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LITTLE
towns and villages dot Macon county today.
So it was within a few years after the
organization of the county, but with the
exception of Decatur the villages of today are
not the ones of yesterday. It is the
second crop of towns we now have. The
first have vanished. Some of them, we must
admit, never existed except on paper.
It was the coming of the railroads, of
course, that changed the map of the county.
Towns that were missed by the roads were doomed.
New towns along the lines of the railroads
sprang up. What would have been the fate
of the little village of Decatur if the first
survey for the Illinois Central railroad, six
miles west of Decatur, had been ultimately
chosen?
Outside of Decatur Mt. Zion is the only very
early settlement which has had a continued
existence. Through the church there was
organized in 1830 and became the center of the
Community interest, the village was not laid out
until 1860.
TOWNS LAID
OUT
Within seven years after Decatur came into
existence, two other towns were laid out in the
county. They were Murfreesboro and
Madison, the former in the southeast corner of
Whitmore township and the latter in the north
part of Blue Mound township. Both were
surveyed and platted in 1836 by Benjamin R.
Austin, who had surveyed and platted
Decatur.
Murfreesboro was laid out by William
Dickey, and at the time was on a main line
of travel. It had a bright outlook and
expectations were that it would excel Decatur.
Efforts were made to make it the county seat.
The town was near the old Lorton trading house
and was a natural trade center as there were
many settlers in that vicinity. The town,
beautifully located, was near a ford of the
river. Saw mill, grist mill, and store
were started, home were built. Later a
brick yard was established.
To mark a public square of the town stones
were set at each of the out corners and a rock
was placed at the northwest corner.
Streets in the new town were called Pleasant,
Springfield, College, Jefferson and Chicago.
Murfreesboro was located in the Southeast
quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 7,
Township 17 North, Range 4 East.
Today Murfreesboro, the town that was
expected to become the most thriving city of the
county, is only a memory.
Madison laid out by Thomas Moffett,
arose to the distinction of having four or five
houses and a store. Only the Madison
church and schoolhouse stand today to perpetuate
the name.
Newburg, once a prosperous little village of
150 people, was platted in 1854 by William
Dickey. For some time it was the only
village between Decatur and Monticello, and was
a place of some importance. With the
establishment of Argenta one miles west, on the
line of the railroad. Newburg was
abandoned eventually. Only a cluster of
old wrecks of houses now remains of what was
once a picturesque and interesting settlement.
William Martin, who bought the Draper
land in Whitmore township about 1850, laid out
the town of Martinsburg in the section south of
Murfreesboro, but it also came to nothing.
A saw mill, a trading house, a tile works, and a
few residences were all the town could ever
boast. Mr. Martin built in tile
works, which he afterwards sold to his
son-in-law, Dr. H. C. Johns.
"Hell's Half Acre" was the name applied to
the notorious village of West Danville, better
known as Dantown, which was laid out in 1855 by
County Surveyor I. B. R. Sherrick for
Daniel Conkling.
Conkling established a distillery, store
and saloon there, and the place was frequented
by the wilder element of the community.
Drinking, fighting, horse racing, gambling, gave
the town a reputation of recklessness and
lawlessness. Conkling was the
dominating figure of the village and his
physical bigness, as well as his place as a
leader in the community commanded the respect of
his patrons.
The revenue tax placed on whisky during the
Civil war, lack of railroad service, the final
coming of local option, the passing away of Dan
Conkling, all had their part in bringing
about the demise of Dantown. The
distillery was last owned and operated by V. D.
Ross. It still stands, with some of
its equipment, as a reminder of the old days,
but the town is gone. A modern farm
dwelling across the road from the staunch old
building, where whisky was made, now is the only
home on the site of the once riotous village.
A settlement that almost became a village in
the early days was that known as Cross Roads, at
the point where the Shelbyville road crossed the
Springfield Paris state road several miles south
of Decatur. At one time it was expected
that this settlement would surpass Decatur,
having and advantageous location at the point of
intersection of two important highways.
The place was not laid out for town, however.
For some years after the first pioneer came
to Macon county, settlers established their
homes mostly at the edge of the timber.
Building homes out on the prairie would have
been considered very foolish, indeed. But
in 1834 two men did venture out on the prairie.
They were Robert Smith and William Cox.
Other speculated as to their probable fate.
But contrary to all expectations the two men,
who had been so hazardous, met with success.
Their example inspired others, and one by one
homes began to appear here and there out in the
big open spaces on land once scorned. Much
of the prairie was too swampy to be cultivated,
but the high spots were chosen. This
spreading out on the prairies was really the
commencement of the development of the land.
At the end of ten years, land could still be
had at $1.25 an acre, and was being taken up
fast. Homes began to improve. Log
cabins were replaced by better ones, and
eventually by frame houses after saw mills had
been established, and building material and
being cut. Some of the early better class
houses were weatherboarded and finished with
walnut.
After a time it was discovered that Illinois
mud would make brick, and then numerous houses
with brick foundations and brick walls began to
appear. Truly, Macon county was showing
progress.
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