USA > Illinois > Shelby County > Stewardson > Stewardson, the first 100 years : history of the village of Stewardson, Prairie Township and vicinity > Part 2
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Mr. Gress also manufactured furni- ture for the increasing numbers of homes and assisted in times of bereave- ment supplying handmade coffins, flow- ers, and serving as the village under- taker. Prior to Mr. Gress, Mr. Noah Hosteter had the distinction of being the first undertaker in the village.
Scott Lowery, J. W. Ricketts, R. Walk- er and Sons, and A. D. Williams pro- vided much of the muscle and made the town a reality. They were the early carpenters that built the business houses, the homes and the barns. Each stated that satisfaction was guar- anteed. R. Walker and Sons agreed to do plain and fancy woodwork for those who were interested in frills. Of course, Hawbeck and Hawyer finished off the interiors of these buildings since they were considered to be the best plasterers and paperhangers (and prob- ably the only ones) in town. A. D. Williams also made another contribu- tion to the Village in the form of the future Stewardson wit and businessman,
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Roley moved to this log cabin soon after he re- turned from the Civil War. Mrs. Clarence Brandt now lives on the site of the old Roley homestead. Mr. Samuel Roley was born in Shelby County during the year of 1842.
his son, Frank Williams.
Women of early Stewardson were kept happy and beautiful by the serv- ices of William Jordon, a hairdresser, on the west side of the C&P Tracks. They were further adorned by the head- gear sold by Mrs. C. A. Morman and Aunt Polly McIver in their millinery shops. Mr. Jordon, John Hebel, and Charlie Reynolds met the grooming needs of the men. It would seem that Charlie had an advantage over his competition since he was located in Mr. A. Peters' Shoe Shop. Mr. Peters was Stewardson's first shoemaker. In those days the cobbler was truly a boot and shoemaker.
Drs. Knox, B. B. Bacon, and Worley treated the ills and attended to child- birth in Stewardson during the 1870's and early 1880's. They were certainly kept busy with the malaria and typhoid fever epidemics of 1878, as well as re- lieving the pain of a large number of Stewardson's citizens who were afficted with boils that year.
Anyone running afoul of the law sought the services of Stewardson's young attorney, W. B. Townsend, to de- fend them in the court of Stewardson's Justice of the Peace, T. A. Curry. Mr. Townsend came to Stewardson from Canada, via Sullivan, in 1878, and con- tinued to practice through the 1880's. His office was in the Rickett's building. In later years Chris Wilson and H. H. York also served as legal counselors.
The parched lips of the German com- munity were moistened by H. Martin, the proprietor of the German Saloon. Apparently, Mr. Reeder of the Parlor Saloon attended to the English counter-
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part. It was surmised that Joel Shelton was agreeable to serve anyone who was thirsty in his saloon on South Pine Street.
Stewardson was growing, but not all of the movement was into town. One old timer has very aptly said, "Some blew in and some blew out, with no one knowing where they came from or where they went." Hiran Graybill stood ready to assist those "who blew out" with his "satisfaction guaranteed" auctioneer services. Mr. Graybill was prepared to cry a sale in either English or German.
Mr. Henry Dunzing put Stewardson on wheels with wagons and carriages manufactured in his shop on East Main Street; and the Village smithy, George Zalman, kept them rolling. In addition to Mr. Zalman, Mr. McDaniel and Sons opened a blacksmith shop in 1878 and were followed a few years later by Emanuel Smith. The blacksmith and wagon maker were very important peo- ple in Stewardson and commanded posi- tions of respect and leadership.
But not all of the activity was work. A driving, striving, thriving town also needed rest and entertainment. Enter- tained they were by the Stewardson Brass Band under the direction of Mr. Huffer in 1878 and the Stewardson Dra- matics Club. Charlie Tull was sure .Stewardson Brass Band will . soon be able to compete with, if not excel, the best bands in the state." The Stewardson Dramatics Club stood ready to entertain the town with such plays as "Out in the Street", a beauti- ful temperance drama. The people al- so entertained themselves with spelling matches, shooting matches, and public speakers.
In addition to entertainment, the citi- zens of Stewardson also had a need to know. This need was met by the Stew- ardson Enterprise in 1878. The Enter- prise was later followed by the Steward- son Clipper organized by Mr. Zip Wil- son and William Fagan in 1887. These newspapers printed such newsy items as: "Stewardson has eight widows, nine grass widows, fourteen old maids, seven old bachelors, five widowers, and they all want to marry." It was only through these publications that people learned that "Mrs. Brunk's cow died last night." The newspaper business in Stewardson grew and faltered and grew again, keeping pace with the growth of Stewardson and surviving with an excellent publication to the present date.
A spurt of growth had started again by the mid 1880's with new housing additions being constructed, monstrous
Steam Engines like this were used to furnish power for operating threshing machines, ensilage cutters, etc. The wooden wheeled wagon was used to haul coal to be used for fuel to develop the steam needed to op- erate the engine. Water had to be hauled to the steam engine, too. Us- ually the farmers had to furnish the coal needed for his threshing job.
ther;
From left to right: Henry Zalman, Mrs. Glen Giesler's grandfa- Edward Zalman, Louis Zalman, and Fred Zalman.
haybarns being built, and new busi- nesses moving in. No doubt, this growth was vitalized by the crossing of the Wabash Railroad with another set of tracks running from the east to the west and finally called the Cloverleaf. This second set of tracks was com- pleted in 1883 and widened to a stand- ard gauge rail in 1889. Stewardson indeed was now a center of commerce and became well known to the drum- mers selling their wares. Salesmen came to Stewardson by rail and took advantage of the many livery services to carry their wares to the surrounding villages. In those days, Stewardson was known to these early drummers for its good hotel accommodations, its good food, and some say for its rich poker games.
George Voris kept crews of men busy with his expanding grain and hay busi- ness, subdivisions, and syrup production at Sugarville. In 1884, D. M. Duddle- sten revolutionized the brick and tile industry by keeping three brick kilns burning continuously, supplying bricks not only for Stewardson, but ship- ping large quantities by rail. Hoop poles were in great demand and kept Leffler's Hoop-Pole Shop in the south- ern part of town continually humming. The mainstay to Stewardson's bulging economy and growth was agriculture. Broomcorn was queen, and timothy was king. The milling industry continued to hum, day and night, under the direction of Mr. Swingle. The physical size of the mill and its capacity to produce were greatly increased with a large expansion program by its new owner, Mr. Singer, in 1894.
Through the 1890's and early 1900's,
Stewardson continued to expand and grow with its population surpassing a thousand people around 1900. In 1893, the large Opera Hall was constructed and has since served as a famous land- mark. The newly organized Steward- son National Bank of 1892 occupied the front quarters of the downstairs portion of the building, while Mr. Voris oper- ated his grain business out of an of- fice in the rear of the building. A stage erected in one of the rooms on the sec- ond floor served as home base for the Eclipse Comedy Company, and the Stewardson Dramatics Company, and was the center of Stewardson's enter- tainment in the way of plays and politi- cal speakers.
In 1902 the Stewardson Telephone Company was formed and an old resi- dent, F. X. Gress died in approximate- ly the same year. A few short years later, his son-in-law, Dr. Hoffman, started one of the biggest building projects ever undertaken in Steward- son. The newly formed F&M Bank was the first business to move into the Hoffman Block Building in 1909. A new, modern brick school was also constructed in 1909.
All the taverns closed when the town was voted dry in 1910. In 1911 the old village kerosene street lamps were re- placed with an electric lighting system.
Frank Williams was the herald of a new era as he puffed down the street in his Stanley Steamer. The creation of Gus and Gaston Chevrolet went on sale in the new Frede Agency, and C. A. Mietzner featured the "Leaping Lizzy" in his new Ford Agency on South Cedar. Little did anyone realize that the new automobile would cause the town to de-
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cline.
Stewardson was host to a free chau- tauqua in 1922 that was acclaimed throughout the state as being one of the finest in its day. The Liberty Theater entertained Stewardson with its silent pictures; and a man called "Piedmont" terrorized the town during 1922 in true Wild West fashion. Also during the early 20's, one of Stewardson's boys rode into fame, or more appropriately into a building, on the old hand pumper. Mr. Milchman built a number of new brick business houses, next to the Opera Hall, in 1925, to replace the wooden structures destroyed by fire a few years earlier. In 1926 or 1927 Mr. F. F. Yakey bought the old meat pack- ing plant and used trucks for the first time to sell meat. The old Wabash combined its passenger train and freight trains into a train of two pas- senger cars and about one-half-a-dozen freight cars. Suddenly, the bank closed in 1928, the broomcorn factory burned, and the Great Depression hit with full force.
During the War years in the 1940's, the local Red Cross Chapter rolled band- ages and everyone flattened tin cans to help the war effort. Mr. Yakey re- opened the packing house and was butchering fifty head of cattle a day, and four hundred head of hogs a week at the peak of production. In 1948, the chilling cry rang out, "Stewardson is burning!" The famous old Block
This is a picture of some local women doing volunteer Red Cross work during the second World War. Left to right, seated: Regina Moomaw, Flor- ence (Schultz) Harrington, Marie Bruns, Marilyn (Steagall) Allsop, Marie (Fouste) Tate, Eva (Rothrock) Brown, Reva Elliott, Mrs. T. L. Dunagan, Delores Bruns.
Standing, left to right: Margaret Slifer, Mrs. Anna Friese, Isabelle Bruns, Louann (Engel) Boldt, Mrs. Paul Yakey.
Building was reduced to smoldering rubble. In 1949 the old packing house closed for the last time. The school system was consolidated, and readin' writin', 'rithmetic, and the old country school passed into history. They were
Engel's Hardware Store on Main Street in 1949. You can see the wallpaper display in the window and a reflection of the brick building at the southeast corner of Main and Cedar Streets. In the background is the two story Weber Store building.
In front is Lucille (Stansfield) Huffmaster and in front of the res- taurant are Myrtle Homsey, a music teacher, Anna Ruth Smith, Home Ec teacher and Hazel Roberts, a Science teacher.
A 1947 Ford is parked to the right.
replaced with a new modern school in 1950. An old landmark burned in 1953, and Stewardson missed the spiraling white steeple of the Lutheran Church. The Municipal Water System was in- stalled in 1956, and Stewardson soon started dialing their numbers rather than calling Central. A Gas System was installed by Central Illinois Public Service Company in 1964, and a new grade school was built near the Stew- ardson-Strasburg High School in 1967. The town slowly started to grow during the 1960's with a new housing develop- ment and new businesses moving into the Village.
Today, Stewardson has a large new housing addition; a construction com- pany; a growing packing plant; two auto dealers; a large tractor dealer- ship; an awning company; a cafe; hard- ware store; salvage store; barber shop; beauty shops; a fabric shop; bank: a gas station; two grocery stores; a feed store; a large elevator company: a fertilizer plant; lumber yard; several smaller businesses; and four churches. Stewardson now has its homecoming, pa. rades, and Fourth of July fireworks. Once again, in 1970, Stewardson sur- passed the old census of 750 lively peo- ple. The words of I. W. Long are just as appropriate today as they were in 1887: "Stewardson is a 'boomin', and I am here to boom along with her."
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Rincker Siding
The Herborn Story
Herborn, is located in Section 22, Prairie Township, approximately 3 miles north of Stewardson on land pre- viously owned by Mr. H. W. Rincker. The C&P Railroad (Wabash) agreed to put in a switch at the present lo- cation of Herborn in compensation to Mr. Rincker in exchange for a right of way through his land. The rail- road was built through Prairie Twp. in 1873 and 1874. Until 1878 this switch in the middle of the prairie was known as "Rincker Siding" and "Rincker Station". The old C&P Railroad built a Depot at Rincker station in mid 1878. A post office was established in the fall of 1878 under the name of Herborn after Mr. Rincker's home in Germany. It is reported that Mr. Rincker built a grain warehouse, a blacksmith shop, and one dwelling. F. M. Donnely was the blacksmith and
Uptown Herborn - Falk's Store, Residence and Barn.
postmaster in early Herborn while Mr. T. J. Cantwell served as deputy post-
Picture taken along the side of the Herborn Store with Elmer Falk standing beside the huckster wagon to the left.
Herborn Store with the Standard Oil Gasoline Pump. Left to right, Elmer Falk and sons, John and Tommy.
master. Mr. Cantwell also ran the General Store and bought grain. Mr. Hunt and Mr. Galt started manufac- turing tile in 1881 and for a short peri- od of time it appeared that Herborn might become a sizable town.
John W. Falk was one of the better known business men in Herborn of old. Mr. Falk was born in Germany on 9-7-1856 and came to Chicago with his parents in 1858 and moved to Prairie Township about 1863. Mr. Falk moved to Stewardson in 1877 and ran a general merchandise store for one year. He married Anna Giesler in 1878 and returned to the farm. He continued in farming for 11 years un- til he opened a general merchantile business in Herborn, Ill., during the year of 1889. Within a short time, he became a partner in the tile factory and a few years later added a dealer- ship in grain to his business. As of 1891, the Herborn Tile Manufacturing Co. continued under the partnership of John W. Falk, his brother, Joseph Falk and A. T. Weber. Mr. Falk also serv- ed as postmaster, express and freight agent, and trustee of the Herborn school. Mr. John Falk, son, wife, and Mr. and Mrs. John Elmer Falk, as- sumed responsibility for the general store in 1920. This store burned in 1931. The store was rebuilt and Elmer continued to operate it until 1933.
The old store building was moved to Stewardson and was made into a private residence and Herborn was without a store until Rufus Von- Behren rebuilt in 1945. The store con-
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tinued in operation until 1970. The old store burned in 1972.
The founder of Herborn, Ill., Hen- rich Wilhelm Rincker, was born June 25, 1818, in Herborn, Nassau, Ger- many. He was a graduate of the Uni- versity at Karlsruhe, Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Rincker then came to Amer- ica and settled in Chicago in 1846. Henrich Wilhelm Rincker was a bell maker by trade and opened a Bell and Brass foundry on Canal St. near Adams St. in Chicago. The first Mrs. Rincker died during the 1849 cholera epidemic and Mr. Rincker remarried to Anna Margareta Gans. The Rinck- er family, after the death of a daugh- ter in 1856, moved to Fort Wayne, Ind. so that Mr. Rincker could study the ministry. The family then moved to Prairie Township, Shelby County, Ill. in 1864 and settled on 600 acres of virgin prairie land on section 23. In ad- dition to founding the town of Herborn, Mr. Rincker started Lutheran Congre- gations in Strasburg, Shelbyville, Stew-
ardson, and Sigel. Mr. Rincker re- turned to his old trade of Bell maker and started a foundry in Sigel, Ill. Henrich Rincker died in Herborn, Ill. on 11-27-1889. His wife Anna Mar- gareta Gans Rincker died in Herborn, Ill. on 3-1-1896. Mr. Rincker owned as much as 800 to 1,000 acres in Prairie Township.
D
JOHN FALK'S RAILROAD CENTER IN HERBORN
John Falk, the owner of the Depot Stores in Stewardson and Effingham, has this very unique residence in Her-
born. To the left is a box car that John has made into a living room. The caboose was the first one to be mov- ed here and it had complete living quar- ters in it. To the right of the caboose is a refrigerator car that has also been made into living quarters.
AII three of these have antique items in them along with being modern and comfortable living quarters. Marv of the items are from the early rail- road days, such as stoves, chairs, bunks, etc.
To the right is a tank car that is used for water storage. In the back- ground you can see a windmill that pumps water for their use and a wa- ter tower, reminiscent of the days of the use of steam engines on the trains.
All four of these cars are setting on standard railroad rails.
On the tower, John has painted this sign-"Herborn" "population 28 and still growing."
Prairie Township During The Civil War
During the Civil War period, there was one issue that everyone approached with a united front. That issue was taxes. For the first time, an income tax of 5% was levied on all incomes over $600. In assessing this tax against farmers, members of the family over five years old were each counted as annually consuming $50 of the products of the farm. This was counted as in- come. A stamp tax was also levied on all legal transactions. Stamps were al- so required on all drugs and medicines sold in bottles, as well as on keg beer and tobacco. All merchants, profes- sional people, blacksmiths, and live- stock breeders were required to pay a $10 annual tax. Revenues from all sources amounted to around $200,000 from Shelby County.
Prairie township was not left un- touched by the Civil War in other ways. A number of the young men were directly involved in the conflict, as well as the home-folks experiencing some ef- fects of the war. The feelings of Prairie Township were also divided.
During the election of 1864, the citi- zens of the precinct were assembled at
the polling place, a quarter mile west of the present home of Dean Kessler. A group of pro-slavery men from near the Little Wabash River suddenly rode in and, at gun-point, prevented the people from voting. Apparently a number of fist fights and bloody noses had already occurred when two Union soldiers, home on leave, came to vote. In spite of the pro-southerns' threat, the two soldiers drew their guns and announced they were coming in. The pro-slavery men were perceptive enough to recog- nize that the soldiers were serious in their intent. They quickly mounted their horses and rode off.
Nor was this the only time the band of rowdies expressed their southern leanings. The same group tied up a man east of town and were prepared to kill him, because he refused to salute a picture of Jeff Davis, the Con- federate president. Fortunately, an- other man had just joined the group and casually asked if anyone knew anything about the troop of soldiers just beyond the distant hill. The pro-slavery men leaped to their horses and rode off leaving the man tied, but alive. Of course, the soldiers never came.
There was a band of guerrillas oper- ating in this general area that stole horses during the Civil War and sold
them to the Government Depot in Granite City, Illinois. They had a string of hide-outs between Toledo, Illi- nois and Granite City. One of these hide-outs was in the deep woods near the Spain Cemetery, northeast of Steward- son. These hide-outs were used both as collection points and as places to rest the horses during the day on their westward journey.
Other bands from the south also made at least one raid into Prairie and Rich- land Townships. The purpose of this raid was for plunder. Mr. William Stewardson was living on the present day Bill Pikesh farm when he received a message from St. Louis that a band of southern marauders were on their way to Prairie Township. They prepared for the raid by hiding their furniture in the barn loft and covering it with huge amounts of loose hay. The Stewardsons either left or hid, the raiders came, they searched, but did not find a thing. The marauders walked over the valu- ables of the Stewardson family, break- ing the door on a seventeenth century grandfather clock. It was the only casualty of the raid.
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Our Sustaining Faith
Christian Church on east Main St. Carl Shadwell owns the building now and it is used for a storage room.
First Christian Church 1860 - 1870
Sometime in the late 1860's or in the early 1870's, families of Arch Beals, Allen Seward, Dan Baker, George Shu- mard, and others organized a society for devotional purposes and met in their homes for such services. From time to time others joined their society until their group became too large for the homes to accommodate their meet- ings. The Baptist Church of the com- munity opened its doors and permit- ted them to use that church for meet- ings. An Evangelistic tent meeting was held, resulting in additions to their membership. Seeing the need of a church, the southwest corner of lot 8, block 1, was purchased from Emanuel and Rachel Smith, who exe- cuted a warranty deed conveying the land to Nathan Beals, Isaac Huffer, and Thomas Currey as trustees. A brick church was built on this lot in 1881 with bricks by Lawrence Zerr and Henry York. The church was dedicated and named Christian Church. Rev. Lamb of Charleston was the first
pastor. On September 19, 1885, the members elected Dave Robey, Joseph Thomas, and Samson Goff as trustees. In October 1887, a new bell was pur- chased and hung in the church. No- vember 16, 1912, for a consideration of $2,000, lots 11 and 12 in block 5 of the original town of Stewardson, Illi- nois, were purchased from E. E. Her- ron and Anna M. Herron, husband and wife. The house on the lots then was torn down and a new parsonage was erected. On July 21, 1961, lot 10, block 5 of the village of Stewardson, Illinois was purchased from Tracy
First Christian Church
Hoyer. On August 30, 1964, ground breaking ceremonies were held for the erection of a new church. The old church was sold to Carl Shadwell and is used for storage. An item in the Thursday, April 29, 1965, Stewardson Clipper states, "work is progressing on the new Christian Church being built in Stewardson. Beautiful stain- ed glass windows were installed a couple weeks ago and the roof fin- ished Monday. The congregation will soon have a church they can truly be proud of." On October 24, 1965, the church was dedicated in an impressive ceremony.
Ministers and eldens serving the church through the years have been: Rev. Lamb, their first minister; Elder Edward Zerr, Rev. J. E. Story, Rev. John Jenkins, Rev. Gray, Rev. Mar- tin, Rev. W. S. Hoke, Rev. Kuykendall, Rev. Smith, Rev. Briggs, Rev. Jones, Rev. Cartwright, Rev. David Watts, Rev. W. B. Stine, Rev. Harry Joachim, Rev. David Watts, Rev. C. E. Bos- well, Rev. Harry G. Kaye, and Rev. Ron Lake, the present minister.
The membership in the year 1900 numbered 42. It had a flourishing Sunday School of 113. Today its mem- bership is 117 in church, and 70 in the Sunday School. They have a quite active Ladies Aid Society and a young people's group called Christ in Action.
Trinity Lutheran Church
Early Lutheran settlers came from Chicago during the Civil War and set- tled around Strasburg, Illinois. Pas- tor Henry Rincker, a Lutheran pastor from Terre Haute, Indiana was the first preacher, holding services in various home including his own near Herborn, Illinois. More Lutherans came from Ohio and southern Illinois and organized the St. Paul's congre- gation in Strasburg. In 1868 about nine families who resided quite a distance from that congregation asked for a
dismissal and they, with six other fam- ilies residing in Prairie Township, or- ganized Trinity Lutheran Congregation near the present village of Stewardson. They bought a church building located west of Kingman for $300 from the
Trinity Lutheran Church.
Swedish Lutherans in 1870. It was moved to Volkman Hill, located about two miles east of the present village of Stewardson, which is now the farm of Fred Beitz. This served as a place of worship for about 25 years. At first, the congregation could not support a pastor alone. Pastor Buszin of Cham- paign served the congregation for six months. In 1870, Pastor Henry Rinck- er was chosen as the first regular pas- tor and served for about two years. From 1872 to 1876, Rev. F. W. Schlechte preached for the congregation every third Sunday, in addition to his regular pastorate at Strasburg. In 1873, Henry Duensing came to help organize the town of Stewardson. Many times when the pastor could not be present, he would conduct the services and read a sermon from an approved sermon book. He and his wife, Minnie nee Friese, were the first couple on the church record of May 1, 1870 to be united in marriage. In 1876 Rev. Schlechte moved to Stewardson and served as resident pastor for seven years, in ad- dition to his four years as vacancy pastor. In 1885 a small parsonage and small stable for the pastor's horse
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