Anna
Anna, laid out in 1853 by
Winstead Davie on either side of the soon to be constructed Illinois
Central Railroad, was named for Mr. Davie’s wife, who was one of the
children of Mrs. Nancy Willard, early settler in Jonesboro. In 1857,
shortly after the founding of the city, the Anna Quarry came into
operation, and has produced crushed rock, lime and high quality building
stone continuously since. In 1873, the Illinois Southern Hospital for the
Insane was built in Anna and has been constant source of employment for
many citizens in the area.
The business section of
Anna, which had been building up for two decades from the time of the
city’s founding, suffered two major fires, one in 1876 and one in 1879.
Despite these reversals, Anna continued to grow steadily as a sound
business community.
The Anna Fair was organized
in December 1879 and has been one of the finest
county fairs in the state. Held usually in August, the fair features horse
racing, exhibits of produce, livestock, cooking, handicrafts, and a
midway.
Walter Willard and Rev.
William Faris were responsible for opening the Union Academy, a private
high school, in 1883. For nearly 35 years, Union Academy developed many
persons who came into prominence as distinguished men and women in their
professions. In 1916 the Academy closed and the property was received by
the public high school.
Early industries in Anna
included the Anna Pottery, known for its exquisite work and the Flora
Temple mills, where excellent flour was made for many years.
The Anna Pottery began in
1859 by C. & W. W. Kirkpatrick, two Ohio brothers who had migrated to
northern Illinois before coming to Anna. The excellent clay in the area,
together with the skill of the potters, brought much fame and prestige to
the company. Perrin, in his “History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski
Counties” (1883), reports that “the establishment employs some twenty
hands and turns out annually a large amount of sewer pipe, jars of various
sizes, fruit cans or jars, milk crocks and, in fact, almost every species
of stoneware, together with bull-dogs, owls, snakes, hogs and illustrated
railroad maps, pipes by the thousand, bull-frogs, and a variety of other
animals and things too tedious to mention”.
Tobacco was processed in Anna from 1862 to 1870, and at least
one cotton gin was operation immediately following the Civil War.
Fruit and vegetables have
been important to the economy of Anna since 1860. A wide variety of
products, headed by apples and peaches, has been grown in the area and
brought to Anna for shipment to major metropolitan markets. A huge Farmers
Market was built in 1934 to accommodate the great quantities of produce.
The fine building stone
produced at the limestone quarry is well exhibited at the Stinson Memorial
Library and the First Presbyterian Church.
One of the most outstanding
homes in Union County is situated on South St. directly across from the
Presbyterian Church. Mr. Fasig, who was owner of the kaolin mines near
Mountain Glen, originally built the home.
Today, Anna is a building
community of 4766, with the Anna State Hospital and the limestone quarry
still providing employment for many residents as they have for many
decades.
The Anna Cemetery, with the
“doughboy” statue standing sentinel at the northern entrance, contains
the graves of many of the prominent citizens of Anna. The marker of Frank
Willard, creator of the comic strip “Moon Mullins”, has an engraving
of the hero of this comic strip on its surface.
Alto Pass
This village, located on rolling hills of the Illinois Ozarks, acquired its name
because it is the highest elevation in Illinois traversed by a railroad. The
town originally called Quetil, was laid out on January 20, 1875, along the St.
Louis and Cairo Narrow Gauge Railroad and soon became an important shipping
center for fruits and vegetables. By the turn of the century, the nearly 500
citizens of Alto Pass were served by a post office, five general stores, a drug
store, two hotels, a blacksmith shop, a millinery shop, a lumber yard and two
cooper shops. Alto Pass today has only 304 residents. Many of the stores stand
abandoned, although a few shops and a band remain. The interior of the bank is
representative of architectural designs of an earlier era.
Balcom
A high official of the
Illinois Central Railroad named this community after himself. Between 1900
and 1930, Balcom was a fruit shipping center and a village of considerable
prosperity. During this period, a superb variety of cantaloupe, call the
Balcom Gem, was developed by area fruit growers. At the peak of
production, about one hundred acres of land were devoted to growing these
lush melons. These melons had a sweet, cream-colored flesh and a heavy,
netted outer covering. Adjacent farms grew additional produce, including
spinach, cabbage and tomatoes.
Mr. James Corzine of Anna
served as the first manager of the Balcom Fruit Growers Association, Inc.
It was his job to see that all the daily produce was properly loaded in
either ventilated or refrigerated railway cars for shipment to Chicago. He
vividly recalls many days when wagons were lined up in two directions for
as far as the eye could see and he worried whether he would be able to get
all of them loaded on the railway cars before the train pulled away.
As large produce trucks
began to take over the transportation of fruits and vegetables by 1930,
Balcom began to subside about as quickly as it rose to prominence. Today,
only a few houses remain along with the foundation of the fruit storage
shed adjacent to the railroad. There are no more Balcom Gems and this
strain of fine melons is apparently lost forever.
Berryville
Today Berryville is a string
town of dwellings a few miles west of Jonesboro. It takes its name from
the strawberry nursery developed in the region by W. W. Thomas. The
enterprising Thomas, quick to recognize the potential of strawberry
production in the area, established a strawberry nursery where thousands
of plants were sold to local farmers and also shipped to distant areas.
Thomas is reputed to have had some sales overseas. Many of the people who
originally lived in Berryville were employed at the Thomas Nursery.
Bradshaw
Bradshaw is a name given both to a tiny community, which existed
from 1875 to 1881, and a creek, which meanders through much of the
northeastern quarter of the county. The old community was located 3 ½
miles from Saratoga. Today, only a farmhouse or two exists.
Cobden
The Illinois Central Railroad is responsible for the development of
Cobden. When the town was laid out in 1857, it was called South Pass, but
during the next year Sir Richard Cobden, an English statesman who was a
stockholder in the railroad, visited the United States and spent some time
riding the rails. His enthusiasm for the locale of South Pass and the
warmth of the people he found there were so great that the local residents
agreed to change the name of the town to Cobden. Cobden
developed into a spectacular fruit and vegetable distribution center.
Several box and crate factories were built to provide shipping cartons for
the great quantities of produce. Nearly from its beginning, Cobden shipped
thousands of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables to northern markets. The
People’s Fruit and Vegetable Shipper’s Association constructed a large
market in 1934.
Although the quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables are much
less in the Cobden area today, peaches and apples are plentiful in season.
An annual Peach Festival, complete with the coronation of a queen,
is held during August.
The Cobden museum on the main street contains much memorabilia of
Union County.
Dongola
Ebeni Leavenworth, an
engineer of the railroad, developed this village along the course of the
Illinois Central Railroad. The plat for the community was recorded on May
23, 1857 and soon thereafter, several homes and stores were erected.
Leavenworth established a Novelty Works where wooden items of every
description were manufactured. Today Dongola, which takes its name from a
city along the Nile in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, has a population of 825
although it is the beneficiary of an exit along Interstate 57, the
community. Dongola is built on rather steep rolling hills. A lake near the
foot of the water tower use to provide summer recreational opportunities,
there is no longer swimming aloud in the lake.
Dutch Mills
This hamlet developed in the vicinity of the Kornthal Church, but
never was able to maintain a population.
Fair City
Fair City lies near the end of a dead end road east of
Reynoldsville. Several homes and one church comprise the community. At one
time it was known as Valley Mission.
Hamburg
Hamburg was an attempt to establish a German settlement on the West
Side of the county along the road to Reynoldsville Ferry. Too remote for widespread development
the community finally dwindled to a few farmhouse.
Jonesboro
The site for Jonesboro was selected as early as1816, although the
first lots were not put up for sale until 1818. John Grammer gave much of
the land for the town. Among the early tradesmen in the village was Louis
Jaccard, who later founded the Jaccard jewelry firm in St. Louis. The
arrival of the Willards in 1820 did much for the economy of Jonesboro. In
addition to the $100,000-plus business per annum by Willard and Company,
the Willards were responsible for the first good road in the county, the
first steam flour mill and the first steam saw mill. In 1880, E. A.
Willard built a huge grain elevator along the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio
railroad.
The original log courthouse was erected in 1818 on the town square,
but in a few years proved to be too small for the rapidly growing county.
In 1857, a new courthouse was constructed on Market Street, a short
distance northwest of the town square. This structure, which is still in
use, has had several additions to it. Standing next to the courthouse is
one of the oldest jails still functioning in the state.
Jonesboro is one of the oldest towns in Illinois, and its history
will be the subject of a subsequent treatise. The first Union County
school was a short distance south of Jonesboro, while a private girl’s
school with two teachers imported from the East was in existence for a
short while. The Jonesboro Gazette, founded in 1849, was a most
controversial newspaper for the several years of existence.
The Shawnee National Forest has a ranger station north of the
square at the entrance to a charming, heavily forested park. It is at the
site of the Lincoln Douglas debate of 1858.
The Allen Hot Tamale factory, a block north of the square, burned
to the ground a few years ago. These cornmeal-coated tamales, wrapped in
cornhusks, were among the finest produced in the United States.
The city cemetery at the southwestern edge of Jonesboro contains
the graves of many of the prominent early citizens of Union County.
Jonesboro’s population in 1990 was
1759.
Kaolin
The community of Kaolin developed in conjunction with the kaolin
mines on the eastern slope of Iron Mountain southwest of Mountain Glen.
Several houses, dormitories for the miners, a post office and a railroad
station existed in the community during the peak production period of the
World War I. Kaolin was mined in Union County as early as the 1850’s for
use in the Anna Pottery. Kaolin, known also as China Clay, is an essential
ingredient of china or porcelain. It is a white, soft powder, which fires
white of nearly white. Following the final closing of the mine, after
excavating to a depth of 100 feet, the area was acquired by the Shawnee
National Forest. A picnic area was developed near the water-filled pit,
but vandalism forced the abandonment of the site as a recreation area, The
old pit is still worth a visit, and kaolin can be found exposed here and
there along the edge of the pit. The surrounding wooded hillsides, with a
fine mixture of wildflowers, further enhance the area. An old foundation
near the entrance trail up to the mine is one of the few remnants to
remind one of earlier habitation of the region.
LaRue
LaRue, like Aldridge, was a little more than railroad stop,
composed only of a few houses encroached upon by the Pine Hills swamp.
Only a couple of buildings remain today.
Lick Creek
Lick Creek is situated in the heart of scenic natural areas.
Draper’s Bluff looms mightily above the community to the east. Other
escarpments and some caverns such as Lilly Cave are in the area. Lick
Creek at one time had a post office, at steam mill, several stores and was
a rather thriving community. Several families still live there today, but
the businesses include only a garage with a gas pump and a beauty shop. A
mineral spring exists about one-half mile from the town. Despite its small
size, Lick Creek has its own exit from Interstate 57.
Mill Creek
The Mill Creek area was one of the first to be settled in the
county when the Lawrence brothers came about 1808. The rocky hills
adjacent to the creek itself were excellent hunting grounds. Long before
the Lawrence’s arrived, Indians quarried flint extensively from the
area. Mill Creek flint, as it came to be known, is considered a fine
quality flint. Several families followed the Lawrence’s into the region,
and by the time the St. Louis and Cairo narrow gauge railroad was built
through the settlement in 1875, there were enough people present (nearly
200) to lay out the community of Mill Creek. Population continued to rise
until over 400 inhabitants called Mill Creek home. Limestone quarries
sprang up nearby to provide employment. Several churches, stores, a school
and a post office were built. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
population began to dwindle and, one by one, the stores and the churches
closed. Later the school consolidated and most recently the tiny post
office just east of Highway 127 sold its last stamp. The large Jonesboro
Limestone Quarry, producing agricultural limestone, still operates nearby.
Moscow
Located in the southeastern quarter of the county, Moscow consisted
of a post office, a store and a few homes during the latter part of the
nineteenth century. All that remains today are two farmhouses and a sheep
farm.
Mountain Glen
This small community is located 1-½ miles
west of Cobden. When the kaolin mine was in full production, a drying and
shipping shed was erected in Mountain Glen. Only a few houses remain today
in the village. Some of the rocky outcrops in the vicinity are rich in
fossils.
Mount Pleasant
The Mount Pleasant area was settled early in the county. By 1820,
Caleb Musgrave had established an inn, which was patronized by travelers
on the road from Jonesboro to Vienna. Later settlers built saw and
gristmills. In 1858, Musgrave decided to lay out the town of Mount
Pleasant. A store, a post office and a church were built. John Stokes,
shortly after the Civil War, erected a two-story brick structure, which
housed a general store on the first floor and the public hall on the
second. The building is in use today as a residence. Less than two decades
ago, a group of Mennonites from Pennsylvania moved into the region and has
established a Mennonite church.
Peru
Now completely vanished, Peru was platted as a community in 1850
about two miles southwest of the present village of Dongola. The town was
situated along the old road from Vienna to Cape Girardeau. The stores and
adjacent houses survived only from 1852 to about 1868.
Pottsville
Pottsville no longer exits, but at one time was composed of a few
houses where the Union County Conservation Area office now stands.
Preston
Preston was one of the few attempts to establish a settlement in
the broad floodplain of the Mississippi River. Frequent flooding soon
convinced the inhabitants that a town here was futile. John Garner laid
out the community in 1842 and for a time it was a rather important
shipping point. The old town site is now under water. It is interesting to
note that the area in the vicinity of Preston is part of the Old Spanish
Land Grant.
Reynoldsville
Reynoldsville is a small community at the south end of the Union
County Conservation Area. At one time the Reynoldsville Ferry across the
Mississippi River operated a few miles west of the village. Today there is
a church and a community building to serve a handful of inhabitants. A
small store also present is geared to the hunter and fisherman.
Saratoga
Dr. Penoyer, who founded Saratoga in 1841, envisioned another Hot
Spring because of the mineral spring found in the area. A large bathhouse,
hotel and swimming pool were constructed, but business was slow,
apparently because of excessive prices asked by the owners. The land
surrounding the spring was declared public property by Dr. Penoyer, and
today serves as the Community Park. The spring is now capped, but a water
pump provides a taste of the strongly sulphurous water. The old Saratoga Cemetery, now un-kept, lies a short
distance west of town in a secluded woodland.
Springville
Springville was laid out in 1875 about halfway between Dutch Mills
and Mill Creek. A post office was established and near the turn of the
century there was a population of about 100. Today only a few farmhouses
remain.
Ware
The community developed at the junction of Illinois Route 3 and
146. Ware has developed into the sixth largest community in the county,
with churches, a store, restaurant and some service stations. Jesse Ware,
an Anna attorney whose son was an officer of the Missouri Pacific
Railroad, which passes through the town, established it.
Wayside
Aptly named, Wayside has never been more than a few houses in the
extreme northeastern corner of the county, about four miles north of Lick
Creek. It is at the entrance to a scenic, rocky natural area known as
Panther’s Den.
Wolf Lake
Wolf Lake is a fairly
prosperous community situated along the Missouri Pacific Railroad and
Illinois Route 3. For years the Trojan Powder Company (now Dyno Nobel,
Inc.), located at the base of the limestone cliffs east of the
town, has provided considerable employment for the town. The community
derives its name from a long slender lake nearby. Just south of Wolf Lake is the Shawnee
Junior-Senior High School. The Elementary School has been closed
for more than twenty years. It is now used by Schaefer Enterprises to
warehouse salvage parts for heavy equipment.