Bloomington, Illinois

“ And when Stephen had got back to the wooden station, and had waited an hour for the Bloomington express, his anxiety to hear the Freeport debate was not as keen as it might have been. Late in the afternoon he changed at Bloomington to the Illinois Central Railroad: The sun fell down behind the cardboard edge of the prairie, the train rattled on into the north, wrapped in its dust and Smoke, and presently became a long comet, roaring red, to match that other comet which flashed in the sky. ”

“ It was in Illinois that Abraham Lincoln—a Southerner, Kentucky born—threw down the gage in his famous Bloomington speech in the matter of buying and selling human beings as slaves. It is in Illinois—in spite of much disgrace which the State’s fair name has had forced upon it—that men and women have enlisted for life to fight in the battle against buying and selling white girls, to fight against that special dealing in “live stock” actually known to have gone on for years, 362 which is Chicago’s special shame as a distributing center. ”

“ R. S. Krum, brother and representative of J. R. Krum, grain-dealer of Bloomington, put up, in the southwest quarter of town, the first residence that was built here, and about the same time put up the small grain office which now stands in the rear of his present store. He has been continuously in the grain trade to the present time, and proposes to stay. No man has done more for the interest of the young village. ”

“ The Bloomington convention concluded its work by choosing delegates to the National Republican convention to be held at Philadelphia the following month, for the nomination of candidates for the Presidency and Vice-presidency of the United States. And thus was organized the Republican party in Illinois, which revolutionized the politics of the State and elected Lincoln to the Presidency. ”

“ The old-time custom of "riding the circuit" is to the present generation of lawyers only a tradition. The few who remember central Illinois as it was sixty years ago will readily recall the full meaning of the expression. The district in which Mr. Lincoln practised extended from the counties of Livingston and Woodford upon the north, almost to the Indiana line—embracing the present cities of Danville, Springfield, and Bloomington. The last named was the home of the Hon. David Davis, the presiding judge of the district. ”

“ The principal road through the township is the Lexington and Bloomington road. It enters the township from the southwest, with the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. Afterward, it passes a short distance north, and then one mile cast; thence one mile north and one-fourth mile west; thence one-half mile north ; after that, one and one-half miles east; one and one-fourth miles north again, and from this point, in a northeasterly direction, through the remainder of the township. Another much-traveled road, is the one leading north from Towanda village. ”

“ It crosses the South west corner of the township, and is one of the most important roads in it. It is commonly called the Peoria road, and is a much frequented thoroughfare. All the overland travel toward the West passes this way. It was on this road that Peter McCullough kept his "way-side inn." Until the building of the I., B. & W. Railroad, in 1870, a regular line of coaches was run across the country from Bloomington west. This road is kept in good repair, and, as it passes obliquely west and north, it furnishes the shortest route to points off in that direction. ”

“ The trustees of the institution, who have legislative power only, are the governor, the President of the Board of Agriculture, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and nine others elected by the people. There were in 1907 more than forty other universities and colleges in the state, the most important being the University of Chicago, North-western University at Evanston, Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Knox College, Galesburg, and Illinois College at Jacksonville. ”

“ The Republican party came into existence in Illinois as a party at Bloomington, May 29, 1856. The State convention of all opponents of anti-Nebraska legislation, referred to in a foregoing paragraph, had been set for that day. Judd, Yates, Trumbull, Swett, and Davis were there; so also was Lovejoy, who, like Otis of colonial fame, was a flame of fire. The firm of Lincoln and Herndon was represented by both members in person. The gallant William H. Bissell, who had ridden at the head of the Second Illinois Regiment at the battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican war, was nominated as governor. ”

“ At certain seasons of the year, the patronage at these distant mills was tar beyond their capacity to grind, and the settlers had to go prepared to camp out for a week around about the mill, waiting for their turns. There was no voting place nearer than Pleasant Hill, and there they had to go until township organization was effected in 1858. The nearest store was at Bloomington, and, in case of sickness, they went there for a doctor. They brought some stock with them, and had great trouble with wolves. Sheep were a necessity to the early settlers ”

“ The citizens living in the northern portion of the town arc now, under the lead of Mr. Stewart, pushing forward the enterprise known as the Clinton, Bloomington & -Northeastern Railroad, with an anticipated station on Section 5.
Corn is the principal crop, and probably will remain so. The farmers feed their crop liberally to hogs ; a few feed cattle. A great deal of corn is drawn to Saybrook, which is the market for this town. A few have been raising flax, with good yield, and an occasional crop of wheat is raised. Oats are generally considered a good crop. ”

“ Beginning in a public highway at Champaign and running in a northwesterly direction to Bloomington, affording Champaign, Mahomet, Mansfield, Farmer City, Leroy, Bloomington and the intervening communities reasonable connections with each other. ROUTE No. 40. Beginning in a public highway on the north line of the city of Sterling and running in a northwesterly direction to Milledgeville, ihence to Chadwick, thence north to connect with Route No. ”

“ There certainly can be no discount on the fertility of the soil. One branch of Sugar Creek takes its rise in this township. There are numerous branches of this stream from the center, east and northeast. They unite in one and leave on the south side near the center of Section 33. There is also a small stream flowing northwest from the northern part, and one on the west rises near the railroad, and flows in a zigzag course to near the northwest corner. The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad enters the township one-fourth mile west of the southeast corner of Section 35. ”

“ Bloomington—the "Highland City"—the county seat of Franklin county, and is a town like all the other towns along this beautiful valley, nicely located, and built up with beautiful homes and public buildings, and besides having large brick M.E. and Presbyterian churches, a large Normal School building, the Bloomington flour mills, a large creamery, and the U.S. land office. I am told that the Indians are excellent judges of land and are very loth to leave a good stretch of country, although they do not make much use of the rich soil. ”

“ Again this northwest became my home. The Indians had sold their land to the government and been sent farther west. The country was filling up with white settlers. Bloomington has been my home ever since.
When I came to Bloomington as a bride there were seven motherless children of the first Mrs. Pond, the eldest being about fifteen years old. I brought with me my three fatherless children, so our family numbered twelve. Our home was a log house of six rooms. There were no schools anywhere within our reach. ”

“ Bloomington has a public library, and Franklin and Miller parks; among its principal buildings are the court house, built of marble, and the Y.M.C.A. building. Among the manufacturing establishments are foundries and machine shops, including the large shops of the Chicago & Alton railway, slaughtering and meat-packing establishments, flour and grist mills, printing and publishing establishments, a caramel factory and lumber factories. ”

“ C. A. Bloomer, a brother of her husband, at Little Rock near Buffalo, and several more in the family of Mr. F. V. Chamberlain, in Chicago. That city was just then beginning to put on metropolitan airs and had a population of 40,000 or 50,000. Here Mrs. Bloomer bade good-bye to a niece who had accompanied her thus far, and who took the cars to meet a brother in the central part of the state. Leaving Chicago, the travelers proceeded by railroad to Alton. ”

“ I saw more tumble-down wagons, rheumatic and broken-down men, old, brown, almost moss covered coats and thin, bony, spavined horses in the Bloomington of 1889 than I ever saw anywhere before or since. In addition to this, in spite of the smallness of the college, many of the six hundred students had considerable money, for Indiana was a prosperous state and these youths and girls were very well provided for. Secret or Greek letter societies and college social circles of different degrees of import abounded. There were college rakes and college loafers and college swells. ”

“ IN traveling over the great fertile prairie State of Illinois, and viewing its many railroads, its many beautiful cities and towns, its school houses, its churches, its broad fields of waving grain, its orchards bending under their load of golden fruit, its vast population of industrious and intelligent citizens, its mills, and its factories, one can hardly realize that nearly all of this great improvement has been made in the last sixty years, but such is the case. ”

“ The financial crash of 1857 unsettled affairs greatly, and few settlers came in for ten years. From this settlement, near the Lexington line, to that on the south, around about Speed Stagtier's, was long an open prairie. It was not till the close of the war for the Union, when " Johnny came marching home " to make new alliances or renew Long broken ones, and new homes were needed, that this whole range of country for miles around Blue Mound, stretching out east to the county line, was filled up by the hardy, industrious, patriotic men who now live here. ”

“ A hundred and fifty miles off it reaches Bloomington, a big town with hotels and factories and a jail. About twenty miles before it gets to Bloomington it crosses the branch line near Cresset's Farm. There's a little sort of station there—just an open shed—called Cresset's Crossing, built for the Cresset Farm people, who own a good deal of land in that vicinity. Not far from Cresset's Crossing, about a half mile apart, the Riven Rock Road from the Junction and the Firehill Road from Jack Reddy's estate run into the turnpike. ”

“ She came into the Union in 1818, two years before Missouri, and with less population, fewer mineral resources, not so many rivers, no better facilities for commerce, yet she has four thousand miles of railroad, while Missouri has only twelve hundred. Illinois has a prosperous, happy, and peaceful population of two millions; while we have only half this number, and our people are leaving in every direction, seeking homes in the territories, in the distant mountains, in South America, in Mexico, in Illinois, flying away from the horrible spectre of this infernal rebellion. ”

“ Illinois is a State which has sprung up, as if by magic, to be one of the most fruitful in the West. It was settled by men from the New England States—men who carried with them those characteristics which have made the New Englander's career one of active enterprise, and successful progress, wherever he has been. Not many years ago the name of Illinois was nearly unknown, and on her soil the hardy settler battled with the forest-trees for space in which to sow his first crops. Her roads were merely rude and often impassable tracks through forest or prairie ”

“ We have seen its seat of authority at Quebec, at New Orleans, at Cincinnati, at Vincennes, and finally at Kaskaskia. We have noted something of its marvellous development, of its wonderful increase in population.
"Just one hundred and seven years ago, when by act of Congress Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, it contained a population of less than two thousand white persons, only eight hundred of whom were of the English-speaking race. ”

“ Owing to the land being uneven, some sections will a little exceed 640 acres, and the overplus is always put to the north-west quarter. The sixteenth section, in every township, is not sold, but reserved for the support of a public school. But this section in Town 2, is of little value, as much of it is very wet; but let the sixteenth section be good or bad, it is always reserved for school-land, because it is nearly central, should a school ever be opened in that township. ”

“ Chicago and New York: RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. Copyright,1898, by Rand, McNally & Co A YANKEE FROM THE WEST. CHAPTER I. MILFORD.
In his mind the traveler holds of Illinois a tiresome picture, the kitchen garden of a great people, a flat and unromantic necessity. The greatest of men have trod the level ground, but it is hard to mark history upon a plane; there is no rugged place on which to hang a wreath, and on the prairie the traveling eye is accommodated by no inn whereat it may halt to rest. Such is the Illinois as remembered by the hastening tourist. ”

“ No preëmption act had yet been passed, and of the more than twelve thousand inhabitants of Illinois some two hundred and twenty possessed a freehold of fifty acres, thus giving the balance of power, if the territory should enter the second grade under the old provision, to one hundred and eleven persons. Nearly one-third of the entire population lived either near the Ohio or between it and the Kaskaskia, and among them there were not more than three or four freeholders, and not one who possessed two hundred acres—the necessary qualification for a representative. ”