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Richwoods
is situated in the eastern portion of Peoria county, joining Peoria
township on the north. Was so called by its first inhabitants
because of its heavy timber of sugar maple, elms, walnuts and oak,
and when the township organization was effected the name was
retained.
It has within its limits Springdale Cemetery,
containing one hundred and seventy acres of land, beautifully
situated on the bluff overlooking Peoria Lake and the Illinois
river. The county fair grounds - Jefferson Park - is also in
the township. Mr. William German was the first settler
of the township. He came in 1832 and located on Sec. 29.
Later in the same year came Thomas Essex, a native of
Virginia, and settled on thesame section. In 1833 Benjamin
Slane, Marginus Belford, and William Nixon, came and
settled on Sec. 27. Mr. Slane remained but a short
time, then removed to Princeville township. He was the first
supervisor from that township. Also later in 1833 Stephen
Carroll, Levi McCormick, and man by the name of Barton,
settled in the township. In 1834 Josiah Fulton
and family removed from Peoria. The first marriage was
Charles Ballance, of Peoria, to Miss Julia
Snebly, in 1835. The first death was Mr.
Stephen Carroll's father. The first minister was
Rev. Isaac Keller, who preached in a log
school-house on Sec. 27, in 1835. Nathan Giles
immigrated to the township in 1836; was a native of Oneida county,
N. Y. John Berket of Lancashire, England, came
to the county in 1836. Smith Frye came from
Washington county, Penn., in 1834; was an active, influential man.
Was elected sheriff of the county in an early day. Mr.
Frye was killed by a pistol shot at the stock yards in
Peoria, in 1860, by a man named Carroll. Benjamin
Lusk settled in the township in 1834. He was from
Duchess county, N. Y., has two sons living in the township.
John Heines also came as early as 1834. He was born
in Frederick county, Va. In 1833 William O. Stringer
settled on Sec. 8, and was among the earliest settlers of the
township.
Schools.- In 1851 the Snebly and Chauncey
wood school-house was built, being the first frame building used for
school purposes in the township, (previous to that log cabins were
used,) eighteen by twenty-four feet, and cost $400. The next
was the Stringer school-house in the northern part of the
town, in 1853, at a cost of about $100, which is still standing and
occupied for school purposes. The next was the brick house on
section 28, known as the Fulton school-house, which was pulled down
and a fine building erected in 1858, on section 33, in its stead,
known as the Jackson, or Yates school-house, at a cost of $1,000.
In 1853 the Spears school-house was erected, a brick building,
eighteen by twenty-four, and cost $400. It was afterwards
abandoned, and the district being divided up, there has been two
houses erected, one known as the Louks, and the other the Sipp.
They are frame buildings costing about $600 each. In the
northwest corner of the township a frame building was erected, known
as the Snebly and Johnson school-house, costing about $500. In
the year of 1865 or '66, there was a frame building erected on
section 15, on the Illinois Bottoms, known as the Littleton
schoolhouse, and cost about $400. The Hines school-house was
built in 1872, on section 28, and cost $500. The schools are
in a flourishing condition, always pay very good prices for
teachers, and having sessions of six to nine months a year.
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