Georgetown High School - Buffalo Yearbook (Georgetown, IL)

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+ - - Q L.-9 Ciwagtzlia 27 f- A eff- W-- Elections for this voting precinct were held here from the first. The polls were located in an old building which stood north of Frazier's store, and which afterwards was converted into a Methodist church. Voters were required to give in their votes out loud. The post office was established in Georgetown about 1828. The mail route ran from here to Paris and the mail was carried by men riding on horseback. Benjamin Canaday was, for a long time, postmaster. Among the men whose lives were a part of the early history and business success of Georgetown were Patrick Cowan, J. H. Goddard, G. W. Hallowayg John Sloan, the first blacksmithg Mr. Brazelton, the first tavern keeperg Thomas Heywood, one of the earliest doctorsg and his successor, Dr. Richard Holmes. Early in the history of George- town her first hard , road was built, a . plank road which . ran from George- 4 town to Perrysville. 5 This was a toll road 2 made from planks z about sixteen feet long which were laid crossways mak- B ing what is called a 1 corduroy road. It ! was the main route over which grain was carried to the Wabash river for shipping. For pas- senger service there was, in early times, a stage coach line which ran along the Bum in ,348 state road from Danville to Paris. Georgetown was a station where teams were changed. There was also at one time a bus line which ran along the route of the present railway. It was over this that troops were hauled to Danville at the time of the Civil war. The railroad, which was first called the P. 8z D., was built about 1871 and ran from Paris to Danville. The first trains were accommodation trains carrying both passengers and freight and ran at no great speed but they caused much excitement among the residents and the whole town turned out regularly to see them go through. During the time of the Civil war three full companies were enlisted from Georgetown, Co. A of the 26th regiment, Co. C of the 73rd and Co. D of the 125th. Before the war began there was much sympathy here with the slaves and a station on the underground railway was maintained on the farm of the grandfather of Mr. Alfred Lewis. This station was located about three miles east of town, just west of Jonathan Ramey's farm. THE OLD SEMINARY Page Six f l fx' ttirelrarl lo A, g ll i tll X35 l'

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. .. . 1 f -L.-f , 11 -'..J2' WYQEP, . 1, ,S , 'f' P ' LY' 15' ii - W' ls. 1 -4 A l ' .' .4 , 1 I. X dr , ' . f all ' ,ig 'rs ' 'L9, gil! E-'Ic'5'f'Ii.15I 27' ' A 'G 7 'A gif is A Century of Life in Georgetown UNE, 1927, marks the completion of one hundred years since George- town became a town. The original plot of the town was laid out by James Haworth, in March, and acknowledged before Esquire Asa Elliott, June 5, 1827. It contained four blocks of eight lots each and the only two streets were State Street, running north and south, and West Street crossing it at right angles. The streets were sixty feet wide with the public square at their center as it is at the present time. There is some question as to the naming of the town. Some assert that Mr. Haworth named it for his son George, who was a crippleg others say that since Danville had been named for Dan Beckwith, Mr. Haworth decided to divide the sympathies of the Beckwith family by naming his town in honor of George Beckwith. Probably both considerations had something to do with fixing the name of the town. Mr. Haworth is said to have measured off the town with a grape vine cut a rod long because he was afraid that if he called in a surveyor Mr. Nelson R. Moore would hear of it and plot a town first. The vine must have stretched sometimes as some lots are longer than others. The first building in Georgetown was a doctor's office, the next a blacksmith shop and the next a store, merely an inclosure made of poles, which stood on the square where Dukes' cafe is now located. This store was built by Samuel Brazelton and here a little stock of goods was kept for sale. The first log cabin, put -up where the post office now stands, was built in 1827, and was raised by the help of all the men for miles around. Nelson R. Moore, who was one of the oldest settlers, moved to George- town from North Carolina in 1825. He moved here with an ox team, coming in an old fashioned prairie schooner and made his first cabin just southwest of Georgetownwhere his descendents still live. Mr. Moore did a great deal towards settling this part of the country. Benjamin Canaday and Abraham Frazier were among the first to engage in the mercantile business in Georgetown. Mr. Canaday continued for many years to be the leading merchant of Georgetown and built a two- story brick block on the southeast corner of the square. This building had in it a very famous counting room and it was here that Mr. Canaday is said to have entertained Abraham Lincoln who passed through George- town on his circuit riding. Abner Frazier, the brother of Abraham Frazier, came here from Tennessee in 1828 and for a while clerked in his brother's store. His two sons carried on the business and the Frazier store is still doing business under J. A. Frazier, great-grandson of Abner Frazier. This is without doubt the oldest business in Geogetown. Elam Henderson was another man prominent among the early set- tlers. Uncle Elam and Uncle Benjy Canaday were both good Quakers and gave freely toward the erection of a Friends' church but one of them wanted a belfry and one didn't. At last a compromise was made and a belfry was built apart from the church. This tower was a landmark for many years and was.only torn down when the Friends' church was re- modeled a few years ago. rf .... , - -s-A, 'ZA M-N . 1 , 'R 2 Pg F fi l lii six, - . -.Hi ll H l1m,,,,,,, ,, N ,Q-nrrn llli gilll ll .l liimllllilll i Y 8 G - . ' :li 1'-Qxgdhisg Q if if ,,. ,. 1 'V w Q' 7 .Qt vfei? if-'I

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v- ---L9 Ciiwagtzlief 27--to-A----P --H -A GEORGETOWNS SCHOOLS IN 1827 with the beginning of the town of Georgetown, the first school house was built in the public square. This was necessarily a very simple structure, a one room log building in which a subscription school was taught by H. Givens, who was later succeeded by Owen West. This school went out of existence withthe founding of the George- town seminary in 1844 by the Methodist Conference. The seminary under the management of Prof. Jessie H. Moore gained such a good reputation that it became the center of education for the surrounding country. The school was conducted in an old frame building until 1848 when a new, two- story brick building was completed. Prof. Moore SEMINARY was later succeeded by John P. Johnson and the district school became a part of the seminary. SCHOOL While the seminary ASHINGTON was growing and prosper- ing so many young men and women attended that it was hard for them to find board and lodging and many were compelled to stay in farmhouses a long way from town. Every SCHOOL year, in the spring, an ex- hibition of two or three days duration, consisting of essays, declamations, and orations was put on the boards is literally correct because no building in Georgetown was big enough to accommodate the crowds which attend- ed and a platform of boards was built at one end of the seminary building. FRAZIER In 1861 the seminary was disbanded and a publis school was estab- lished in the seminary building. Later a new public school building, which is now called the Washington School, was erected on what was then known as the old lot. New courses were soon added and in 1886 diplomas were presented to the first class graduating from Georgetown High School. A second school building was erected, in 1904, on the old seminary IDX-B T -Q' R TFT :AX S7 I 'E P s g H-ENN iadifagi, . Mi ll Y' 1 fjlmmm ,u,M g i ll lill lillll l K i.i-Vi .lligflf U