USA > Illinois > Washington County > This is Washington County; its first 150 years, 1818-1968 > Part 3
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Liquor and Beer Vaults
That grandfather had his "spirits" in pioneer Washington County days is attested by several physical remains of deep wine cellars and other spacious sub- terranean vaults that kept beer at drinkable coolness, even on the hottest of summer days.
The wine cellar seemed to be inevitable in a Ger- man community. a carryover from Old World customs. The beer gardens are gone, but evidence of some of the cellars remain. The photo shows a well preserved wine cellar still in existence in the county, near the home of Mr. and Mrs. Otto McClane, who reside in Pinch, a suburb of Okawville. Once their home was known as the Staude property. The wine cellar dates back at least three generations. It is quite deep, and currently is used for vegetable storage. Its unusual depth guarantees cool temperature despite the season.
Recently a similar cellar was unearthed on the former Julius Temme farm, two miles west of Okaw- ville. At least two more wine cellar locations are known here. These cellars, walled and roofed with brick. were known for their fine arched ceilings and tight masonry.
Mr. Otto McClane standing in the wine cellar now used to store vegetables.
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Hoyleton Was Settled in 1858
Hoyleton holds a distinction peculiarly different to other communities of the county: two Congrega- tional ministers, with a colony of ten families, surveyed and platted the town, contributed much to its early growth. Rev. J. A. Bent and Rev. Ovid Miner and their group came from New York state. Hoyleton, until 1860, was called Yankee Town, an appellation sugges- tive of the group's heritage.
Horace Wells had the first residence, part of which was used as a post office. The Congregational Church first stood on the site of the old village ceme- tery in the northeast part of town.
Through the influence of the Central Railroad, the Hoyleton Seminary was erected by Rev. J. A. Bent, Rev. Ovid Miner, and Henry Hoyle, who donated the bell in the seminary belfry. In fact the town was named after Hoyle.
Webb and Leslie had the first general store; Dr. Welborn conducted a small drug store, later built a second store. Horace Wells served as first postmaster.
Hoyleton's English settlers were not adapted to the agricultural facilities of the region, and one by one
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Beginning as an orphanage, the Hoyleton Children's Home today is a specialized care home for neglected and dependent children. C. H. Struckmeyer served as superintendent from 1939 to 1952, followed by R. W. Bickham, (1952 to 1959); Gary W Dersch from 1959 until 1961. Rev. Kurt W. Simon started as superintendent on September 13, 1961.
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sold out to the German immigrants pushing in, who incidently. were very much interested in the possibili- ties of the rolling prairie with its deep sod. By 1880. the English were gone.
Although Hoyleton was laid out in 1858. it was not incorporated until 1881. The first trustees elected were Christ Grabenkrueger. W'm. Grote, Henry Horst, Sr .. Christ Krueger. Fred Pries, Sr. and Diedrich Rix- mann. Sr. The trustees then elected Christ Krueger, president: Wm. Weigel, clerk: Wmn. Heidler, treasurer; Fred Stallmann, constable, and Carl Dickmeyer, street commissioner. Trustee salaries in that day were three dollars yearly.
Early streets were rough. muddy and dusty in sea- son: cinder paths were sidewalks. A favorite Sunday afternoon pasttime was horse racing. not too different from our dragsters today.
What is now the village park was open prairie. First sidewalk, made of wood. was laid in 1883. The same year a log jail was built on the Clarence Wehking property. But the following year, because it had not been used, the building was sold to Gottlieb Struck- meyer. who later moved it to his farm.
In 1886 the village granted right-of-way through town to the Centralia-Ste. Genevieve R. R. Co., and first trains were operated in 1892 from Sparta to Hoyleton.
In 1892 the officers of the Hoyleton Cemetery Association appeared before the board and presented a petition. praying that the village board take charge of the Hoyleton cemetery. the petition being accepted.
The first brick sidewalk was laid in 1896 on the east side of Center street. from St. Louis to Maple streets.
In 1896. Hoyleton donated $100 to the village of New Minden, to help its people following the tornado that struck there so disastrously.
The village granted H. Wm. Rixmann and Hy. F. Rixmann the right to build the first telephone line within the village limits. Time: 1901.
On Dec. 1. 1903, the village granted right-of-way on the center of St. Louis street, from East to West limits of village ( now Illinois state route 177), to the Southern Illinois Electric Railway Company, which was to operate from Irvington to Belleville. and also was to supply the village with electricity for private and commercial needs. The railroad never was built.
In 1913 the village board decided that the citizens needed some kind of fire protection, and an engine
( a hand pumper ) was purchased for $150 and placed in the village hall.
In 1914, the board passed an ordinance to post speed signs near the corporate limits on all roads leading into the village, the speed of autos and auto- cycles to be 6 miles per hour. A year later the limit was raised to 10 miles an hour.
An ordinance was passed in 1919 ordering that all autos be parked at a 45-degree angle, with rear end to curb. "Keep to the Right" posts were placed in the center of the streets in 1920, to be taken down four years later.
In 1925. the village purchased a $1000 Missouri- Illinois Railroad Bond. to help put the road back into operation.
The following names of "First Settlers" were taken from the poll books, and headstones in the old cemetery: Alexander, Allen, Atherton, Benham. Bent, Benthgsen. Blakeley, Bounce. Braman, Briggs, Butler, Cartson. Carter, Clay, Chubb, Davis, Depug, Draper, Duncan, Eastman, Eimison, Ells, Ellsworth. Evans, Everest. Flack, Forbes. Gaylord, Griffin, Hann, Henry, Higgins, Hinckley. Holbrook, Hoyle, Houston, Jen- nings. Johnson. Jones. Kennedy, Kirk, Leach, Leslie, Liseman, Marsh, Miller, Miner, Miston, McAuley, Mc- Cracken, Nesbit, Rockwell, Rogers, Sanderson, Scott, Stevens. Steward. Tabb. Tiree, Watkins, Wayman, Wells, Wheeler. Wightman. Wellborn, Webb.
An election was held on March 26, 1881 to in- corporate Hoyleton as a village under the general in- corporation laws of Illinois. 37 votes being cast. 25 for and 12 against. First officers were President, Christ Krueger; Trustees, Henry Horst, Sr., Wm. Grote, Christ Grabenkrueger. Diedrich Rixmann. Sr., Fred Pries, Sr .; Clerk Wm. Weigel, Sr .; treasurer, Wm. Heidler.
As early as 1859 a tax was levied for School Dis- tric 29. First school directors were A. A. Briggs. J. B. Butler and C. N. Rockwell. First school was built at a figure "not to exceed $600." At first school terms were divided. A winter term began in October. ended in March. A summer term convened in April. ended May 31, a procedure quite different from our present school system. This division of terms was continued here until 1882, when an eight-month term was instituted.
Hoyleton's first high school consisted of a single room in a two-room building that also housed the 7th and 8th grades. In 1936 the present two-room high school building was constructed with the aid of a PWA grant. operating as a two-year high school until 1952.
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The Congregationalists who came to Hoyleton considered education a first virtue and in 1860, with the cooperation of the Central Railroad Company, built the Hoyleton Seminary. It was used as a public school building from 1884 to 1894. In that year the seminary became the Evangelical Orphan Home.
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The old Hoyleton Mill. In the photo are Julius Weigel, Louis Weigel, Ed Brink, Wm. Weigel, Sr., Senator Brink and James Sikorski.
In 1903 the building was enlarged, to make room for the expanding orphan family. Then on June 15, 1915, fire broke out in the attic of this large white frame building, and it burned to the ground. Thus dis- appeared the last landmark of Hoyleton's first settlers, the English people who laid out the village and gave it a name.
The history of Hoyleton's Zion Evangelical Church goes back to 1861 when a group of German immigrants met in the home of F. E. W. Brink to or- ganize a church of their faith, in the community called North Prairie.
In 1862 the members decided to build a church on a site presented to them by F. W. Krughoff. The church was built, with a high tower that could be seen at great distances. The night following the completion of the bell-tower, a destructive storm leveled the build- ing, leaving nothing but a pile of twisted timbers. Un- daunted, the demolished building was rebuilt, and de- dicated in April of 1863.
Immigrants from Germany kept settling in Hoyle- ton. and by 1866 preaching services begun there, in the building vacated by the Congregationalists. It was decided to establish a new Evangelical congregation at Hoyleton. In the summer of 1867 lumber for the build- ing was hauled to the site and foundations laid. Then a succession of crop failures halted the work for four years. Finally, in 1870 enough funds were raised to build a schoolhouse which also served as a church. In 1879 the new church in Hoyleton was completed, a stately, beautiful structure. The church at North Prairie was torn down, its members coming into the Hoyleton congregation. The benches of the old church were brought here, and its bell presented to a congre- gation in Lawrence County, Missouri.
The new church was dedicated in 1880. Rev. Frederick Pfeiffer came in the fall of that year. He is given credit for conceiving the idea of starting an Orphanage in 1894 in the old Seminary building.
A church which at one time served the religious needs of a number of Hoyleton's early citizens was the English Methodist Church, which closed its doors about 1890. The names of some of the early families adher- ing to this church are: Atherton, Clay, Edmiston, Hinckley, Sanderson, DePuy, Duncan and Wellborn.
The Maple Grove Church was built in 1891. First trustees were Aug. H. Schnake. W. J. Livesay, J. W. Gillian, P. F. Farmer and W. H. Randell. This church served the community over 65 years, when on Sunday, March 11, 1956 its 38 members joined the Methodist Church in Hoyleton.
The history of Trinity Lutheran Church is found elsewhere in this volume under an article giving an itemization of the Lutheran movement in the county.
The Hoyleton Methodist Church was organized in 1876. Since Nashville was building a new Methodist church at that time, the Hoyleton congregation pur- chased their building and moved it to Hoyleton.
In 1902 a new church building was built here, and August Schmale bought the old building and moved it to his farm as a granary.
The Hoyleton church separated from the Nash- ville church in 1878 and secured its own minister, Rev. Charles Rodenberg.
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When the St. Louis German conference was form- ed the next year. the Hoyleton church became affili- ated with that body. In 1925 it became a part of the Southern Illinois Conference, when the merger trans- ferred all German Churches of the area to this English group. In 1930 the church buliding was remodeled, a basement and furnace added.
Hoyleton's present Evangelical Orphan Home was established in the old seminary building, being dedi- cated on June 3, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Beckmeyer were the first orphan parents. The Indiana District joined the Orphans' Home District in 1903, making necessary the addition of two wings across the end of the building. The renovated and redecorated home was rededicated on Sept. 27. 1903. The Evangelical Or- phans Association was organized to take care (legally ) of the many children secking admittance to the insti- tution. The Iowa District joined in 1911.
On June 15. 1915 the home was totally destroyed by fire. and the children were cared for by various townspeople until the present structure was built. The name later was changed to Child Welfare Association.
The first bank at Hoyleton was privately owned, called, simply. the Hoyleton Bank. On Nov. 3. 1906. the Hoyleton German Bank was organized, purchasing the private institution. Today it is known as Hoyleton State and Saving Bank.
The American Legion Post at Hoyleton was or- ganized on Jan. 22. 1921. under the name of Claude Earl Post. No. 714. Department of Illinois. It was named in honor of Claude Earl. the first to die while in the service of his country in World War 1. The Post was discontinued in 1930. then reorganized on Jan. 5, 1945 as Claude Earl Post. No. 887.
Hoyleton was the birthplace of the Washington County Farm Bureau. mainly through the efforts of the late Martin Schaeffer. After untold effort, the County Farm Bureau held its first annual meeting at Nashville. Aug. 3, 1926. The first board of directors
was composed of George J. Hake, John Groennert, H. D. Hake, J. R. Hood, L. F. Ochs. Bert Pitchford, Amos Lyons, D. W. Dawkins, Paul Beckmeyer, Edgar MeLaughlin, E. W. Lammers. F. J. Schleifer. The of- ficers of this board were President, J. R. Hood; vice president. Geo. J. Hake: secretary, D. W. Dawkins. Offices were established in the Nashville courthouse.
Hoyleton has an active American Legion Auxil- iary, a unit of the Home Bureau, a 4-H Club, Lions Club. Ground Observer Corps and once a Boy Scout troop.
Hoyleton has the distinction of having a game that is purely local. It was invented by Prof. Peter Fasbender. years ago. still is played by many here. It is called Napoleon. and is played with dominoes.
Hoyleton had a brickyard, established in 1870. Back in 1912 it had a bakery. From 1925 to 1927 it had a community newspaper. the Hoyleton Hustler, published by Edwin Muenter.
Grand Point Creek, east of Hoyleton, was once the site of a large Indian village. It was a very old village and is said to have been abandoned at the time Gen. George Rogers Clark passed this way in 1779.
Records of the Post Office Department show that postal service was established at Hoyleton. Dec. 17, 1857. The following postmasters served: Joe. A. Bent. 1857: Wm. E. Webb, 1858; Horace Wells. 1859: Delos Steward, 1863; Horace W. Wells, 1867; Enoch E. Wellborn. 1877: Christian L. Krueger. 1885: Jacob Keller. 1889; Lonis Krueger, 1893; Adolphus Grote, 1897: Jacob Keller, 1901; Arthur C. Beckmeyer. 1915; Lawrence F. Hake, 1922; Gustav C. Michael, 1930; Paul II. Saehtleben, 1931. present incumbent.
In 1902, two rural routes were established. car- riers being Theo. Schierbecker. John Seyler. Louis Racherbaumer. Arthur Rixmann. Harlan Gerstkemper and Paul Lockwood. Frank Stahmer. Wm. Breuer and Paul Maschhoff had temporary appointments.
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THE BIG "SHAKE"
The Great Shake, which rocked this area of southern lllniois like a bowl of jello, began on the night of December 16, 1811. It was the worst earth- quake ever to strike the Midwest. Had it occurred today, the loss of life might have been chalked up in hundreds of thousands, with property damage astro- nomically high.
The only reason very little has been written, in relation to Washington County. Illinois, is explainable. The only pioneers here at the time were two hardy groups, the families of David Lively and John Hug- gins. If these families left any written words of their experiences near what is now Covington during the ominous winter of the quake, it was presumably lost, for the Indian massacre that wiped out these pioneers was complete and terrifying.
But even today, 156 years after the quake, there are evidences of its fury still recognizable within the county. There are "flats" and "sinkholes" that were caused by it. Some geologists even believe it changed the contour of streams, the Kaskaskia River and some of the larger creeks.
This is borne out by air photos of Washington County terrain, taken at high altitude, that show the present stream beds, and old watercourses, where the streams cut new channels. Flood could have done this, of course. But there also is the possibility that this early earthquake was the cause.
Remember that it fashioned Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee, dropping a large area of the terrain from six to twenty feet. into which water poured to form this gigantic inland reservoir. Even today, local fish- ermen who travel here annually for week-ends, will tell you of the many cypress stumps protruding from the lake, attesting it was once a cypress forest that sank in its entirety.
This same earthquake, the epicenter of which was in the area of New Madrid, Missouri, cracked walls and chimed clocks as far distant as the Vir- ginias. It reversed the current of the Mississippi River for hours, formed new islands and sandbars. It sank other islands and even part of the town of New Madrid.
The frontiersmen at that time were well acquaint- ed with the danger of losing their scalp to the Indians. But facing the "Great Shake" was facing the unknown.
A great proportion of these early settlers had so little education that they could not even sign their names. Many were superstitious as well. In this era
of the American frontier, religion portrayed the wrath of God as very real and very near.
So it was that terror was almost universal when the scattered pioneers were routed out of bed at two o'clock in the morning of December 16, 1811. With- out warning the sleepers were awakened by cracking and groaning noises, the fall of stones from the chink- and-daub chimneys, the roll and pitch of the earth under their feet. The odor of sulphurous gases filled the air.
The settlers rushed out into the night, and the ground weaved beneath their feet. Cracks opened up, widened into yawning chasms. Many dropped to their knees in prayer, thinking the end of the earth had come.
Indeed, that night. and for many nights in the future (there were 172 separate earthquakes, all told) many were firmly convinced that God was visiting His wrath on them for their misdeeds. There had never been anything like the New Madrid Earthquake. Even after the passage of months, some of the settlers still didn't realize what had actually happened.
Had that winter of earthquakes happened today, the loss in life and property damage would have been little short of amazing. Witnesses described waves in the ground like those of the sea. Whole forests tum- bled into the rivers. Landslides tore great hills and ridges apart. Banks of streams caved in; islands dis- appeared and new ones were formed. Cattle and horses fell into the great fissures opened in the earth. The air reeked of strange fumes. An unnatural darkness came over the land in the daytime.
At New Madrid, Missouri, first center of the shock, most of the pioneer town was turned into rub- ble. After the first quake, only two families remained. The shocks continued, in an ever widening area. Ge- ologists who have since studied the evidence believe the epicenter moved from the original point of dis- turbance to a spot about twenty miles from the junc- ture of the Wabash and Ohio rivers, at the eastern perimeter. Most of southern Illinois felt the shocks, which includes Washington County, but at the time much of the area covered by the quake was virgin wilderness and empty prairie.
There were no seismologists or geologists in the area at that time to make recordings of the quakes. But well educated men like Timothy Flint, John James Audubon, the naturalist, and Daniel Drake kept care-
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This aerial photo of the Kaskaskia River, in Washington County shows some of the original stream and the present channel. Many geologists think the 1811 earthquake was a factor in this shifting stream bed.
ful records of the disturbances. Sir Charles Lyell, the great British geologist, came to the area in 1815 to study the many visible evidences of the quake, the fissures, the "sunken lands," and the "new channels" cut by various streams.
The "Great Shake" of 1811 is all but forgotten. Since then, there have been only minor earthquakes felt in this area of the Midwest. But geologists point to the fact that this is "earthquake country." So it is natural to ask a question: will it happen again?
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History of the Precincts of Washington County
The first settlements in the county were made in what is now Covington township, 1810-11. It was here that the Lively family was massacred. Wm. H. Bradsby in 1818 settled at the crossing of the old Kaskaskia and Peoria trail, where he cleared a small farm. When Washington county was organized, the county seat was located on this farm. In 1819 he was appointed circuit clerk by Gov. John Reynolds. For many years he held
The first permanent settler in Plum Hill was Wm. Wheeles, who came in 1814 and settled on the Vin- cennes and Kaskaskia trace. He was followed by James Sawyer in 1819. In 1827 Thomas Atchison came, and John Weaver a year later. Hawkins Ragland came in 1827. The first school house, of hewn logs with punch- eon floor, was built on the hill. It was not replaced with a frame building until 1852. Isaac Hale was the
An old photo of the courthouse at Nashville, before the steel fence was removed.
the office of circuit and county clerk, probate judge, county surveyor and postmaster. He died in Nashville in 1839.
Hartshorn White settled at Covington about 1819. Jesse Moore came to the same area in about 1820. The first German settler in that part of the county was F. W. Hoffman, 1840. He was followed in 1841 by Frederick Prasuhn and F. Ellerbusch.
first physician. Chills and fever were the prevailing diseases, and quinine, calomel and jalap were the standard remedies used by the knights of the pillbox.
Pilot Knob's settlement goes back to 1818, when John Rainey was the first settler there. In the same year James Gordon settled there as well. The first schoolhouse was built in 1834, a traditional log build-
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ing. The first school teacher was Horatio Burns, a grandfather of the former 'Squire John Burns of Nash- ville. The first physician to administer antidotes for snake bites, chills and fever, was Joseph Brashin.
Henry T. East was the first settler in Lively Grove, a native of Tennessee, who settled there in 1828. The following year came Jesse Lively, Wm. MeBride and Absolom Tidwell. Samuel Gibson settled here in 1831. He was followed by Robert Stewart. John Wiley. James Gillespie and Archie Coulter in 1832. The first school, a primitive log building, was taught by Daniel Morton. The first marriage occurred in 1834, that of John Dickey and Jane Gibson.
Death came quickly on the prairie and in the woodsland. Asa C. Fletcher, 29. a chain carrier for government surveyors, was bitten by a rattlesnake. and died a few hours later. lle was interred on the spot, a hill south of the present bridge across Mnd Creek.
Prior to 1837. the following families were living at Venedy: Joseph Kinyon Sr .. who had two sons also living in this precinct, Daniel and Joseph Jr., and the Richard Walton family. Among the early settlers there were families by the name of Jones, William, Wilson, Brown and Dr. E. Hale.
As early as 1831. F. Nobles and a man named Mayberry made settlements in the southeast part of Hoyleton precinet. John Harr. Sr. settled in the north- east part in 1840. The first schools were taught in pri- vate homes, Edward Russel being the first teacher. In 1858, J. A. Bent and Ovid Miner. congregational min- isters, established a colony near the center of the pre- cinet. New Englanders, they laid out the village of Hoyleton the same year. built the first church there in 1859. Through the influence of the Central Railroad Company. the Hoyleton seminary was built.
The first settlers of the town were Easterners and it was called "Yankeetown." In 1866. C. Krueger and W'm. Grote purchased a lot and erected a store. That same year. German settlers began coming in, and by 1870. most of the original English settlers had sold out to the incoming Germans.
The first settlers of Irvington precinct were a Mr. Scott and family who came in 1827. The following year came Richard and Abner Joliff. John Lock came in 1829. and John Faulkner. Daniel Waller, John Wil- liams. Thomas A. Nichols and Wm. Crabtree the fol- lowing year. M. G. Faulkner came in 1831. and J. Williams in 1832. Most of these people were from Kentucky. Tennessee and Indiana, and were hardy. honest and industrious. The first school was built in 1814; first teacher was Wm. Leeper. Prior to that time classes were held in any cabin that was vacant. Ilinois
Agriculture College was incorporated at Irvington in 1861. By act of legislature in 1867 the charter was so amended as to authorize the board of trustees to intro- duce the teaching of any and all branches of science usually taught in higher educational institutions of the country, and to confer degrees. This institution was discontinued and the property was later occupied by the Hudelson Orphan Home.
The Woodromes were the first settlers of Ashley precinct. coming in 1825. William and Burton Nichols. two Georgians, came the following autumn. Soon after- ward followed Elijah Smith. Thomas Howell and the widow McMillan. The first school taught in the pre- cinet was in a log building, in 1829. the teacher being Jarvis Jackson.
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