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Could the
pioneers who came to Macon county a hundred years ago see the city of
Decatur today they would be astounded. From the twenty acres in
the original plat of the town, containing a log cabin or two, Decatur
has turned into a beautiful city spreading out over 6,100 acres. A
hundred years ago Decatur had just a few blocks of streets. In
1929 Decatur had a total of 139.7 miles of streets.
In 1830 Macon county had a population of 1,122, less
than two persons to the square mile. In 1930 the county's
population was 81,674.
Instead of the rude log shack the pioneer built in
1829, the Decatur business man today erects a modern building towering
toward the sky. An example is the new Citizens Building at the
southeast corner of North Water and East William streets, erected in
1930.
Decatur, now a city of 57,511 inhabitants, in the
midst of a rich farming community, has every advantage a city could
desire. Within a radius of 250 miles of the city live 16,150,000
people. Decatur is a trading center for these millions.
Of the residents of Decatur 91.4 per cent. is native
born white. The percentage of negro population is 2.7 per cent.
A hundred years ago Macon county's big drawback was a
lack of transportation facilities, having neither railroad or water
communication with markets. Today five railway systems provide all
transportation facilities needed. The total mileage of the roads
serving Decatur is 19,970.
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LAKE DECATUR AT NELSON PARK
Decatur is on the lines of five state paved road routes. Two
are federal routes, No. 2 being part of U. S. 51 from Lake Superior to
the Gulf, and No. 10 and 121 being parts of U.S. 36 from Colorado to the
Atlantic.
The number of industrial plants in Decatur now is placed at 135, with
an annual payroll of about $15,000,000. Many thousands of men and
women are employed i these plants.
Among the principal products are:
Corn oil
Starches
Syrup
Hominy
Feeds
Soy bean oil and meal
Steel
Iron |
Brass
Auto bumpers
Pumps
Valves
Specialties
Millwork
Soda fountains
Caskets |
Sealing caps
Women's Dresses
Wire goods
Candy
Ice
Vitreous ware
Building materials
Many others |
Decatur is the location of the I. T. S. car shops, and of the Wabash
car shops. It is the headquarters of the Decatur division of the
Wabash railway. The total number of Wabash employes in Decatur is
about 3200 and the annual payroll is approximately $5,000,000.
The value of agricultural products of Macon county is estimated at
$11,000,000 annually.
The value of manufactured products is estimated at $51,000,000.
Decatur today has a corn milling capacity of 50,000 bushels daily.
Decatur's people are prosperous. Deposits in the three banks of
the city are considerable above $15,000,000. The total amount of
money invested in the banks of the city is $2,363,000. Three
building and loan associations aid in the erection of homes.
The Illinois Bell Telephone company, housed in a splendid new
building at West North and North Church streets, operates the telephone
system of Decatur, with about 13,000 telephone customers. The dial
automatic system was put into use in 1929.
Decatur has 97.99 miles of paved streets. It has 108 miles of
sewers. It has the commission form of government. It has six
fire department stations, with well equipped forces. It has a
well-regulated police department.
The city has an active Association of Commerce.
Decatur has a water supply sufficient for a city four times its size.
The source of that water supply is a lake fourteen miles long and from a
half mile to a mile wide. This lake, created in 1922-23 by the
erection of a huge dam across the river, furnishes also unexcelled
recreational facilities.
Total acres of parks is 810. There are thirteen supervised
playgrounds. There are four 18-hole golf courses, three owned by
clubs, the South Side Country club, the Sunnyside Golf club, and the
Decatur Country club. The fourth is a municipal course, in Nelson
park.
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SCENES IN DECATUR TODAY
Fans field, in the northeast part of the city, provides the location
for games of the Decatur baseball team and visiting teams of the Three I
league. Decatur was the second city in the state and the third in
the United States to put on night baseball.
Five cemeteries furnish burial grounds for the dead. Greenwood
cemetery at the foot of Greenwood avenue is the oldest. Calvary
cemetery ion West Eldorado street is for the members of the Catholic
church. Fairlawn cemetery occupies attractive grounds at the west
end of King street. On North Oakland avenue is Graceland cemetery,
and northeast of the city is the Lutheran cemetery.
The public school system in Decatur includes sixteen grade schools,
four junior high schools, one high school, all housed in modern,
attractive buildings. Parochial schools include four Catholic, two
Lutheran, and a Seventh Day Adventist school. A new Catholic high
school has just been finished. Decatur also has the James Millikin
university, a Brown's Business college, two large music schools, the
Millikin Conservatory of Music and Decatur Music college; several
smaller music schools, and an Art Institute.
Several of the social clubs of Decatur maintain club houses on the
lake shore. The Decatur Country club erected a handsome new club
house in 1929. The Elks and Moose clubs have attractive buildings,
both on the lake shore and in the business district of the city.
The South Side Country club maintains grounds southwest of the city,
with club house and individual cottages, and the Homewood Fishing club
has grounds with cottages on the lake shore east of Decatur. Many
Decatur people own cottages located in Faries park, four miles northeast
of Decatur, on the lake shore.
The Decatur club, a strong social organization, is erecting a new
building on West Prairie avenue.
Decatur ahs three hospitals, a tuberculosis sanatorium and a
preventorium. A contagion hospital is under contruction at
this writing.
Decatur is well supplied with theaters. They are the Lincoln,
Empress, Bijou, Avon, Alhambra, Crescent and Morrow's.
The city has fifty-eight church and religious organization buildings.
Decatur's service clubs are active in the life of the city.
These clubs include the Rotary, Kiwanis, Exchange, A. B. C., Optimists
and Lions clubs.
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SCENES IN DECATUR TODAY
Women's organizations of large membership, active in
social and civic life, are the Decatur Woman's club, the Business and
Professional Women's club, the Women's Council, the Macon County Home
Bureau, and the Young Woman's Christian association. There are
many smaller clubs.
Good work is done by the Macon county Tuberculosis
and Visiting Nurses association, the Macon county chapter of the Red
Cross, the Decatur Day Nursery, the Girls' Welfare home, the Boys'
Opportunity home, the Y. M. C. A., the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army
and other welfare agencies. Charity work is effectively taken care
of by the Social Service bureau. The community Chest plan is used
for financing these agencies.
The creation of Lake Decatur made possible the
establishment of recreational camps on the lake shore. Camp
Kiwanis is the Y. W. C. A. girls' camp, located across from the lake
from Nelson park. The boy scouts' camp on Big Creek is enjoyed
every year by scores of boys. Not far from Decatur is the state Y.
M. C. A. camp, Camp Seymour, with attractive surroundings. It is
nine miles southeast of the city.
Macon county farmers are organized in the Farm
Bureau, which for more than ten years has been operated most
successfully with headquarters in Decatur.
Decatur ahs an efficient Motor clubs, which is of
great aid to motor travelers.
An airport is provided for the air travelers.
Decatur had its first sight of an airplane back in 1910, on July 17,
when a Curtiss biplane was flown at the race track by Charles Willard,
under the management of the Dreamland Park Association. Now
airplanes are owned in Decatur.
Seventy-five years ago a big share of the business of
the city centered about the manufacture of buggies, wagons, carriages,
and harness. Today an even bigger share concerns the automobile.
Garages, filling stations, battery stations, have taken the place of the
wagon repair and the horseshoeing shop.
Another business of fast increasing importance is the
radio, a business undreamed of a hundred years ago. Decatur is now
"on the air", having its own broadcasting station, WJBL.
Many other things might be mentioned, but they are
unnecessary, for Decatur speaks for itself.
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SCENES IN DECATUR TODAY
OUR PLACE IN THE SUN
Macon county has no reason to be ashamed of the place it has made for
itself in the world. It has sent out men and women who have made
the name of Decatur known far and wide. In army and navy it has
furnished leaders. In government positions, in banking circles, in
the fields of art, music, literature, Macon county citizens have reached
high placed.
As examples might be named Generals R. J. Oglesby, I. C. Pugh,
G. A.
Smith, J. H. Moore and Herman Lieb of the U. S.
army; Rear Admiral C. B. T. Moore of the U. S. navy; Ethelbert
Stewart, U. S. commissioner of Labor Statistics; Bert Eldridge,
former New York banker; Roy Brown, artist; Leonard Crunelle,
sculptor; Myrna Sharlow, opera singer; Charles H. Dennis,
editor Chicago Daily News.
Scores of others might be named, men and women who have won laurels
in their chosen lines of work.
In inventive genius our citizens have made an unusual record.
Industries and manufactories have been revolutionized by inventions
produced by Macon county residents. Their stories have already
been told.
In the friezes in the Centennial Memorial building in Springfield,
Ill., honoring famous men of Illinois appear the names of two men once
Macon county residents, Abraham Lincoln and Richard J. Oglesby.
Oglesby's name appears in the frieze honoring Civil war generals,
also.
In fact, Macon county during its first hundred years has made a name
for itself, one of which it may be proud. As its citizens have
made good, the land also has fulfilled its promise. Today, a
hundred years after the establishment of the county, no one can doubt
that the faith of the pioneer in the "rich country of the Sangamon" as a
desirable place to establish his home has been more than justified.
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