USA > Illinois > McLean County > The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk war and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County > Part 5
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BLOOMINGTON.
"Among the most influential men of Bloomington was Gen- eral Merritt Covel. He was the right man in the right place, and the people respected his judgment. He was honorable in his business transactions and shrewd in his calculations. He was amiable of disposition-a gentleman and a genial com- panion. He died in the year 1847. General Gridley (the old folks called him Colonel) represented McLean County in the legislature for one or more terms in 1840 and '41, and is re- ported as second to none of his illustrious compeers of the State Assembly. His constituents were well pleased with his ability, legislative powers, fine eloquence, keen retort and skillful ma- neuvering in all matters affecting McLean County. He served his constituents in the State Senate in 1851, '52, '53 and '54. About this time the Illinois Central Railroad Company was to be chartered, and Bloomington had vital interests at stake. It was then more of a hamlet than a city, and its future hung in the balance. It was clear that General Gridley was the man to espouse her interests and carry them through, and with hercu- lean labors he was triumphantly successful. The chartered line would have carried the track several miles east of the corporation limits, which would have built up a town there and Blooming- ton would have been left in the cold. General Gridley duly ap- preciated this and nerved himself to the task of getting the charter so amended as to make Bloomington a definite point, the result of which is now before the people. It would be un- generous and unjust to say that he did all this individually, but he was the pioneer spirit linked with Jesse W. Fell, Judge David Davis and others. The Bloomington Gas and Coke Com- pany is the result of the enterprise and thrift of General Grid- ley. Probably the head, trunk and limbs of this company are contained in his person and pocket. When the corporation was in darkness, cach person carrying his own lantern and each busi- ness place supplying its own lamp post, a light sprang up to- wards Sugar Creek and, though glimmering at first, it is now magnified and the city shines in its radiance. The McLean County Bank was the first institution of its kind established. Its heart and safe respond to the autograph of General Gridley. Our stock men are under obligations to him for engineering into being the present banking facilities of our city.
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BLOOMINGTON.
"Jesse W. Fell, of Normal, came to Bloomington about the year 1833. He is of good old Pennsylvania Quaker stock. His . father as well as himself was naturally a horticulturist and fruit grower. I have often looked at an orchard (perhaps their first planting in McLean County) with much delight. The lines of the trees were seemingly set in a diamond form, but were in straight lines from every point of view. J. W. Fell edited the Bloomington Intelligencer for a while. He was a fine scholar, an able editor and a prolific writer, energetie in character and ready of wit and repartee, sound in judgment and pointed in debate, strong in reasoning powers and a fluent speaker, and flush of right words in the right place. He has never been chosen as a representative of the people in any legislative body, but he has been an active worker in everything pertaining to the interest of McLean County, and has been much more useful than scores of members holding constituent papers. The Illinois Central Railroad required his attention and services throughout its construction. Mr. Fell has always been a friend of educa- tion and temperance. The Illinois public school system is debtor to him for many things. Among the other good things it might be said, " he has education on the brain." He thinks everything of the State Normal University, and was an indefati- gable worker for its establishment in the place it occupies. He has been no less untiring in ornamenting its grounds than in locating its site. Trees, shrubbery and flowers, like education, possess a green and flowery spot in his cranium.
"It would be a curiosity, indeed, if the Bloomington of early days was to appear before us. I picture in my mind the Bloom- ington of 1837, with its muddy streets, and I see the lone pedes- trian, with pants in boots, wending his way to the post office, kept in a sixteen by twenty feet room; or I see the lady, with skirts slightly raised, displaying a shining black bootee, daintily picking her steps along single planks, over chip-piles and around mud-puddles, to some store, where could be found many things between the needle and the anchor, a spool of thread, a bolt of muslin, a pound of tea, and tobacco, coffee, saleratus, curry- combs, molasses, etc., in promiscuous plenty. How different is this from the Bloomington of the present day, with its macad- amized streets and its Nicholson pavement, its huge storehouses
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and fine private dwellings, and its monster court house, where all capital criminals are proved to be insane.
" Although Bloomington is yet in the first blush of city wo- manhood, her beautiful child, Miss Normal, is yet in her teens. Suitors already come to her, attracted by her building lots and shady streets. Under the protecting care of the Normal Univer- sity and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home she will arrive at her law- ful majority. The elder institution sends out from her desks each year more or less of the sons of the gentlemen yeomanry of the State-some as theologians, to be sent on home or foreign missions; others to take up Blackstone and be prepared to prove every culprit honest or insane, or every honest man a culprit; others to seek the wisdom of Esculapius, in order that all the ill, which flesh is heir to, may flee as chaff in the tornado track. Others will go out to educate the youth and teach the young idea lrow to shoot-with impunity !- while others will analyze mother earth, in order to adapt the proper seeds to the proper soils, a knowledge not possessed by all of the farming commu- nity at present.
" Bloomington was a most fortunate town in the early days. It contained few of that idle, vagabond class of people, who are the curse of new places. It was no place tor them, as the ener- getic, hard-working people were too numerous. Water and oil will never mix; the shiftless and lazy people went to other localities."
Such are the ideas given by Mr. J. W. Billings, and the reader will agree with me that such entertaining descriptions seldom appear in print. Mr. Billings should have been a writer, and in neglecting to cultivate his literary taste he has mistaken his calling in life.
In about the year 1836 or '37 Bloomington was full of enter- prising young men, who have since made their mark. In 1837 Judge MeClun came to the town and started as a merchant. He was little more than a boy and had not much of this world's goods ; but he was full of pluck, hopeful of the future, careful, and above all, honest in business and sagacious in his calcula- tions. Allen Withers was then a young merchant and carried on his business with his father, in Boyce Block. William H. Temple was then an enterprising young man, and in 1838 began
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business on his own account. James Miller was a merchant in the early days and afterwards treasurer of the State. Matthew II. Hawks was about this time in the dry goods business, but afterwards thought he saw more money in carding wool and making linseed oil.
Judge David Davis and Kersey H. Fell were then young men destined to shine in the legal profession. The former now sits on the Supreme Bench of the United States, and his friends be- lieve that his splendid talents would do honor to a higher position. Wm. II. Hodge and Amasa C. Washburn were then schoolnas- ters, and if all reports are true, "they spared not the rod, as they kept the old rule and beat in the A. B. C." The former is remarka- ble for his great memory, and his word concerning the transac- tions of the early days is gospel, and no one disputes it. Thomas Williams and Thomas Fell were house builders then, and their services were appreciated, for many of the settlers had only the canopy of heaven as a roof to shelter them. John Moore, the wagon maker, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of the State, made wagons for the settlers to haul their grain to market. Abraham Brokaw, Lewis Bunn and William F. Flagg were hard- handed sons of toil, and all were remarkably successful in their profession. William McCullough, "the bravest of the brave," was sheriff, afterwards recorder, and at last a sacrifice to his own daring on a Southern battlefield. William Evans was then a farmer and lived out of town ; but the town came to him at last and took him in, farm and all. William T. Major was then here, an earnest, active Christian and the founder of the Chris- tian Church in Bloomington. In those days, too, John Magoun, the incorrigible bachelor, flourished. He was a bricklayer, a merchant, a capitalist, a landowner, and in everything he sue- ceeded. Ile was then, as now, a practical philanthropist. The good deeds which he did in secret, were known only to his Heavenly Father, who has rewarded him openly. He was then, as now, an advocate of temperance. One of the old settlers, who has watched his course from then until the present time, says of him : "Ile stands the highest of any man in this com- munity. I have my enemies, and this may be said of nearly all men who are pretty well known ; but he has none ; every man is his friend." John Magoun is one of the trustees of the Wes-
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leyan University, which stands in the suburbs of Bloomington. This institution has had many hard struggles with fortune, but its friends have been numerous and strong. The present Uni- versity building is a model of elegance and taste, and its professors are gentlemen of culture.
Religious matters in early days received attention. The first Sabbath-school was organized on the 8th and 9th of March, 1832, at a school house, where A. C. Washburn was teaching. The appointment had been given out by Rev. Mr. Latta, and on the 8th of March a few people attended. Great opposition was manifested, and a learned doctor was loud in his declaration that it was simply a measure to unite the church and state! The meeting adjourned until the next day, when the organization was perfected. A. C. Washburn was chosen superintendent, and he worked diligently for the little school of twenty or thirty scholars. He made every effort to induce the scholars at the week-day school to put on their prettiest clothes and come to the Sabbath-school. But two or three children, who belonged to a certain family, refused to attend, and he visited the mother and inquired the reason. She said : "How much do you charge for tuition ?" and he replied that the schools were perfectly free. She said : "I don't understand why you should leave your friends and come away out here to the West, a thousand miles or more, to teach my children for nothing." Then he spoke of benevo- lence and good will, and how anxious he was for the spread of the gospel, and thought her heart was touched ; but she sudden- ly looked up and said : "Ain't you a 'cold water' man ?" He was obliged to acknowledge his principles and said that he was a temperance man. When the woman heard this she boiled over with rage, and said that her children should never go to Sunday-school to any such man, and that ended the interview. In the spring of 1833 Mr. Washburn was away from Blooming- ton, and the Sunday-school was, for a while, under the charge of Rev. Mr. MeGeogh, who died soon after, and the school became scattered. But it was revived in the fall on the return of Mr. Washburn. He was superintendent until the spring of 1834, when he was absent for a while, and it was conducted by Rev. Samuel Foster. In 1836 Mr. Washburn returned and was again made superintendent. This year was marked by a great sensa-
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tion. A colored family moved into the place, and four or five little Ethiopians made their appearance at the Sunday-school. No one could be found to teach them, except the superintendent, and he was obliged to use a part of his time in doing so. Some of the remaining scholars considered this an ontrage and threat- ened to deprive the school of the honor of their presence ; but Mr. Washburn was firm; a few left, but the school continued prosperous. This was a union school until 1838, when a Meth- odist school was formed, and the union school became Presby- terian, and at the present time numbers two hundred and seventy scholars.
The Bloomington of to-day is a great improvement on the village, which stood here thirty-five years ago. It is an improve- ment in material wealth, an improvement in culture and knowl- edge, and an improvement in appearance and external polish. But are the people more polite ? that is, have they more of po- liteness of the heart ? have they more good feeling and more of the disposition to love their neighbors as themselves ? The truth is, there are too many of them to be all neighbors. When only a few are gathered together in a village, the affection and good feelings of the people can go out after each other ; but when a person is obliged to extend his affections over twenty or twenty- five thousand people, his kind feelings become thin and elastic everywhere. The change in feeling is due to the change in circumstances. People have their friends now as they had in the early days, but their friends do not at present consist of all Bloomington. Bloomington extends over four square miles and contained on the first of July, 1873, a population of twenty thousand one hundred people, and Normal contained two thou- sand eight hundred and twenty, making in all twenty-two thousand nine hundred and twenty. Instead of being a village with a little local traffic, it has become a center for supplies for the towns and villages round about. It has three large wholesale dry goods establishments, two wholesale groceries, and three groceries which do a wholesale and retail trade. It has four com- mission merchants, eight large establishments dealing in lumber and nineteen retail dry goods stores. It has nine clothing stores and twenty-six dress and cloak making establishments, from which the descendants of the pioneers buy their clothing, in- 4
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stead of using the linsey woolsey, the blue jeans, or the whang sewed buckskin of their fathers. It has seventy-three grocery and provision stores, four wholesale and retail hardware establish- ments, and seven exclusively retail. It has four foundries, four flouring mills, three machine shops (exclusive of those of the Chicago and Alton R. R.), two agricultural implement manufac- tories and one chair manufactory. As the city contains many school girls it has been necessary to start a chewing-gum manu- factory. The wax affords the most healthy exercise for the jaws, and when these school girls grow up and go to tea parties, they can talk by the hour and their jaws will never fail. How great are the privileges enjoyed by the children of to-day! The little pioneer girls had no manufactured chewing gum ; they gathered the wax from the rosin weed and upon this they exercised their jaws. The city contains twelve cigar and tobacco manufacturing establishments, and the youth of Bloomington can chew and smoke with the elegance befitting the cultured gentlemen of America.
Bloomington has five banks, which furnish all commercial facilities; thirteen hotels, to accommodate the customers who come to purchase goods ; four fast freight lines; four railroads and one branch road, which make the city a distributing depot. It has two patent medicine factories, which send out medicine warranted to cure the ills which afflict the nations of the earth. It has twelve large drug stores, two of which are wholesale establishments, and they distribute the purest drugs to kill or cure the descendants of the pioneers. It has forty-two physi- cians, who sometimes restore men to health and sometimes make work for the undertakers. It has fifty lawyers, who dis- play their genius by tangling up that which is plain and straight, or by throwing a light upon that which is dark and obscure. It has eight photographie galleries, where people go for pictures of their beautiful selves, taken in all kinds of unnatural atti- tudes, with foolish smiles or strange expressions. It has eight book and job printing establishments, which turn out two daily papers, one semi-weekly, five weeklies and four monthlies. It has factories of various kinds-a shoe factory, a spice factory, an organ factory-and quick-sighted capitalists will doubtless dis- cover many other things which could easily be made by a factory
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in Bloomington. The pioneers washed their own clothing by the use of soap and muscle; but their thrice happy descendants were for a while served by pig-tailed Chinamen, sent from the Celestial Empire, twelve thousand miles away. Bloomington exercises a paternal watch-care over the surrounding country ; the streams are spanned by the King Iron Bridge Company, and the bridges are not broken down by heavy weights or carried away by freshets.
The second court house in Bloomington was a brick build- ing, forty by forty-five feet and two stories high. It was built in 1836 in the center of the court house square, by Leander Munsell, for six thousand three hundred and seventy-five dol- lars. A little of this was paid in cash, but the greater part remained for many years a debt upon the county, drawing eight per cent. interest. The tax required to pay this interest was severely felt.
The old court house served well in its day, and as a usual thing the people obtained substantial justice from the judges and juries within its walls. But the business of the county in- creased with wealth and numbers, and it became necessary to have larger publie buildings. On the fifth of December, 1867, Hon. John M. Scott and Robert E. Williams, Esq., addressed the Board of Supervisors upon the subject of erecting a new court house. Investigations were made and reports presented, and in March the matter took definite form. A building com- mittee, of which O. M. Colman was chairman, was appointed, a contract for the present court house was made and the building commenced. It was superintended by Cochran & Piquard, architects from Chicago. The building was contracted for $285,342. It is built of Joliet stone and is a very imposing structure.
The first preacher who delivered a sermon at Blooming Grove was Rev. James Stringfield from Kentucky, who belonged to the Methodist denomination. The exercises were held at the house of John Hendrix, in the year 1823, eight years before Bloomington was laid out. But Mr. Stringfield only came on a visit. Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came in 1824, and preached when- ever he could collect half a dozen persons together, but had no regular appointments for some time. He belonged first to the
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Separate Baptist denomination and afterwards to the Christian. Rev. James Latta came to Blooming Grove in 1824, but did not preach regularly until 1828. The first circuit preacher in Mc- Lean County was Rev. William Sec, who came in 1826. He was succeeded in 1827 by Rev. Smith L. Robinson, who was succeeded in 1828 by Rev. James Latta. Mr. Latta was quite a noted old settler. He had been connected with the militia in 1827, while the Winnebago Indians were making some trouble up in the mining. country, and he was called Col. Latta. He was a very effective preacher and talked to the people directly concerning their errors and short comings. Mr. Latta was suc- ceeded as a circuit preacher by Rev. Stephen Beggs in 1829. The circuit was then called the Salt Creek Circuit, but was afterwards divided. In 1830 Rev. Mr. Shepherd took charge of the circuit. He was an old man and has no doubt long since passed from the living. He was again pastor in Bloomington in 1839. In 1831 Rev. Dr. Crissey came.
The first sermon preached in Bloomington was delivered by Rev. William Crissey, in November, 1831, in the school house which formerly stood near where the marble works of Halde- man Brothers are located. He was invited by James Allin to preach there. Mr. Crissey had before this preached in what are now the suburbs of Bloomington. Gen. Gridley gives some items with regard to the matter as follows :
"I arrived in Bloomington on Saturday, October 8, 1831. The next day (Sunday) I attended Methodist meeting at the log cabin of John Canady, one and a half miles southeast of town, on the farm now owned by the Hon. John E. McClun. The congregation consisted of James Allin and wife, David Trim- mer and wife, M. L. Covel, Samuel Durley, W. H. Hodge and wife, and the family of John Canady. The sermon, which was a very good one, was preached by Rev. Dr. Crissey, late of Decatur. He was a boy about my age at that time, not quite twenty-one."
In 1831-2 Rev. Mr. Johnson, a Cumberland Presbyterian, preached here. In 1832 Dr. Crissey, of the Methodist denomi- nation, was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Royal. He was succeeded by a young preacher, whose name cannot be ascertained. Rev. Zadoc Hall was circuit preacher in 1835, and he took the con-
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tract for building the first Methodist church. He was succeeded by Mr. Chase in 1836. The latter was the first stationary preacher in Bloomington. He was succeeded by Rev. Richard Haney in 1837, who remained two years.
The first Presbyterian preacher was Rev. Calvin W. Babbitt, who came in December, 1832, and organized the Presbyterian Church in January, 1833. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Mc- Geogh in the spring of 1833. The latter was a Scotchman and a man of great learning. He had a large and well selected library of books in various languages. He died in Blooming- ton. Rev. Lemuel Foster, also Presbyterian, came in the fall of 1833.
The Catholic Church, called the Church of the Immaculate Conception, presents the strongest membership of any in Bloom- ington, having about six thousand. The pastors are Rev. James J. McGovern, D. D .; First Assistant, Rev. L. Lightner, D. D .; Second Assistant, Rev. F. A. O'Connor. It has a large and flourishing Sunday-school. The number of girls in attendance at the Academy of St. Joseph is two hundred. The church building is situated on Main street, corner of Chestnut. The St. Mary's German Church, Catholic, is on North Water street, corner of Short.
The Methodist Church is very strong in numbers and in- fluence. The first Methodist Church has a membership of eight hundred and twenty-five. The pastor is the Rev. R. M. Barns. The building is located on Washington street, corner of East. A new building will shortly be erected on the corner of Grove and East streets. This church has nine local preachers, six ex- horters, six stewards and twenty-six leaders. The Sabbath school is superintended by C. S. Aldrich and numbers four hundred and twenty-five scholars and has thirty-two teachers. The German Methodists, Rev. E. C. Magarat, pastor, have their place of worship at 415 North Centre street. The Sunday- school connected with it has an attendance of one hundred and seventy-five scholars. The University Methodist Church, with a membership of two hundred and eighty-five, Rev. J. G. Little, pastor, holds services in Amie Chapel, in the Wesleyan Univer- sity. The Sunday-school is superintended by H. G. Reeves. Number of scholars two hundred, and teachers, seventeen. The
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German Mission is located at 1302 S. Main street. The African M thodist Church is located at 806 N. Centre street, and the African Baptist Church is on Main street, near N. Water,
The Baptist Church has a large and influential membership. The first Baptist Church, Rev. C. E. Hewitt, pastor, is located on the northeast corner of Madison and Jefferson streets. It was organized in 1835, numbers five hundred and twenty members, and has a Sabbath-school with an attendance of four hundred scholars and thirty teachers. The Superintendent is D. B. Har- wood. The West Baptist Mission Sunday-school is on the cor- ner of Loeust and Cranmer streets. It has seventy-five scholars and nine teachers, superintended by R. G. Lambert. The South Baptist Mission Sunday-school numbers fifty scholars and nine teachers, and is superintended by H. C. Crist. The Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church (colored), Rev. T. Reasoner, pastor, has sixty members. The Sabbath-school, superintended by J. W. Hag- gard, has an attendance of forty-five scholars. The building is located at 504 S. Lee street. The Mission Chapel, (German) Rev. W. Deininger, pastor, is located at 1002 S. Main street.
The strength and influence of the Presbyterian Church is due in some measure to the fact that it was the first, or about the first, which became organized in Bloomington. The Lord's Supper was administered in January, 1832, and the church soon became firmly established. The First Presbyterian Church, Rev. J. McLean, pastor, is located on the corner of Grove and East streets, and numbers one hundred and eighty members. The Sunday-school numbers about two hundred and seventy-five scholars, and great interest is manifested in it. The Second Presbyterian Church, Rev. W. Dinsmore, pastor, is on the cor- ner of East and North streets. It numbers four hundred and fifty members. The Sunday-school connected with it is super- intended by B. P. Marsh and numbers three hundred scholars and thirty-five teachers.
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