USA > Illinois > McLean County > The History of McLean County, Illinois; portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 57
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George Lounsbery built a blacksmith-shop in 1857, and, the following year, he, in company with Louis Ziegler, a young wagon-maker, recently from " fatherland," put up a wagon-shop, which act commenced the career of one of Chenoa's most enterprising citizens. Mr. Ziegler continued in the wagon-making business for some years, until driven out by fire. Not discouraged, he engaged in the milling business for a short time, when fire swept away his business and his property. He afterward purchased another mill, and that soon fell before the devouring element.
The first depot-building was built in 1857, on the Y, some distance north of the present one. It was a magnificent building, and, beyond comparison, larger and finer than any other such structure on the line of the railroad. It was built for hotel and depot,
503
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
having a larger hotel capacity than anything then in the county. It was occupied by Sam Emery, and finely furnished throughout. Whether it would ever have proved a paying investment to the company who built it, or to the landlord who occupied it, will never be known, as while they were preparing to partake of the first meal, a lighted fluid lamp, which was being filled by an employe, fell and the fluid ignited, and the fire, which, as a matter of course, followed, laid the fine building in ashes. Emery, soon after this, built the " Exchange Hotel," and ran it for about twelve years. He was a popular landlord and a valuable and enterprising citizen.
Squire Lenney not only built the first store but was the first Postmaster and expressman, first President of the Town Board, and was about the first man ever known to resign an office in these parts. He resigned the post office after holding it ten years, the latter part of which time Ira F. Phillips was deputy in charge. He was also the first School Director. This was previous to the era of injunctions, but, in attempting to raise the tax for school purposes, the Directors had made some trifling omission, and M. T. Scott enjoined the collection of the tax. The first man in town was equal to the emergency, and applied to the Legislature for a legalizing act, and, in the last hours of its session, it was granted, and the taxing went on.
Joseph Graham was one of the first to break and inclose a farm in the township. This was on Section 14.
Sickness, which is always incident to new settlements, did not spare this. In the summer of 1858, nine young children died within a few weeks, and nearly every house was in mourning. Among the first deaths in the new town was the little child of W. H. Levers, which necessitated the securing and setting apart of some suitable place for a cemetery. Mr. Scott, for the proprietors, had, on the laying out of the town, pro- posed to give a suitable ground for that purpose. When applied to he assented to a burial on the hill due north of the " National " hotel, and about half a mile away. For several years, burials were made there ; but new light seemed to break in, and for some reason he revoked his permission and required the removal of all remains. It is said that some were never disinterred, and that the ground was actually plowed over, leaving nothing to mark the place of burial of such as remain.
The early settlers found in the lack of fuel a trial which caused them much trouble and anxiety. Coming from a place where wood was easily procured, before rail- road communication had opened a supply of coal, they had to depend on the Rook's Creek timber, five miles away, for their supply. During the great snow blockade of the first winter, the railroad hands were kept so employed trying to keep communication open, that their families were sometimes destitute of fuel, and at one time, death by freezing was imminent. Peoria was soon able to send a sufficient supply of coal, however, and latterly the mines at La Salle, Fairbury, Streator and Bloomington have been depended on. Two organized efforts have been made to sink a coal shaft here. A company was formed by parties residing in Indiana, who, by boring, found coal at the depth of 268 feet from the surface. They commenced operations, and reached the distance of 160 feet, when quicksand was struck, and water came in so freely that digging was abandoned. This was at a point near the railroad, nearly half a mile west of the depot. The parties returned to Indiana, re-organized their company, and soon after made another attempt. This time the work was done close by, and just northwest of the depot, but with a like result. Water came in so freely that the work,
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HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
after repeated failures, had to be abandoned. The leading citizens encouraged these efforts by liberal contributions. That coal-mining will yet be successfully done here can not be doubted. John L. Marsh triumphed over similar difficulties at Fairbury, and Chenoa pluck will do it here.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
For some time after the station was made here, it was known by the railroad offi- cials and by the traveling public under the name of "Peoria Junction." When Matthew T. Scott laid out the town. he named it Chenoa, an Indian name having a more or less remote significance in the original to some " dark and bloody " ground, which he, a Kentuckian by birth, education and tradition, treasured up as suitable, though it would be difficult to imagine what there was in the treeless, sunny prairie to run parallel with, or awaken associations of his " old Kentucky home."
On the adoption of township organization by the legal voters of the county, the voters of this township met, pursuant to given notice, in town-meeting, on the 6th day of April, 1858, to organize the town and set it afloat on the political waters. R. B. Mahan was chosen Moderator, and F. B. Beach, Clerk. The election then proceeded as regularly as though Chenoa was not going through an entirely new experience. J. B. Graham was elected the first Supervisor, and R. C. Sallee, the first Town Clerk. The record of the four principal township officers from that date is as follows:
Date.
Votes Cast.
Supervisor.
Town Clerk.
Assessor.
Collector.
1858
37
J. B. Graham
R. C. Sallee.
John Graham
C. Hetherington.
1859
66
John McMahan
R. C. Sallee.
Nathaniel Brown
Geo. Lounsbery.
1860
71
John McMaha
R. C. Sallee.
W. Dawson
J. B. Lenney.
1861
94
John McMahan
R. C. Sallee ..
Joel Hicks.
C. Hetherington.
1862
73
John McMahan.
Thos. Sandhan.
A. L. Metcaff
C. Hetherington.
1863
63
John McMahan
Thos. Sandhan
R. B. Mahan.
C. Hetherington.
1864
93
Nathaniel Brown
Thos. Sandhan
A. N. Nevin
J. D. Moore.
1865
66
Nathaniel Brown
Thos. Sandhan
David Sharp
J. D. Moore.
1866
198
R. C. Sallee.
Thos. Sandhan
Joel Hicks
Thos. Sandhan.
1867
186 R. C. Saliee
Thos. Sandhan
J. B. Sample.
Thos. Sandhan.
1868
323
R. C. Sallee.
J. D. Carpenter
John Graham.
Thos. Sandhan.
1869
269 J. P. McKight
J. B. Bradford.
A. Work
Thos. Sandhan.
1870
126 Joel Hicks
C. H. Holbrook
A. Work
Thos. Sandhan.
1871
390 Joel Hicks
C. S. Elder
George Sayrs.
E. D. Churchill.
1872
401 C. J. Gilispie.
C. S. Elder
S. E. Carmichael.
Thos. Sandhan.
1873
370 C. J. Gilispie.
R. E. Helms
S. S. Chapman
Thos. Sandhan.
1874
335
C. J. Gilispie
Samuel M. Foss
S. S. Chapman
Thos. Sandhan.
1875
335
C. J. Gilispie.
C. F. Churchill.
S. S. Chapman.
Thos. Sandhan.
1876
350
E. M. Pike
C. F. Churchill.
S. S. Chapman
Thos. Sandhan.
1877
396 E. M. Pike
G. J. Ferguson
. S. S. Chapman
Thos. Sandhan.
1878
13?
E. M. Pike
G. J. Ferguson
S. S. Chapman
Thos. Sandhan
1879
The names of persons who have served as Justices of the Peace are: J. P. MeKnight, Abihail Hays, Louis Ziegler, W. A. Stark, Martin Shepherd, Joseph Evans, N. K. Haynes and J. B. Lenney. The Commissioners of Highways have been Noah Drake, Joel Hicks, Albert Riggs, J. P. McKnight, E. Mahan, George Hanks, David Sutton, J. W. Vanderbelt, Joel Hicks, W. A. Stark, N. B. McColm, Jonathan Waite, C. J. Gilispie, Samuel Murdy, James Brady, O. D. Castle, John MeColm, John Mor- row, Andrew Jackson, William Clauson, Joseph Evans, S. C. Hays, S. Casey, C. J. Gilispie.
505
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
From this list it will be seen who have exercised the controlling influence on the affairs of the township. For six successive years, "Pap" Sandhan has been Town Clerk, and for twelve, Collector of tribute. Squire Lenney has held almost every position as by right, he being the father of the town, while Joseph Menton, who is down in the books as one of the pioneers, does not seem to have turned his attention to political affairs ; his name does not appear in any official list. McMahan, McKnight and McColm seem to have kept up the good name of Scottish progenitors in working for the public weal.
CITY ORGANIZATION.
The first movement for town organization was made July 7, 1864. Nine years had now elapsed since the " Farmers' Store" had been erected, and the people who had devoted their lives to this undertaking began to long for sidewalks, city police and other insignia of true civilization. At this date, a public meeting was called, and an election ordered for the 25th of July to vote for or against town organization. At that election, fourteen votes were cast for such organization. An election was held for five Trustees, one of which should be elected President by the five, at which 21 votes were cast. The canvass of the votes showed the following result : For D. Sharp, 9; R. C. Sallee, 17 ; J. B. Lenney, 19; F. Ohmit, 10; D. C. Mears, 11; W. M. Fales, 19; J. D. Moore, 15; I. F. Phillips, 2.
August 8, the first meeting of the Town Board was held, and elected J. B. Lenney, President ; Thomas Sandhan, Clerk ; Nathaniel Brown, Constable and Street Commissioner, and R. C. Rollins, Treasurer, and fixed the boundary of the town. The bounds included all of the original plats of Chenoa (Scott's) and of East Chenoa (Hamilton's), and all additions which had been platted and filed in the office of County Recorder, and all the "vacant land lying between the two" plats first named. This last was the " high wall" which Scott had erected between his and Hamilton's interests. The limits thus given embraced ninety-four blocks. In January, 1865, H. R. Benson was appointed Clerk and Attorney to the Board, at a salary of $100 per annum. Below is a record of town officers since elected :
August, 1865, N. A. Sanborn, President, R. C. Sallee, W. H. Levers, Robert Hanna, D. V. Harrison ; August, 1866, N. A. Sanborn, President, D. Sharp, George Lounsbery, J. B. Lenney, W. M. Fales ; August, 1867, N. A. Sanborn, President, R. C. Sallee, A. B. Seybolt, R. W. McMahan, W. M. Fales; August, 1868, N. A. Sanborn, President, R. C. Sallee, Nathaniel Brown, James Colter, J. D. Carpenter ; August, 1869, Louis Ziegler, President, J. B. Lenney, N. A. Sanborn, E. D. Churchill, A. Work, Jesse Lynch, Clerk ; August, 1870, L. Ziegler, President, J. O. Combs, Thomas Sandhan, Michael Dillon, R. J. Williams, H. R. Benson, Clerk ; August, 1871, J. R. Snyder, President, S. E. Carmichael, W. A. Haynes, E. D. Churchill, W. M. Fales, - Lynch, Clerk.
In 1868, the Legislature gave to Chenoa a new charter, that known commonly as " the Princeton charter." It was done very quietly, without the fact of the change being generally known. In those days of " special legislation," such things were possi- ble, and, in fact, grew into quite common practice. For " ways that were dark," the Illinois Legislature in the olden time, under special legislation and " omnibus" practice, could discount any heathen of Chinese extraction ever seen this side of the Sierra Nevadas, or any other man. The "Princeton charter" forbade the granting of license
506
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
for the sale of liquors, not only in the town, but for a mile or two outside. This charter actually took effect on its passage, in the winter, and was not known to the voters until after the following August election. Under this charter, the town continued to act until after the passage of the general incorporation act.
August 5, 1872, an election was called to vote for or against organizing as a city. The whole number of votes cast was 169. For city organization, 150; against city organization, 18; for minority representation in the City Council, 89 ; against minority representation, 76. So both propositions were carried.
The first election under this organization was September 7, 1872. The following officers were elected : J. R. Snyder, Mayor; Aldermen. George Lounsbery, R. G. Jordon, E. D. Churchill, J. E. Wightman, W. M. Fales, A. M. Crosby ; Clerk, C. H. Holbrook ; Attorney, Thomas J. Hays; Treasurer, J. H. Work. These officers served until the regular time for election, April, 1873, when the following were elected : Mayor, C. S. Elder ; Aldermen for two years, George Lounsbery, S. E. Carmichael, David Fitzgerald ; for one year, R. G. Jordon, Henry Crab, J. E. Wightman ; Clerk, Samuel Foss; Attorney, Jesse Lynch ; Treasurer, J. H. Work ; Police Magistrate, T. C. Carlisle.
In 1874, the minority representative plan was repealed, and the city was divided into three wards. The following were elected Aldermen for two years : First Ward, Horace La Bar; Second Ward, J. B. Bradford ; Third Ward, J. E. Wightman ; for one year, Isaac Carson ; Attorney, Jesse Lynch ; Clerk, O. D. Sanborn ; Treasurer, . Joseph Hicks.
In 1875, J. R. Snyder was elected Mayor ; Aldermen, W. M. Fales, W. G. Abbott, E. D. Churchill; Clerk, C. S. Elder; Attorney, J. W. Seybolt; Treasurer, S. S. Chapman.
In 1876, R. C. Rollins, R. G. Jordon, J. E. Wightman, Aldermen ; Clerk, W. E. Ketcham ; Treasurer, A. Work ; Attorney, J. Lynch.
1877, J. E. Wightman, Mayor ; Aldermen, S. S. Chapman, G. T. Coonley, N. H. Pike ; Clerk, W. E. Ketcham ; Attorney, R. W. Lill; Treasurer, T. J. Banta.
1877, Aldermen, J. D. Rilea, R. G. Jordon, W. A. Miller.
The following official salaries are fully earned and regularly paid : Mayor, $25 per annum ; Clerk, $35; Treasurer, $15; Attorney, $50; Aldermen, $1 per meeting, one meeting per month.
From the first, the official trust of the young city has been faithfully and econom- ically managed. There is no city debt, no tax levied on assessment. License fee, $300. Salaries have been kept small; no expensive public improvements have been under- taken. The total expenditures for the last official year (which is a fair average) were $2,870.55. Nearly twelve miles of plank sidewalk are laid and kept in good repair.
The original town of Chenoa embraces 21 blocks west of the railroad ; Scott's first Addition, 6, blocks, south and west of this. East Chenoa, 12 blocks in Section 1 ; Hamilton's 1st Addition, 9 blocks ; his 2d Addition, 9 blocks, both north of this; W. H. Levers' 1st Addition, 9 blocks, and his 2d, 9 blocks, both in Section 12; Pearce's Addition, 6 blocks, and McMahan's 1st and 2d Additions, 13 blocks, both in Section 1.
The Postmasters have been J. B. Lenney, appointed in 1856; G. T. Coonley, in 1866; G. W. Bovard, in October, 1874; O. D. Sanborn, in February, 1875, re-ap- pointed February 10, 1879.
1
507
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
The railroad officials now serving are: For the Chicago & Alton Railroad, A. H. Cope- land, Ticket Agent ; C. J. Chisam, Freight Agent ; C. B. Hanna, Night Operator ; John Campbell, Baggageman; William Cleary, Trackmaster. For the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad, Alonzo Thomas, Ticket Agent ; D. P. Cherry, Freight Agent ; Harry Carlisle, Night Operator; John Keeley, Trackmaster; William Gayman and Lewis Arnold, Draymen.
Chenoa has several fine brick business blocks. That built by W. M. Hamilton, of Wenona, north of the railroad, and occupied by W. M. Fales, was built in 1869, is 55x85 feet, two stories and basement ; Snyder's Block, built in 1873, 50x80 feet, two stories and basement ; Shipman's Block, on the "flat-iron," 24 feet on the north end and 80 on the south, is 120 feet long, two stories and basement, and the one built by Snyder, Ketcham & Seybolt, and Coonley, in 1871, also two stories and basement, hav- ing the bank at the corner, are among the finest.
BUSINESS.
At first, only the part of the town west of the railroad (original town of Chenoa), was devoted to business. The portion lying between this and East Chenoa, was not platted, and hence was not in market. The objections of Scott were overcome in 1865, and at that time Louis Ziegler built a large wagon-shop east of the railroad, and about the same time several others built there. Now, at least nineteen-twentieths of the busi- ness is transacted on the ground which Scott had dedicated to a high wall between him and Hamilton.
The men who have, by their energy, capital and business rectitude, made Chenoa what it is are J. R. Snyder, Sanborn Bros., Haynes, Jordon & Co., Louis Ziegler, J. B. Lenney, W. M. Fales, J. P. MeKnight, R. C. Sallee, George Bettinger, - Hicks, Elias Shipman, W. H. Levers, the Bushes (father and son), and several others whose names appear in these annals.
At present, business of various kinds is represented by the following: Dry goods und groceries, W. M. Fales (who has been in trade here twenty years), James H. Worth (fifteen years, has been in trade fifty-two years, and has seen four general seasons of pros- tration in trade and industries), A. D. Keepers, S. C. Allen (ten years), Jacob Balbach, and A. W. Atwood ; groceries, Ketehanı & Seybolt, Snyder Bros., G. W. Miller, and F. N. Merton ; drugs, T. J. Banta & Co., W. Ruger, Southwick & Lenney ; hardware, Besley & Wightman, Jewell & Gibson ; tin and stoves, Alexander Holden ; boots and shoes, Andrew Work, M. M. Arnold, H. W. Plank ; grain, Churchill & Sons, Haynes Bros., Louis Ziegler ; hotels, Z. Munsell, A. W. Miller; bakery, Thomas Edwards ; wagon and carriage makers, Jewell & Gibson, Otto Seherberth, Fred Brumm, R. C. Rollins, H. Crab ; butcher, Gariseh Bros .; printer, C. W. Stickney ; harness-makers, S. C. Atwood, Fred. Shearer, J. D. Moore ; bank, J. R. Snyder ; clothing, T. B. Priteh- ard; livery-stable, Robert Hanna; milk-dealer, William Maxwell ; furniture, D. Shober; boarding-houses, Silas Baker, the Misses Ludem; painters, Edward Hendee, Will- iam Alexander ; lumber aud coal, Pike Bros., La Bar & Gordon ; millinery, etc., Miss Bowen, Mrs. George T. Coonley ; book and newsdealers, O. D. Sanborn, George T. Coonley ; segar-makers, Lilie Bros .; watchmakers and jewelers, M. W. Jenks, William Ellis ; contractors and builders, Ohmit & Ballinger, Dunlap Bros .; doctors and dentists, G. W. Ewing, Dr. Holderness, J. A. Munroe, J. M. Gallahue ; lawyers, Martin Shep- hard, Judge Lynch, R. W. Sill, T. H. Harder.
508
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
From the first, the grain trade has been an important factor in the growth and business of the city. With competing markets, and with the pluck and push of her produce-buyers, grain was brought to this market from many miles around, even from those farms which were naturally tributary to other railroad towns. The men who had this interest in hand never let the buyers in other towns overbid them, and have been singularly successful in trade.
The first grist-mill was erected in 1861, by Mr. Nordyke, now head of the Nordyke Manufacturing Company, Indianapolis, the citizens contributing the ground and build- ing. It was sold to Pontiac parties, and, in 1864, purchased by Sanborn Bros., who tore it down in 1868, and built a large four-run mill. The mill was purchased by Dehnor & Ziegler, but was burned in 1875.
CHURCHES, SOCIETIES, ETC.
There are five churches, viz., Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic. The first church organization was the Presbyterian (N. S.), which was about 1860. It, however, soon disbanded, its members going by letter to "the Chenoa Presbyterian Church " (O. S.), which was organized in 1862 by the Presbytery of Bloomington, March 6, in the old schoolhouse, Rev. D. A. Cornelison acting as Moderator. This meeting of Presbytery was duly called for the purpose of acting on a petition of the citizens to have a church formed here, and was the first permanent organization. The Church was organized with fourteen members-Rebecca Bush, Nathaniel Brown, Mary A. Gray, Huddessa Hicks, Edward Rowland, Margaret Rou- land, Sarah E. Brown, Julia G. Scott, Margaret McCune, Jane Rowland, Rosanna McCune, Martha Smith and Edwin F. Belden. Edward Rowland and Nathaniel Brown were chosen Ruling Elders and were duly installed. The present Elders are Addison Muzzy, William Maxwell, J. F. McClintock and William Crawford. For a short time, the Church was supplied by Rev. J. T. Whittemore; after that, by Rev. P. D. Young; from December, 1863, to April, 1866, by Rev. A. L. Knox; from this date to April, 1868, by Rev. W. L. Green. In May following, Rev. M. M. Travis commenced his labors here, and, during the year, was duly installed the first Pastor. His services have continued to the present time. The entire number received into the membership of the Church has been 393. The present membership is 175, not includ- ing such as have moved away without being dismissed. Soon after the organization, they commenced the erection of the first church-edifice built in the place, which they sold to the Congregational society, and, in 1873, they commenced the erection of the large and beautiful brick edifice they how occupy. It is believed to be (outside of Bloomington and Normal) the finest church-edifice in the county, and cost $15,000. A parsonage has also been erected at a cost of $2,000. A flourishing Sunday school is maintained. To the labors of the present Pastor, Rev. M. M. Travis, most of the work done in this building, as well as the spiritual growth, must be attributed. Ardent, patient, faithful, have been his labors, and it is a pleasant thought that for years to come, even after his pulse may have ceased to beat, the results of his laborious, devoted life will be felt through generations yet to come. He has long been officially connected with the school as one of the Board of Directors, with like good results.
The Roman Catholic .- As everywhere in the West where laborers are in demand, a goodly number of Roman Catholics early made their homes here. Up to 1865, the
509
HISTORY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
members of this Church in this vicinity were irregularly visited and ministered to in spiritual things by clergymen from Bloomington, and by Rev. Fathers Kennedy and Campbell, later, in regular monthly services. The year mentioned, Chenoa was attached to El Paso, and attended to monthly by Father Keenan, now of Amboy.
In 1868, a committee consisting of Hugh Brady, James Welch and John Hayes, with Father Keenan as President, was appointed to select grounds and erect a church. Up to this time, services had been held in private houses and schoolhouses. The com- mittee disagreed, and so persisted in disagreeing, that, at one time, it was proposed to erect two churches in different parts of the city. The Father, President of the com- mittee, could not sanction such a course, and withdrew from the committee, and, shortly afterward, resigned the charge, which was immediately intrusted to Rev. Father Fan- ning, then and now Missionary Rector of Fairbury.
Father Fanning had no difficulty with obdurate committeemen, for he cut the Gordian knot by appointing himself a committee of one, and employed William O'Brien, of East Lynn, Ill., to put up a frame building 33x60, 20 feet posts.
Service was first celebrated in the new church in February, 1869, since which, several additions and improvements have been made. In size and beauty, it is only surpassed by one church in the city.
In 1871, it was visited by the much-beloved Bishop Foley, who gave confirmation to a class of 125, chiefly children, from ten years and upward. It was dedicated to the service of God November 3, 1876, in honor of SS. Malachi and Columbkill, to the latter of whom Father Fanning claims relationship. The dedicatory services were performed by the Rev. Dean Terry, of Ottawa, whose praise is in all the churches, assisted by the Rectors of Fairbury, El Paso and Batavia.
In June, 1878, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Spaulding, of the new See of Peoria, adminis- tered sacrament of confirmation to 106 persons. The congregation consists of 125 families, averaging 5 members each.
The officers of the Church consist of the Rector, Father Fanning; Mr. David Fitz- gerald, who succeeded M. W. Dillon, Collector of Rents ; and Mr. and Mrs. Dennis O'Connor, Custodians. To these assistants, the Reverend Father and the Church are under great obligations-especially so to the latter, whose services are of a nature to demand and receive exacting attention, which is rendered in love and veneration.
The difficulties which Father Fanning met at the very beginning of his faithful labors here have been overcome in such a way as to mark him a man of great tact in management, and his praise is on the lips of all.
The Baptist Church .- In January, 1866, serveral persons who were attached to the Baptist persuasion, and most of whom had been members of that denomination before coming here, met and formed a Sabbath school, having in contemplation a church organization. Such organization was effected in March of that year by Rev. Samuel Bishop, consisting of twenty-two members. Preaching by pastors of that denomina- tion was maintained, not very regularly, for the next two years. In 1868, a frame edifice was erected, about 25x40, which cost in the neighborhood of $3,500, and Rev. James Frey was secured as Pastor. Frey's services closed in September, 1869.
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