Pages 344 thru 350

HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY

CHAPTER LXII

SOME DECATUR LANDMARKS
 

_DECATUR has left few reminders of the early days, but some remained until comparatively recent years and are still remembered by many citizens.

The old covered bridge, the type that now has almost entirely disappeared, crossed the Sangamon where the county bridge now crosses the lake near the impounding dam.  It was probably the first bridge built in the county, for it was on an important road, the road to Shelbyville, which intersected the old Springfield-Paris road south of Decatur.  All travel from the south, the east or the west, came by these roads.  No doubt Abraham Lincoln crossed the Sangamon, at the point where the old covered bridge afterwards was built, when he came to Macon county in 1830.

The exact year of its erection is not known, but it stood for nearly sixty years.  It was a good bridge in its day, and though built of wood, outlasted many iron bridges.

The old bridge was replaced by a new bridge in 1913.  The new bridge was raised 14 feet and new approaches built, in 1921, when Lake Decatur was formed.

OLD COVERED BRIDGE

CAPTAIN ALLEN HOME

The last home of Captain David L. Allen on the bluff of Allen's bend of the Sangamon stood for years after the death of Captain Allen to remind one of the genial old gentlemen who did so much for Decatur.  With its eight sided tower lifting its head above it, the building never failed to attract attention.  It was near where the Mueller lodge now is.  Cap. Allen bought the original 40 acres of his land along the river, in 1865, and later he erected the house in which he spent his declining years, having disposed of his house on the east side of Water street, north of North.

ALLEN'S HOME AT ALLEN'S BEND

The Muellers bought the last of the Allen estate (then about 70 acres) after Laura, daughter of Captain Allen, died.  That was the beginning of the Mueller holdings south of the river.

Captain Allen built the octagonal tower, it was said, for an apiary.

Allen's bend in the river is no more, since the creation of the lake, but mention of it brings to many the memory of moonlight boat rides on the quiet waters of the Sangamon.

DRUG STORE CORNER

One of Decatur's landmarks is the store building now occupied by West's drug store.  That corner has been the location of a drug store since away back in the '40s.

WEST DRUG STORE CORNER

In the building which first occupied that corner William Cantrill established a general store in 1833.  He was there until 1844, and during several years of that time served as postmaster.  In 1844 Crissey & Deffenbach established a drug store there.  Mr. Crissey later became the sole owner, and moved his stock to another location.  Then a tailor shop occupied the room.  Herbert & Potter, physicians, had their office there next, and they were followed by Dr. Baldwin.

In 1852 Dr. James F. Roberts established a drug store on the corner, and a drug store has been there ever since.  He bought the site from William Prather May 19, 1857, and in 1861 erected the brick building which still stands.  Dr. Roberts ran the store many years, then sold to W. C. Armstrong, who in turn, sold to E. A. West, the present proprietor, in 1892.  Three proprietors in a period of seventy-eight years is remarkable.

The Roberts store became a general meeting place.  Mr. Roberts was jolly and affable and made many friends.  The store for many years had an outside stairway with balcony at the second floor, and from this balcony war bulletins, proclamations and announcements of any public nature were made.  Lowber Burrows read most of the Civil war dispatches.  Sometimes John Moreland, court crier, took his place.  It was literally true that Moreland could be heard all over town, for he had a big voice and the town wasn't very large.

For many years all levels in the city were taken from the door sill of the West drug store.  Engineers set their instruments on the iron door sill at the front of the building, when they wanted to take levels for street grading and paving.

The old iron stairway and balcony were removed in 1912.

Mr. West has in his possession an old prescription book used in the store in years gone by.  Prescriptions for some of the leading business men of the city appear in that book.  Among them are the following:

CASSELL'S CASTLE

Cassell's Castle on Cassell's hill, long a landmark in Decatur, was erected in 1886 by Berry H. Cassell.  It contained twenty-two rooms, finished in hardwood, and was one of the finest homes in the neighborhood.  It stood on the hill between the Illinois Central railroad and Hilton street, near Prairie, which now contains a huge I. P. L. gas tank.

[Sharon Wick's NOTE:  My grandmother made a notation in this book at this point:  'was mother's guardian']

It was on the site of this residence that Richard J. Oglesby made his first political speech in 1842.  The occasion was a Fourth of July celebration and Oglesby was one of the orators of the day.  Henry Elliott read the Declaration of Independence.  The hill at that time was covered with trees.

CASSELL'S CASTLE

The Cassell house was destroyed by fire in 1915 and was not rebuilt.

COTTONWOOD TREE

Most everyone remembers the old cottonwood tree which stood in the middle of the Bloomington road, in front of the William Downing homestead north of Decatur.  Several times it came near getting the ax, but each time Mr. Downing and other residents made such protests that the tree was saved.  However, finally in 1916, when the road became a state aid road, and state authorities ordered its removal, the tree had to go.  It was then nearly 100 years old.

The tree was valued not only because of early day recollections, but because it was used to recon distances.  It was just exactly two miles north of the court house.  It stood on the north and south section line, and only a few feet off the east and west section line.

THE BIG TREE

The earliest residents of the county said the tree was there when they came, but it was then only a sapling.  Parmenius Smallwood, who came in 1829, settled on the land on which the tree stood.  There was no road there then, and one day a teamster drove astraddle the tree and bent it.  Mr. Smallwood then decided to build a little fence around the tree and save it from further damage.  The fence stood for many years, until the tree was big enough to need no such protection.

T. J. Braden said that his father had brought the rails from the timber to build the fence around the tree.

When the Bloomington road was laid out, the tree was in the center of the road, but the people of that vicinity wanted the tree saved and it was allowed to stand.  They considered it a benefit instead of an obstruction to traffic.  Dozens of times on a hot day, travelers on the road stopped to rest their teams and themselves in its cooling shade.

Sentiment had to give way when the road was graded for the state aid improvement in 1916, and Bloomington road travelers finally lost their old friend.

COULTER'S MILL

Coulter's Mill, about ten miles northeast of Decatur on the Sangamon river, has been a favorite spot for many years for the fisherman.  The ground around the mill is admirably situated for camping purposes, and the fish in the river right there are just waiting to bite, it seems.  At least that is the place where everybody has gone for years to catch the finny tribe.

COULTER'S MILL
Showing old dam, also old water wheel which furnished power for grinding.

The mill was owned by the Coulter family for more than forty years.  The land was bought by William Coulter from a man named Garrett in 1874, and Mr. Coulter proceeded to erect a mill.  It was a three story building, run at first by water power.  Years afterwards the mill was moved to higher ground, as its timbers were rotting away.  After the change, gasoline power was used.  Mr. Coulter ran the mill for thirty-three years, then moved to Oklahoma, and his son-in-law, Simon Mayberry, continued to run it until 1913.  The mill was designed for wheat grinding, but afterwards ground mostly corn and buckwheat.  T. A. Gooch bought the place in 1914.  Mr. Coulter died in Guymon, Okla., in 1912.

COLLEGE HILL

If you went to see the circus in the early days of Decatur, you usually went to the Mound, called College hill, the present site of the A. E. Staley and C. E. England homes.  Before any homes were built on that hill, the summit of it was much higher than it is today.  Considerable ground was taken off when the houses were erected.

For many years the hill was used as public property.  There the Civil war companies met to organize.  Children used it for a playground.  Once a big tabernacle was erected for the state Sunday school convention.

At one time Rev. William S. Crissey had made an attempt to secure a college in Decatur. and he offered the Mound as the site for it.  The effort to secure the institution failed.  Provision was made in the offer of Rev. Mr. Crissey that buildings be erected within ten years.  No one was particularly interested in the idea and the aground was not considered a very desirable site, so the offer went unheeded.  Rev. Mr. Crissey had laid out the square about 1840.

After the effort to get a school established had failed, Rev. Mr. Crissey bequeathed the property to the Missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church of Illinois.  There was no such society, and the property reverted to the heirs.

It was this effort to start a college which gave the hill the name of College hill.

The houses on the hill were erected in the early '80s by William B. Chambers and William J. Quinlan, both members of the firm of Chambers, Bering & Quinlan.  The finest of wood was used in the houses and they were well built.  The Quinlan house cost $28,000.  These two houses were among the best and handsomest in the city at the time they were erected.  Today, after being remodeled and improved, the same can be said of them.

The Quinlan home was sold in 1891 to William H. Ennis who lived there some years.  In 1913 it was bought by A. E. Staley, the present occupant.  The Chambers home was sold about 1886 to Silas Packard, who lived there until his death.  Afterwards, in 1915, the property was bought by J. T. Whitley, who in turn sold it to the present owner, C. E. England.

IMBODEN SPRINGS

In the early '60s John Imboden bought a tract of twelve acres south and west of the old square, and built a slaughter house thereon.  It was necessary to have water and so he hired a well digger to dig him a well.

The digging for the well had progressed to a depth of 30 feet without striking anything out of the ordinary.  One evening the well diggers knocked off work as usual.  The next morning when they went to work they were surprised to find that the well was not only full of water but was furnishing a small river which was pouring down over the hill.

The order reminded people of a match factory and one bystander suggested that probably by some means the diggers had tapped the claim of his Satanic majesty.

Mr. Imboden did some thinking right then and there.  As a result he built a reservoir at the lower end of the place, walled it with rock and then laid a pipe line from the well to the place, and the work of "healing the sick and the afflicted" began.  There was mineral in the water, and many people thought they were benefited by it.  Mr. Imboden did not commercialize the place, however.   It was open to everyone and free.

Another idea was presented to Mr. Imboden's mind, that of having a skating rink in the winter.  He built a dam across a ravine in the hollow and soon had a lake.  It became very popular as a skating rink among the young folks of the city.  A bath house also was erected and mineral baths were advertised, but, boo-oo-- the water was too cold to make that popular.

The spring remained many years, though its popularity waned.  After Mr. Imboden's death the land was platted and sold, and when streets were graded the spring was covered up.  It burst  out again when a sewer was being laid, making trouble for the workmen, but concrete work put a final stop to the flow of water.

The spring was in use as late as 1900.  It was south of the west end of Spring street, off of Greenwood avenue.

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