USA > Illinois > Washington County > This is Washington County; its first 150 years, 1818-1968 > Part 7
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At that time the Indian menace here was especially pronounced because Washington County was not only the home of several Indian tribes, but was passed through by trails which Indians living to the east and south used on their journeys to either Fort Kaskaskia or Fort St. Louis on the Mississippi river. Common to both the native and tran- sient Indians was the feeling that white men, coming from the East where the Great Spirit lifted the dawn, had come to push the Indians back, to cut off the timber and plow the prairies, to destroy the hunting grounds, and to other- wise glut the treasures of the earth.
All of these things the red men resented and bitterly opposed. Often their resentment led to such brutal and bloody massacres as the Lively killing in 1813 in which five members of that family residing in the northwestern part of the county. lost their lives. Temporarily this massacre halted the tide of white immigration into Washington Coun- ty, a tidc that was resumed with renewed vigor in 1817.
During the next three years several families made Beaucoup the nucleus of settlement, but even in this com- munity numerically the strongest in the county, the pioneers were extremely Indian conscious. Noting this apprehensive- ness, Col. John Phillips, who located in 1819 just west of one of the much used trails of the day, built in addition to his home and log barn a sturdy stone blockhouse which went a long way toward convincing the red-skinned warriors that the white men had come to stay, and that if fight them they must, they were prepared to do so.
Fashioned from irregular shaped blocks of the slabby limestone found outcropping in nearby streams and cement- ed with mortar made from lime burned at a surface lime- burning kiln located in the timber several hundred yards from the Phillips home, the blockhouse was truly a remark- able piece of masonry.
The walls of the structure which is about 16 feet long and 15 feet wide, are 18 inches thick and are made of three vertical layers of limestone. Passing through each of the side walls at an angle of 30 degrees are 13 shoulder-high loopholes; nine others pierce the end wall at more nearly a right angle. Another row of holes 18 inches above the side loopholes was evidently put there for the purpose of ventilation since the blockhouse has no windows and only one door.
This doorway, still framed by the original hand-hewn oak timbers. was strategically placed only a few feet from the rear door of the house. Moreover, the heavy blockhouse door was hung in such a way that it afforded protection to anyone drawing water from a well only a step outside the doorway. Thus insured, in the event of a siege, an adequate Continued
Today the old blockhouse is all but gone. The one corner of the walls still standing is being exam- ined by Randy Jones, St. Clair County historian.
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The Phillips residence, to the south of the blockhouse is en- tirely gone today. This photo was taken obout 25 years ago.
supply of water at all times was within reach. And since the Phillips family used the blockhouse as a smokehouse it was always amply provisioned.
When fully garrisoned with a rifleman at each of its 37 loopholes. this structure, sturdy enough to resist the elements for well over a century, was doubtlessly well nigh impregnable, especially when it is remembered that any potential attacker in that day, red or white. would have been armed with a bow and arrow or the long muskets of the frontiersmen.
There is no record of this blockhouse ever having been used in a battle, a fact which is inconsequential because it served its purpose in giving the white man a sense of security in a frontier region. and it fully convinced the Indians of the futility of carrying on warfare against such heavy odds.
With the passing of the Indian menace and the coming of more pioneer families, the importance of the old block- house naturally dwindled. Some years after it was no longer needed as a fort, its loopholes were plastered shut on the inside with mortar and clay. Thereafter it was used only as a smokehouse.
(Editor's Note: Today, as the photos show. the old block- house is just about gone. a deplorable fact. for here is a landmark that had vast possibilities at restoration. In fact, it is the only ruin within Washington County that has a direct relationship to the county's earliest days when two enemies were present, the red man and the land itself.)
The huge log barn stood to the northeast of the dwelling and blockhouse, possibly one hundred feet distant. Today it is no- thing but a ruin, although some of the hand-adzed logs are in a remarkable state of soundness, dry, hard, unrotted.
The Washington County Tuberculosis Association
In researching the very creditable work of the Wash- ington County Tuberculosis Association, an interesting sta- tistic was revealed: Washington County is second highest in the state in percentage of residents past age 65. So it would seem that if you wish to live long, live in this county.
The Washington County Tuberculosis Association was organized on June 5, 1941 by citizens concerned with the report that, based on the county's tuberculosis death rate. it probably had as many as 25 active TB cases in need of care.
The major aim of the association is to interest the gen- eral publie in the solution of the TB problem for its own protection. A Tuberculosis Tax promotion in the county was adopted November 3, 1942.
The subsequent program of the association includes: TB education in schools, grades 8-12 inclusive; general
education on TB: tuberculin testing with emphasis on adults; maintaining a reactor register. Incidently the county was one of the first to set up and maintain this service. and has been given state honors repeatedly.
The Washington County Tuberculosis Sanatorium Board was organized on December 9, 1942. It consists of three members. appointed by the County Board of Supervisiors.
Its responsibility: to administer the tuberculosis tax to provide sanatorium care for tuberculosis patients: chest X-rays for reactors to tuberculin; after-care for patients dis- charged from the sanatorium: and prophylactic medication for the infected when indicated.
The editors of this volume salute the dedicated men and women who have made this health program possible within this county, maintaining and building it stronger. down through the years.
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HISTORY OF PILOT KNOB PRECINCT
Pilot Knob precinct takes its name from the high hill or knob which is situated near its center. It is well watered and drained by Locust Creek. It is one of the oldest settled portions of Washington County. The first settlement was in 1818, and the first settler was John Rainey, who settled on the old Hood place, west of the Knob. In the same year, James Gordon settled on the Rainey place. Rainey and Gordon were the only settlers until 1819. when a man named Afflack settled at Three Mile Prairie, but remained but a short time. Benjamin Bruten settled at the same prairie in 1819, from which it took its name, being known as Bruten's Prairie for many years afterward. William Min- son settled there at about the same time.
This photo, token in 1939, shows Oak Grove cemetery, on the old Nashville-Pinckneyville rood, where the oil boom started.
In 1832 Robert Burns settled north of Locust Creek point; James Gordon near the Lane place, and John Frank- lin the old James Adams place. In 1828, Alexander Hodge, Jonathan King and Col. M. Hall settled near the knob, and in 1830 the McElhanon family came from Randolph county and settled here. The Maxwells came about the same time. Very few of these old families remained in the precinct. In 1837 the Hutchings came. and in 1836 Hugh Adams made a permanent settlement. The first school house was built in 1834, on section 27. It was the traditional log building with puncheon floors and greased skins for lights. The first school teacher was Horatio Burns. The first spread of the gospel was made by Methodist circuit riders in 1833, preaching being held at the home of settlers. The Baptists built the first house of worship in 1852; it burned in 1870 and was rebuilt in 1872. known as Concord Baptist Church. The first marriage was that of John Crane and Mary Gordon in 1832. Wm. Rainey was the first storekeeper, starting
in 1835, selling the usual staple articles, which included whiskey, then regarded as a necessity.
Robert Curreck brought in the first reaper in 1854. First horse mill to grind wheat and corn was erected by Richard Cole in 1835. Joseph Bradshaw was the first physician.
In the late 1800s, Pilot Knob was divided into four sections, determined by geographical terrain. Cordes Prairie was the northwest portion of the township; Oakdale Prairie the southwest; the south part to the east was known as Three Mile Prairie. The northeast portion of the township was known as Locust Creek Point, or merely "The Point," hav- ing derived its name from that portion of land that was cut off from the rest of the township by Locust Creek.
Cordes was the only town in the township, deriving its name from the siding on the M. and I. railroad. Once this community had a store, a blacksmith shop and a church. The siding was used in the early part of the century to bring limestone, feeds and other commodities to the trading area.
The early settlers were of German, Polish and Irish descent, all conservative, and very religious. They cleared their land and were among the first to make extensive use of limestone as a soil builder. Today it ranks as one of the three highest in the county in dairying.
Pilot Knob presently is in two grade school districts, the west half in Oakdale District 1, and the east half in Nashville Consolidated 49. All of the township is in Com- munity High School District 99. and the Kaskaskia Junior College area.
The township, located within one-half mile of the Wash- ington County Conservation and Recreational lake district, is serviced by Illinois Power Company and REA Tri-County Electric Cooperative for electricity; and Illinois Bell and Egyptian Telephone Cooperative for telephones. The oil revenues in the township has contributed substantially to the economy during the past 25 years.
Three years ago, AT&T erected a large communication tower alongside the Oakdale blacktop (see article else- where ), which contributes to the economy with an assessed value of over $100,000. The Oscar Decker and Son orchard, only one in the township. has been in operation since 1890, with over 1500 apple and peach trees.
The township is partially in the Park District and the Rural Fire District; and all in the Washington County Hospital District. Its population in 1960 was 361, with 2.1.0 registered voters.
An old landmark remembered by pioneers was the Lueker blacksmith shop on the old Pinckneyville-Nashville road, about a mile north of the Perry County line. The shop was started by Mr. Fred Lueker, Sr. in 1887 and served the area until 1921. The first post office was also at this point.
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Oldest farm home in the township is the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Buhrman. The 160-acre tract of land on which the home stands was claimed from the government on April 24, 1820 by Hugh Adams, with more acreage ac- quired later. The house was built about 1850 with an inter- locking sandstone foundation. The two-story brick house has outside walls varying in thickness from 12 to 16 inches. Bricks at the time were hauled from St. Louis by horse and wagon. Its location is on the old Nashville-Pinckneyville road, a quarter of a mile south of Oak Grove cemetery.
Later this land was purchased by the late B. B. Hol- ston's father and is now owned by his grandchildren, the Holston-Watts heirs. In the fall of 1885, Fred and Wilhel- mina Buhrman and their eight children moved from North Prairie to this farm. They were the grandparents of Fred Buhrman who now resides here. Three generations of the Buhrman and Holston family have been tenants and land- lords here for more than 80 years. Fred and Lottie Buhrman are the third generation living here, since their marriage 32 years ago.
The Churches: St. John's Evangelical Church of Cordes Prairie was founded in the early 1890s and dissolved in the mid-thirties. Later the church was sold and St. John's Ceme- tery Association formed, including members of St. Luke's Evangelieal Church of Nashville Prairie. which has pre- viously dissolved. After dissolution, the Cordes membership joined St. Paul's at Nashville, St. John's at Plum Hill or United Presbyterian at Oakdale.
Concord Baptist: At the close of the Black Hawk war, eliminating threat of Indian trouble, pioneers came into southern Illinois. Wm. Hutchings was one of the early pio- neers in Perry county and an elder son. John R. Hutchings later moved to a community then called Round Prairie, near the northern border of the county. A brother-in-law, Thomas H. B. Jones, settled at Three Mile at about the same time. These two men, feeling the need of Baptist teaching in the fall of 1841, called Peter Hagler, then residing some 18 miles south of this community, to hold a revival. Early rec- ords show that there were six charter members of the newly- organized Concord Church: John R. Hutchings and wife. Thomas HI. B. Jones and wife and J. Stilley and his sister- in-law. John R. Hutchings was the first pastor. Eli Hutchings gave land for the cemetery and W. W. Hutchings donated the church site plot. The initial church was a small log building which was destroyed by fire and replaced with a frame structure. A third. still larger church was later built, served until 1924.
Reminiscing about the early days of the church, it is interesting to note that the families did not sit together as they do today. Men entered at one door. women at another; they sat on opposite sides of the room. Stoves were two box stoves that burned wood. The singing was different also. The preacher would read one line, then the people would sing it. Usually there were more ox teams and wagons in the church yard than cars today. Straw was put in the wagon beds to keep the people warm. They came from miles around to attend services; those who did not have rigs, walked, often carrying their good shoes, which were not put on
until they reached the church. By the turn of the century, newcomers to the area were non-Baptist. and slowly the church lost its membership. In 1924 it moved to a new location at Rice.
Oak Grove Presbyterian: Members of this organization were taken entirely from the roll of the Nashville Presby- terian Church, mainly the families of Hugh Adams, J. Dun- can. J. Wilson, Mrs. Anderson, John Boyle and George Henderson, a total of 25. Preaching by Presbyterian minis- ters had been kept up at the residence of Hugh Adams for over 30 years. A church builling was erected, dedicated in the fall of 1872, was discontinued in 1911, the plat deeded to the Oak Grove Cemetery Association. For some time the old building served for funerals and special meetings, then was dismantled in the summer of 1925.
Rural Schools: There were five rural districts in Pilot Knob township. Luney district 57, where the land was ac- quired from Robert and Margaret Luney in 1859. The first building here burned. In 1948 the district was consolidated with Oakdale.
Kerr district 56, where the land was acquired from Iverson Jones in 1856. This school was known as the Central School until the turn of the century when the name was changed to Kerr. It, too, consolidated in 1948.
Adams district 55. where the land was acquired from John C. Elwell in 1870. The first school was a log building
..
This huge two-story brick house, occupied by Fred and Lottie Buhrman, is conceded to be the oldest dwelling in Pilot Knob town- ship. Its bricks were hauled from St. Louis by horse and wagon.
dubbed "Log College." A second building was built in later years. District is now consolidated with Nashville. The build- ing is now owned by the township, serves as a town hall.
Dolly Varden district 60, located on the Pilot Knob- Bolo township line; land was acquired from Amos and Rebecca Flaxbeard in 1885. Now annexed to Nashville.
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Slade district 59 was the first school in the township, a subscription school. The log building was named after Jack Slade, who owned the land before it was later acquired from David H. and Mary Boyle in 1886. Slade was the last school to annex to Nashville in 1950.
It is interesting to note that before the free school system, the only method of learning was the subscription school. If the parent couldn't afford to pay, there was no school for his children. At that time most of the land in the township was worth about $4 per acre. A good teacher earned possibly $30 a month. Most of them were limited in knowledge as well. The subscription school usually was a log building, about 20x24 feet. Seats were split logs. Stake- and-rider fences were used almost exclusively to enclose farm land. The Bible was usually used as a text book in many of these early schools.
Township Government: First records of Pilot Knob township government date back to 1883, when Wm. Miller
was the first supervisor and Thomas Kerr the first town clerk. Money was very short, and the township roads were allotted as little as $200 yearly for their upkeep. Then when the oil boom hit Pilot Knob county, it enabled the road commissioners to buy a caterpiller motor grader out of tax funds. and today the township has some of the finest roads in the county.
Oil Boom: The year of 1939 was the year of the big oil strike, when the famous "Cemetery Field," south of Nashville was stretching south for miles, with new wells going down at the rate of 30 to 40 monthly. Such names as Blankenship. Cochrane and Hubbard were suddenly house- hold words. The scene of Oak Grove cemetery, after the strike, was a country road with cars parked bumper to bumper for miles as thousands of spectators crowded into the area to see the oil strikes. Today, 28 years later, the field is still on the pump, although tapering off to a marked degree.
The Illinois Agricultural College at Irvington
In the present tumult about Federal aid to education, it may surprise some to learn that Federal aid to education ( with some strings attached ) began well over 150 years ago. In 1816. the government with benevolent paternalism do- nated an entire township to the Territory of Illinois. to be used only for establishment of colleges or seminaries, and on entering statehood another township was presented in like manner.
IRVINGTH
Modern, fast-growing Irvington today.
Our early politicians. taking rather a dim view of edu- cation in general, perhaps because of the pro-slavery lean- ings of many of them, immediately proceeded to sell these
townships at the sacrifice price of $1.25 per acre to get some ready cash easy to their hands. They placed the nearly $60,000 thus acquired in a general education fund, and then proceeded to borrow from it for general state use at a very low interest rate.
It may also be a little surprising that people with some interest in general education got organized and proceeded to do some very effective lobbying by 1830. Leaders in this activity were not only the rather few teachers and professors in the state but a number of prominent leaders of several churches. as well as one politician of note, Judge Sidney Breese. and later on. the Prairie Farmer, as well as an organization called the Industrial League of Illinois.
Beginning in 1833. these groups staged a yearly edu- cational convention in the state capitol at Vandalia, and apparently made it hot for the legislators. In 1854 they won their first victory, the creation of the office of Superin- tendent of Public Instruction. Then in 1855 they won pas- sage of the basic bill which created public schools in Illinois. They had other goals as well, a state agricultural school, a state normal school for training teachers.
In 1861 they attained the agricultural school when the legislature created the Illinois Agricultural College. Nine men were named trustees of a corporation chartered for the purpose of instruction in science and agriculture, practical and scientific, as well as the mechanical arts. The capital stock was fixed at $50,000 in shares of $100 each. The legislature also discovered that 115 sections of the long-ago federal college gift-land remained unsold in Iroquois Coun- ty, and it was turned over to the corporation. They also provided for the corporation to make a full hiennial report to the legislature when in session: financial position, pro- gress. number of pupils and the residence of each.
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It might be construed that this was quite a project to undertake in the first year of the Civil War, but the trustees never wavered in their tasks, even though there were irritating delays.
It seems one of the leading spirits on the board was Mr. Thomas Quick of Irvington, who very quickly convinced his fellow trustees that his home town of Irvington was just the place for the college, rather a surprising thing consider- ing there were representatives from Mt. Vernon, Centralia and other enterprising towns, with Irvington a little known farming village of some 300 people.
The gift land was sold for $58.000, and a considerable sale of stock was made. All money was deposited in the bank of Mr. A. D. Hay at Centralia, who was treasurer of the trustees. A 500-acre farm was purchased at the edge of Irvington. the idea being to provide jobs for worthy and needy students. It took time to crect suitable buildings and secure a faculty, but five years later, on September H), 1866, the school opened with Rev. I. S. Mahan as president. One of the faculty of six was Mr. Thomas Quick of Irvington, the guiding genius of the corporation who was to head the law department when, and if. it was organized.
A boarding hall and dormitory had been erected but there was an overflow of students, numbering over three hundred, which taxed the capacity of Irvington to house. Suddenly there was a building boom to accommodate par- ents who moved to Irvington to be with their children while school was in session.
At the opening of the second year, a new president. Rev. D. P. French, took charge. He was succeeded in 1871 by Rev. A. C. Hillman who served until 1874. At that time Rev. D. W. Philips took over and remained until the un- timely demise of the institution in 1877.
The trustees for some unknown reason never made the required biennial report to the legislature as required by the charter. Neither did the charter require the bonding of the treasurer. And now Mr. Hay's bank failed and the nearly $60,000 on deposit there was lost, not one cent being recovered.
One assumes the impression that the corporation pre- sumed it could make a lot of money and continue practically independent of the state, snubbing the legislature. But now the only source of income was tuition and sale of farm pro- duce, which was never enough to pay the bills. And now. instead of a benevolent legislature ready to foot these bills. that body began to view the corporation as a very neglectful and negligent group who had not fulfilled their obligations as officers in what was at least a quasi-state institution.
The upshot of it all was the enacting of a law by the legislature which stated that if the treasurer of said board of trustees did not make a full and complete report in three months to the state auditor. to account for all state gifts. other moneys and chattels, then the attorney general of the state should take steps to secure what he could of the remaining assets.
To add insult to injury. the snubbed legislature pro- vided that any such funds secured were to be presented to a new southern Illinois Normal University to be presently
The Catholic Church in Washington County
Although a Catholic edifice was not the first religious building to be built in Washington County, Catholicism it- self was administered as a religion by the Jesuits in the Illinois Country long before any other group started a Pro- testant Church. Evidently these same French voyageurs used the Kaskaskia River on the north borderline of the county as their "highway" long before the first white family permanently settled in the area that later became this county.
Today there are Catholic Churches at Nashville, Okaw- ville. DuBois, Posen. Radom and Lively Grove. The aged frame church building at Posen has recently been razed to make way for a new brick structure.
St. Barbara's (Okawville ): The early Catholic settlers. mostly immigrants from Germany and Ireland, arrived about 1860. The nearest Mass at that time was at St. Libory. In the group were such family names as Schlich, Trost, Reitz, Flauaus. VeLaughlin. Rossel. Hughes, Koch. Wier, Voegele. Stuebe. Schott, HeHfich, Sommer, Neunlist and several others. The settlement in 1867 was attended by II. Janssen of St. Libory, who celebrated Mass in the home of John Reitz, a practice that was continued until a church was built.
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