 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Princeton's Beginnings
Chad Mair Princeton, Illinois, is known for its natural beauty and history. It is still known as the City of Elms even though the Dutch Elm Disease wiped out most of Princeton's elm trees. The trees were so thick before the disease that they formed a beautiful canopy over the appropriately named "Elm Place." Princeton is also home to the second oldest fair in the state, one of the few remaining covered bridges, and a former stop on the Underground Railroad. The first white settler in the area was believed to be Henry Thomas, who arrived on May 5, 1828. As others followed and a town began to form, a name was chosen for the settlement. Roland Settlers Mosely, John Musgrove, and John Blake held a friendly contest to decide upon the name. Mosely and Blake, both from New England, wanted a New England name for the town. Musgrove, from New Jersey, wanted his favorite Jersey town, Princeton, to be the name. Unable to decide together, they each wrote their choice on a piece of paper and put them in a hat. They then asked a disinterested person to draw out a name. The slip drawn was Musgrove's choice, Princeton. To attract people to the area, a plot of land was divided into small lots and sold at low prices. Originally, very few lots were sold, but gradually people came to the rich land surrounding the area. Eventually eight streets were platted with 120 lots. In 1837 some people of Princeton were not satisfied with Princeton being a part of Putnam County. They petitioned the state legislature to become a separate county. This was granted, and Princeton became the seat of Bureau County in 1837. On October 10, 1854, the first railroad ran through Princeton. The small town developed rapidly. The population increased by more than two thousand people in ten years. A railroad helped develop the county's agricultural base. Just twenty-five years after people began moving to the area, there were ten grocers, ten physicians, and fourteen attorneys. In 1856 an antislavery rally was held in what is now known as Bryant Woods. John H. Bryant asked Abraham Lincoln and Owen Lovejoy, two prominent spokesmen regarding slavery, to speak at the rally. Some 2,000 people packed the small clearing to listen to the two speakers. Owen Lovejoy was an important man in the operation of the Underground Railroad. A fierce abolitionist, he often harbored slaves in his home for many weeks until he knew they were safe. He moved to Princeton in 1838 where he served as a minister to the Hampshire Colony Congregational Church for seventeen years. In 1843 Lovejoy was indicted by a grand jury for housing two slave women but was acquitted at his trial. In 1856 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he was known nationally for his strong antislavery views. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation after Lovejoy had introduced it to Congress. The Owen Lovejoy Homestead still stands and is open for general tours. Other landscape features draw attention to Princeton's development. In 1863 a red covered bridge was built over the Big Bureau Creek, about a mile and a half north of Princeton. It is one of the few still remaining in the state. Across the street from the county courthouse in Princeton is Soldier's and Sailor's Park, where there is a fifty-foot tall statue, built in 1913 in memory of Bureau County's many Civil War veterans. Princeton's founding set a tone that has survived in many ways. It remains a small town with a hint of its New England abolitionist founders.—[From George Owen Smith, The History of Princeton.]
|
|
|