USA > Illinois > Woodford County > The Past and present of Woodford County, Illinois : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c.; a directory of its tax-payers; war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics etc > Part 39
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Of these, Samuel Work and Charles Dobson were residents of the Minonk portion of the precinct. The others lived in the vicinity of Panola Station.
Of the twelve officers elected at this election, six were re-elected the next Spring. The two townships voted together but twice-in 1855 and 1856. The County Board, seeing that the interests of the two townships were quite different, and that the population in each had so increased as to make separate organizations feasible, ordered separate elections to take place in the Spring of 1857. Thenceforth Panola and Minonk became separate organizations. By this time, the voting population of Panola alone was fifty-one, and that number of votes was cast. In 1860, the number of voters had increased to one hun- dred and twenty, and that number, at this writing, is about doubled, the high- est vote cast being two hundred and seventeen, in 1876. The present organi- zation consists of O. P. A. Myers, Supervisor; Louis Raymann, Clerk ; P. S. Basset, Assessor ; John Adams, Collector ; M. H. Ward, George Horner and J. B. Swartz, Highway Commissioners ; J. B. Swartz, Thomas Park and F.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
T. Wait, School Trustees ; Adam Weinheimer and Nicholas De Vries, Magis- trates ; George Tool and Philip Evans, Constables.
DESCRIPTION.
Panola Township is the middle of the eastern tier, and is bounded on the north by Minonk, on the east by Livingston County, on the south by McLean County and El Paso Township, and on the west by Grecne. It is a full con- gressional town of thirty-six sections, and is known by the survey as Town 27 north, Range 2 east of the Third Principal Meridian. The surface is for the most part quite level, being barely sufficiently rolling to admit of good drain- age. The only timber is a small grove a short distance north of the village of Panola, on one of the branches of Panther Creek. The Illinois Central Rail- road crosses the western part, cutting off about six sections. The productions are corn, rye, oats and pork. The population consists chiefly of people from the Eastern States and from Germany.
VILLAGE OF PANOLA.
The village, having been the starting point of the settlement in this town- ship, necessarily embraces, in a great measure, the history of the township; and a full account of the development of the village would be simply a repetition of what has already been written. However, as that which goes furthest, to make up an appearance for a town, is the prospect of its buildings, the first ones are here given, in nearly the order in which they were constructed. The first building erected within the limits of the village was put up by the railroad company, and was the station house-the same that is still in use. This was built in 1854, just after the completion of the road. During the next year, the company built another house, for the accommodation of the employes of the road. As soon as the road was completed, the plat of the town was made, on land belonging to the company, the Illinois Central Railroad, therefore, being the proprietor of the village. As before intimated, the first building in the town. aside from those belonging to the company, was the store building brought from Greene Township by William Grosley, but the first one actually erected here was put up by F. I. Barnard, in the Fall of 1854, and completed during the next Summer.
During the Summer and Fall of 1855, houses appeared about in the follow- ing order : Edward Waldron's, William Grosley's, Henry Saltsman's. The last named was the hotel, the same that has ever since been used for that pur- pose. It was doubtless expected by the company that Panola would be one of the principal places on this line of road. Indeed the prospect for a flourishing city, for the first few years, seemed all that could be desired. Panola had the start of all the stations on this part of the road. It began with a large trade, which it received from the old settled country around the groves of Panther Creek, and it was no uncommon thing to see a hundred wagons loaded with grain, in the village, in one day. It was the expectation that the Toledo, Peoria
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
& Warsaw Company would run a line of railroad through this place. Indeed a line was surveyed through the town ; and, had the road been built through here, instead of being a few miles further south, the fortunes of the Panola people would have been made. However, through the influence of other parties, the line was not located here, and the town of Panola stands a monument of unrealized expectations.
The village improved a little during the next few years, and for a time con- tended with El Paso for supremacy, but the advantage gained by the latter in the matter of freights soon absorbed the trade in corn and other farm products, and left Panola with only a local trade.
In 1867, the town was organized as an independent organization, by special charter granted by the State Legislature. The charter, defining the limits of the town to be one mile square, with the station house as its center, was granted February 28, and the first election took place April 1, 1867. The officers elected were : J. C. Myers, J. L. Turner, T. L. Myers, Cyrus Dix and I. M. Arnold, Board of Aldermen ; and A. J. Gardner, Police Justice. At the first meeting of the Board, Thomas A. Barrell was appointed Clerk. In 1868, an election was held, but in the four following years no eleetions took place, the old officers holding over. On the 10th of April, 1872, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois passed a general act for the incorporation of towns and cities. The last general election, under the special charter, was held April 20, 1875. The next day, a petition, signed by thirty-four of the legal voters of the corporation, was presented to the Board, requesting a special election to be called for the purpose of voting on the question of organizing under the new law. Accordingly, such election took place May 10, 1875. The result was a unanimous poll in favor of re-organization. The first election was held April 18, 1876, at which the following persons were elected to the respective offices : George Saltsman, Gustavus Butler, Joseph Piper, John Adams, George Tool and John Schweizer, Aldermen, and C. S. Adams, Clerk. The same persons, with the exception of Saltsman, Piper and John Adams, hold the respective offices at present, and the places of these are filled by Patrick Malone, John Enright and Jacob Althouse.
The population of the village at the present time is about three hundred, of whom about sixty are voters.
Though the merchants and other business men of the place labor under some disadvantages, yet the amount of business transacted here is by no means inconsiderable. As indicating what is done here, the books of the Station Agent show an average of about nine thousand dollars received on freight forwarded, and of twelve hundred dollars on freight and express matter received. During last year, two firms bought over two hundred and fifty thousand bushels of grain ; and O. P. A. Myers shipped about twenty-five hundred hogs and a considerable number of cattle. There is also shipped from here quite a large amount of poultry, butter and eggs.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
EL PASO TOWNSHIP.
El Paso is known as Township 26 north, Ranges 1 and 2, west of the Third Principal Meridian. It is but two-thirds the size of the full congressional township, lacking two tiers of sections of being complete in territorial limits. The land embraced in El Paso Township is nearly all prairie, and of a very superior quality of farming lands. There is very little timber, and it is in the extreme southern part of the town, where the Mackinaw just touches its ter- ritory, and along Wolf Creek, perhaps, which has its source in this section, and flows south, into the Mackinaw River. The Illinois Central and the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroads cross at right angles in the northern part of the township, at the city of El Paso, and are of incalculable value to the farmers and stock-raisers, in moving the vast amount of stock and grain pro- duced in this flourishing region. The taxable property, in 1877, was $597,909.
This portion of Woodford County is comparatively of recent settlement. In the western part of the county, along the Illinois River; in the grand old forests of Walnut Grove, on Panther Creek, around Metamora, settlements were made many years before these broad prairies had other inhabitants than the wild beasts. The first settlement, in this section, was made in the southern part of the town, near the village of Kappa. It is supposed that William, John and David Hibbs were among the first to settle here. They came from Ohio, in 1835, and settled in the southern part of El Paso Township. William lived in a hut, near where the village of Kappa now stands. After some years, John and David removed into Kansas Township, where John died within the last year. William, at the last account of him, lived down on the Mackinaw River.
John Messer, another old settler, and also a Buckeye, came here, in 1836-7, and settled about three miles northeast of Kappa, where he has ever since lived. Mr. Messer is probably the oldest settler now living in El Paso Township, and is an enterprising farmer and respected citizen. When he made his settlement, the broad prairies around him were barren wastes, and settlers' cabins nearly as scarce as "hen's teeth." .
Thomas Dixon, another Ohioan-and it seems that El Paso Township was mostly settled by Buckeyes-came to Illinois and settled, first, down in the Mackinaw timber, about 1833, where he remained some two or three years. He built a little mill there, which was called, in those days, corn crackers by the early settlers, and which was operated by the waters of Mackinaw River. His mill was a valuable institution among the few settlers then scattered through the neighborhood; but it is quite likely that it was not very remunerative to him, owing to the sparsely settled community. He finally sold it, and removed up in the neighborhood of Kappa village.
John Tucker, born in Mead County. Kentucky, came to Illinois, in 1834. He stopped in Pekin, where he remained but a short time, when he settled in
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
Washington. He lived in Washington until 1852. In 1849, lie went to Cal- ifornia, at the breaking out of the gold fever, and was gone about two years, then returned to Washington, and in 1852, settled near Kappa, in El Paso Township. In 1858, he went to Colorado, where he followed mining for one year, but then returned to his farm, in this township, where he still lives. He seems to have been rather a restless man, and not satisfied long in one place.
When these first settlements were made, this section was a wild waste, filled with deer, prairie wolves and all the smaller " varmints " common to this coun- try. Even down to 1856-7, Maj. Wathen informed us that wolves were thick on the prairies of El Paso Township, and would gather sometimes in great gangs and treat the scattered settlers to a vocal concert of "sweet discords." But they have entirely disappeared, taking, perhaps, the advice of the old philosopher, to " go west and grow up with the country." At all events, they . are gone. -
THE RAILROADS.
El Paso Township has the benefit of two trunk-line railroads-the Illinois Central and the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw-which cross each other at right angles in the north part. The Illinois Central is probably the longest railroad, controlled by a single company, in the world. It was built through this town- ship in 1852, and the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw completed to the city of El Paso in 1856. Before these roads were built through this section, the land, we have been told, was not worth 50 cents an acre. But the opening of these roads gave a fresh impetus to everything, the value of land soon doubled, the tide of emigration rolled this way, and soon, not an acre of the prairies of El Paso remained vacant. Mr. J. D. Gardner, now living in El Paso City, informed us that he passed here in 1832, and one could travel hundreds of miles over the prairies without seeing a hut or cabin. He was a Ranger in the Blackhawk War, and passed through during the troubles incident to that Indian difficulty. Pontiac, he says, contained but one hut, occupied by a French half-breed, and the present site of the city was then an Indian burying ground.
FIRST STORE, POST OFFICE, SCHOOL, ETC.
The first post office in El Paso Township was kept by Caleb Horn, at his own house, some two or three miles from the village of Kappa. The mail was carried on horseback from Bloomington to Ottawa twice a week. The first store in the township was opened in Kappa by a man who came from Canada, about the time the Illinois Central Railroad was built through the town. The first mill was built by Ives, at the city of El Paso, and mentioned in that part of this history.
The first school house in the township was built in the village of Kappa, or where that village now stands. Matilda Hassen, it is supposed, taught the first school, though at what precise date we could not learn. The early school rec- ords are not attainable, and are supposed to have been destroyed or thrown
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
aside as worthless. From the last report of P. H. Tompkins, the School Treasurer of the township, to Prof. Lamb. Superintendent of Schools, we make the following extracts :
No. males attending schools. 276
females .. 268
Total 544
No. School Districts in township.
" public schools sustained in township.
" male teachers employed.
3
" female ··
11
" graded schools in township 61
ungraded ..
" frame school houses in township
5
brick ..
1
No. School Libraries.
Estimated value of school property $31,000.00
School fund of township .. 3,259 00
Tax levy for support of schools 9,175.00
Highest monthly wages paid teachers
90.00
Lowest
25.00
Average 66
39 92
As a school township this is fractional, and is filled up from McLean County. The Woodford part of it is supplied with school facilities second to no township in the county.
The first sermon preached in this township was probably by Rev. Mr. Gregg, who lived at Hudson, in McLean County, and was preached in the depot building of the Illinois Central Railroad at Kappa. The township has no churches but what are located in the city of El Paso and the village of Kappa, where they are more fully noticed.
WAR AND POLITICAL RECORD.
El Paso Township is largely Democratic, as are nearly all the other town- ships of the county. It likewise contains a great many solid old Republicans, · who still stand by the political faith of their martyred President and vote the Republican ticket ; but in all elections where national issues are involved and strict party lines drawn, considerable majorities are piled up for the Democrats. During the late war, it, for a fractional township. sent a large number of brave soldiers to the front of the fight. Just how many did serve in the army from El Paso we could not learn, nor do we know if there were any distinguished officers from the township. We believe Drs. Stockwell and Cole were surgeons and Dr. Lamme connected with the hospital department. With a tribute of respect to the bravery of those who periled their lives to restore the Union, and a tear to the memory of those who died in the cause, we pass from the subject.
6
412
HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
The name of El Paso was given to the township by Maj. Wathen and for El Paso, Texas. The present Supervisor of the township is John Tyler, who represents the township alone, while the city of El Paso has a Supervisor of its own.
CITY OF EL PASO.
El Paso, claimed to be the largest city in Woodford County, is situated in the northern part of the township bearing the same name, and at the crossing of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw and the Illinois Central Railroads. It is about 125 miles southwest of Chicago, 36 miles east of Peoria, and 18 miles north of Bloomington. With a great railroad leading out to the four points of the compass, El Paso is not troubled as to her modes of egress and ingress, and the amount of grain and stock she ships annually over these roads is enormous. The city pays little or no attention to the wholesale trade, neither is it much of a manufacturing town, though there are a few establishments, of this character, deserving of special mention, which will be made on another page. The retail trade, however, is well represented in every department, and the amount of business transacted is increasing each year, as the wealth and importance of the surrounding country demand it. The Illinois Central Railroad divides the city into two wards, the First being on the east, and the Second on the west side of the road. The city is beautifully shaded with trees, mostly soft maple, and contains a number of elegant churches and handsome residences. The population is variously estimated at from 2,500 to 3,000 inhabitants, justly noted for their energy, enterprise and intelligence.
SETTLEMENT.
Among the early settlers of the city of El Paso we may note William M. Jenkins, with two brothers, Isaac and Robert; James H. Wathen, George L. Gibson, William R. Willis, C. Schafer, George H. Campbell, William H. McClelan, Rev. William T. Adams, Thomas McClelan and Dr. S. O. Kerr. There were, perhaps, others identified with its early settlement, whose names we have failed to obtain. The first house built within the space now embraced in the corporate limits of the city of El Paso was erected by Thomas McClelan, in the Fall of 1856; is still standing, and in a fair state of preservation. It is, at present, owned and occupied by Mrs. Bain. The MeClelans came from the Old Bay State, and were among the first to settle in this immediate vicinity, where, as already stated, Thomas built the first house in El Paso. Upon their arrival from Massachusetts, in 1838, they settled in Northern Illinois, where they remained until their removal to this section, in 1854. William H. Mc Clelan settled in the township of El Paso, and after farming for several years, removed to the city, and embarked in the grain business.
The Jenkinses are from Pennsylvania, and came to Illinois in 1837. There were three brothers, Isaac, Robert and William M. Jenkins, and they settled in Pekin, when they first came west, where they remained until 1856,
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
then removed to El Paso Township. William M. Jenkins built the first busi- ness house in the city of El Paso, in 1856. There were, then, but two houses in the place,* and Jenkins had to wait for the completion and occupancy of one of them before building, in order to have some place for his workmen to board. In the meantime, he had the timbers of his building framed in Peoria, and shipped to El Paso over the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Road, on its completion to this place, which was the first bill of freight to pass over the line. For four years, Mr. Jenkins and his brother Isaac sold all the goodst and bought all the grain handled here during that period. They were the first grain buyers in this section, and wheat was then the main staple. Mr. Jenkins states that when he first came to El Paso, he could drive over the prairie toward Pontiac. and for a distance of twenty-six miles, not a residence, hut or cabin was to be seen. Now this space is flourishing and productive farms.
George L. Gibson came from Pennsylvania, and was born in Fayette County. His father's family settled in Tazewell County in 1831, where George remained until the age of twenty-five years, when he commenced the business of flat- boating and trading on the Lower Mississippi. He went to California in 1849, when the gold fever broke out, making the trip overland, and remained there until 1851, then returned to Illinois. In the Fall of that year, lie entered 160 acres of land, embraced in the First Ward of the city of El Paso, and in 1857, removed with his family to the destined city.
C. Schafer, one of the solid business men of El Paso, first settled in the village of Kappa, in the southern part of El Paso Township, when that was one of the principal business points on the Illinois Central Railroad between Bloom- ington and La Salle. In 1860. when the rapid growth of El Paso had some- what obscured the glory of Kappa, he sold out at the latter place and removed to the thriving young city. Not a business man at the date of his coming, he says, is in business here now. but an entirely new set have taken the places of those who commenced with him.
Wm. R. Willis came from Hopkins County. Ky., and settled in Cruger Township in 1834. His history would properly belong to that township, per- haps, but he has so long been identified with this place, we deem it best to give it in this connection. He was connected, in some official capacity, with the Illinois Central Railroad, while it was building through this county. He kept the first hotel in El Paso in 1856. continuing in that business for seven years. He is at present a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, and was admitted to the bar as a lawyer in 1870.
Geo. H. Campbell came from New York in 1858 and stopped first in Chi- cago, but shortly after went to Mendota, where he entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad. He built the Campbell House, the finest hotel in the county, by odds, in 1862-3, commencing it in the Fall of 1862 and finishing it the next Spring. Before the building of this hotel. in which the ticket offices
* That built by McClelan was one of those alluded to.
+ Their firm was I. & W. M. Jenkins.
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
of both roads are kept, all trains stopped down at the old station honse of the Illinois Central, the T., P. & W. trains running down on the Y and then back- ing up on to their road again. When Mr. Campbell decided to build, he sent men out into Indiana to get out the needed timbers, which were shipped to El Paso over the T., P. & W. Railroad. It was not believed to be possible, in those days, to build a substantial house, except with the heaviest and most solid tim- bers, and Mr. Campbell informed us that the sills and plates in his hotel were sufficiently strong for a pretty good railroad bridge. He built it at a cost of $10,000, without furniture, and has given it all the modern improvements.
James H. Wathen is from Bardstown, Ky., and came to Illinois in 1835. He stopped in Washington, Tazewell County, where he remained until the Spring of 1857, when he came to El Paso, where he has since resided. He owned 160 acres of land west of the Illinois Central Railroad, on which the Second ward of the city has been built, and is one of the wealthiest citizens.
THE OLD POLISH COUNT.
Count Clopiski, a Polish Exile, and quite a distinguished character, was for many years a resident of El Paso. He came to the United States in 1836, stopped in Peoria, and remained in that city until 1856, when he came to this place, where he spent the remainder of his days. He kept a kind of restaurant or hotel, which was well patronized and much frequented by the best citizens. Says Dr. Lamme, in an address prepared for the celebration of the Centennial 4th of July, in El Paso, of the distinguished old foreigner: "The early history of El Paso would not be complete without the mention of Count Clopiski, a Polish exile, who kept a hotel near the old station house. Many of the early settlers of El Paso, no doubt, remember his state dinners, to which he was wont to invite his friends." He died in 1867, far from his native place and in a land of strangers ; but new-made friends administered to his last wants, and kind hands closed his eyes when death had set him free. Wm. M. Jenkins had him decently buried in his own cemetery lot, where the noble old Count sleeps his last, long, nnbroken sleep.
CITY ORGANIZATION.
The city of El Paso was laid out in 1854, by George L. Gibson and James H. Wathen, who owned the land. It was surveyed by the County Surveyor, and the original town contained eighty acres on each side of the Illinois Central Railroad. Several additions have been made to it since it was first laid out, until a section or more is embraced within its corporate limits. It is divided into four parts by the railroads, which cross at right angles, and into two wards by the Illinois Central.
Just when El Paso was incorporated as a village we were unable to find out definitely. According to a special act of the Legislature, approved February 27, 1867, it became an incorporated city. The first Mayor was J. H. Moore, the present Postmaster, and the first City Clerk, John T. Harper, with the fol-
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HISTORY OF WOODFORD COUNTY.
lowing Board of Aldermen : William Neifing, D. B. Webster, M. T. Polhe- mus, Geo. W. Fridley and W. T. Adams. The following gentlemen have been Mayors since the city organization : Geo. L. Gibson, James H. Wathen, D. C. Smith, W. R. Bigham and C. P. Shur, exclusive of the first and last incum- bents. P. C. Ransom is at present Mayor, and the Board are Robert Robin- son, Geo. M. Young, Jas. P. Ferrell and John R. Sweet. P. A. Simmons is City Clerk; Walter S. Gibson,. City Attorney : D. K. Tobias, City Super- visor ; James Thompson, Treasurer; O. B. Webster, City Marshal. A Re- corder's Court was established in March, 1869, under an act of the Legislature, but has recently been abolished.
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