern in the manner of arrangement, light, heat and furniture- numbers of them are heated by furnaces.
The board of directors, teachers, pupils
and patrons have united with the county superintendent of schools to make the school surroundings, out of doors as well as in, attractive and habitable. Most school yards are fenced and contain shade trees ; the houses are painted inside and out, the walls are decorated with pictures and neatly papered. The schools in most districts are supplied with numerous reference books in addition to a library for general reading- maps, globes, charts and other needed ap- paratus are in evidence.
The teachers employed in the county during the year numbered about two hun- dred and seventy-five, a large majority be- ing ladies. The average salary is between fifty and fifty-five dollars per month.
The average number of pupils in a dis- trict in the county schools is about twent- five, making the cost per pupil about two dollars per month.
Outside of the village the school tax in some districts is as low as one and a half per cent, in the village it reaches two and a half per cent, which is the limit for gen- eral school purposes.
Some of the schools, especially where the farms are large, as in Milam township, are smaller, thus making the rate per capita much higher. In these communities it would be much cheaper if the schools were consolidated and a house large enough to accommodate all built in the center of the township.
In addition to the library books already mentioned, the country schools of this county have quite a large circulating library, belonging to the schools individu- ally. in sets of ten volumes each.
The plan of which is this: Each school that buys a set becomes a member of the library association. After the owner of the library has read it then it is exchanged, through the county superintendent's office, for one brought in by some other school. There being about thirty-five original sets
PAST AND PRESENT OF MACUN CLIENT)
containing not duplicate books the schools will have fresh reading material for some years. In order to supply all the schools wanting libraries it became necessary to duplicate all of these libraries. It is believed that these libraries have been the source of more real development and genuine good than any one thing done for the children.
A large number of reading books of the various grades are loaned to the teachers through the county superintendent's office. these are used for supplementing the read- er- owned by the pupils. This has also proven very satisfactory to both teacher and pupil.
The teachers also have a county library, which contains, in the main, professional works.
School Lands.
When the state of Illinois was admitted to the C'mon it was decided that section number sixteen of each township should be set aside for the use of the public schools of that township.
There being no law at the time permitting the trustees or any one in authority to lease or rent the same most of these lands were sold at from twenty-five cents to twelve and a half dollars per acre. By the way, there is but one section in Macon county that it not sold-this belongs to township eighteen, range one, east, which is the polit- ical township of Austin in the northwest part of the county. The land is not for sale, but is valued at one hundred dollars per acre. It is divided into three farms, two of one hundred and sixty acres cach and one of three hundred and twenty acres. Fach farm has a good set of buildings which, mehurling the fences, are kept in good repair. The rentals aggregate three thousand dollars per year, paying nearly the entire expense of maintaining the schools of the trayship. There are three seasons why this section of land was never sold: The first Is that it was under water until
September of each year. the second is that after it enterged from the Water so as to I visibile the greater part of the year land in that locality was still very cheap, it be mg classed as swamp land, but notwith Standing, some of the mhabitants of that township thought the time ripe for the dis posal of the land, and accordingly circulated a petition to that effect, securing a majority of the legal voters in the township. Now the third reason appears : James Parker, who owned land in the east part of the townslup, refused to sign the petition, and at once circulated a counter petition oppos- ing the sale of the land and, at the same time, agreeing to go to the legislature to urge the passage of a bill permitting the leasing of school lands by the board of trus- lees. He was successful in securing the requisite number of signatures to his peti- tion and later in getting a law for renting school lands, thereby retaining the land for the use of future posterity.
Thus the foresight of one man has given Austin township a permanent net income, since school property is not taxable, of not less than three thousand dollars per year, which practically defrays the school ex- penses of the entire township.
Had every township of Macon county foreseen this condition the schools outside of the city and villages would be self sup- porting.
In 100 Austin township leased, for a term of ninety nine years, from the school trustees, one acre for a town hall site.
The laws of Illinois place the manage- ment of a school district in control of a board of three directors, one to be selected cach year. The board bas absolute control of the affairs et the district. The teacher is enplayed by them, the expenses of the school are computed by them and the levy, which can put exceed two and one half per cont for general school purposes and two anil onchali per cent for building, is re-
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