Industry High School - Eagle Yearbook (Industry, IL)

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STORY OF MACOMB As the true beauty of an object becomes apparent only when vrewed from a dls tance so can the real romance of a city s growth be seen only from a detached vtew pomt Progress can be noted as the contrast between what was and what ts The htstory of Macomb located on the old Burhngton Trarl to Burlmgton lowa rs tnextrrcably tnterwoven wtth that of McDonough County whose ma1est1c courthouse dommates Macomb s Square Both the crty and the county were named for heroes of the War of 1812 General Alexander Macomb and Commodore McDonough who to gether defeated the Brtush at Lake Champlarn The whole area was part of what was termed the Mtlttary Tract grants of land set aside for those who volunteered for ser vtce tn the War of 1812 For a whtle McDonough County as rt ts now known was fust part of Madison and then a part of Prke County unttl tts present boundanes were set up in 1826 Even then though the county had tts name and tts boundanes rts admrms tratron and tax collectton were left rn the hands of Schuyler County offictals unul the new county should garn a populatton of 350 ln the same year the county gathered tts ftrst whtte settlers Wtlltam Carter and Rtggs Pennmgton who settled southeast of Industry In the sprung of 1829 Reverend John Baker a Bapttst mmrster burlt the fust log cabtn on the stte of the present ctty of Macomb This burldtng stood about where the htgh school stands today The cabtn was not far from the exact center of McDonough County whrch ls at the corner of West Ptper and South Johnson Streets In 1830 a court order rssued at Rushville recogmzed that the county had the necessary populatton for county government and an electron for county commrsstoners was ordered held These commtsstoners located the seat of Justtce at the hut of John Baker then the only house standtng on the srte of what ts now Macomb In December of 1830 James Clarke was sent to Sprmgfteld to get tttle to the quarter sectton on whrch the Baker house was located He dtd thts getttng caught rn a terrible snowstorm on hrs way back and recetvrng the sum of three dollars for hrs trouble The Baker house was burlt of logs plastered with ordtnary mud and served as tav em grocery courthouse and clerk s offrce untxl a new courthouse was burlt The stte had been gtven the tentattve name of Washmgton but the state legrslature meet tng ln Vandalta in December 1830 passed an act locatmg the county seat for Mc Donough and gtvmg thxs county seat the name of Macomb There has never been any attempt to have tts name changed. lt has rematned the county seat tn sptte of a spur rted attempt just after the Crvtl War to estabhsh the county seat at Bushnell For a few months offrcral records of the county show a McComb spelltng thought to be due to lush mfluence tn the county before proper spelling was learned Three courthouses have been burlt at different stages tn Macomb s hrstnry all be mg erected on the same locatton where the present one stands today The frrst court house made of logs was butlt tn 1831 at a cost of under S70 The second butldtng erected tn 1838, was a buck structure costing around S8000 In 1860 Judge C L , . ' ll UI N ' If Q Q . ,, . . ,, . 0 u 1 r - f . Q I r ' . , - - f 0 1 n o ' Q Q s Q a r . Q v . . ' I u ' - n I Q . . . . . Q n Q , . . . I O . . o u ' l Q ' Q Q ' ' n n ' a ' u . . , . - A 1 . - a o 0 1 . Q Q

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In accordance wxth a program embarked upon by the Chamber of Commerce of Macomb I1l1no1s merchants g1Ve donatlons 1nstead of advert1s1ng to organ1zat1ons makmg so11c1tat1ons The fo1low1ng bus1ness organ1zat1ons donated money to THE INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS A L Rlng Harr1s gl Harr1s A E Rush Lamolne Hotel Rosybell Benton Tarleton Stud1o Ten P1n Bowlmg Alley W11de Wholesale Nelson s Clothmg Store Rost gl Parsons Herman Chenoweth M M Dealer Brgwn Lynch SC011 B And L ICB aI1dC0a1 Dr K G Worrell Dentxst Conner Bookkeepmg Serv1ce Dr G Ashenhurst Optometrlst Park and Shop H A Slavens Western Grllle W G Nelson 1ll1no1s Theatre Bldg Erw1n s Grocery Lunch Box Cafe Drs Welch Macomb Da1ry Dale Sr McDonald Weldlng Shop Penney 5 Store McDonough Serv1ce Co Wyne Furnlture C Cross Motor Sales Loyal Order Moose Macomb 521 T MHC D0Wf11Y1g Owl Truclung Co Me1t0I1 S Moderne Beauty Shop Macomb Post Off1ce Klmler Serv1ce Woolworth s Vern Rob1nson John G P-HUGH Real Estate Ra1nbow Laundry 81 Cleaners Kllnes H1gg1I1S Da1ry Un1on Nat1ona1 Bank Schmders Texaco Serv1ce DI' F M G01db'-lrg Mus1c Serv1ce 114 West Jackson ABC Klddy Shop Galloways Ira .T O Harra Dr. C W Turner Dr. Jackson, Dentist Miner Book Store

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l-ltgbee was addressrng a polrtrcal meetrng at the courthouse when the burldrng began to crack The crowd drspersed very qurckly and after that whenever a meetrng was assembled rt a slrght norse hrnted that the burldmg mlght fall rt was almost tmpos srble to retaxn any audrence Contracts for the present courthouse were let rn 1868 Together wrth rts furmshrngs t.he present structure cost around S5155 000 The plan for the crty ofMacomb was grven by James Campbell proneer storekeep er whose home was the second buxldrng erected rn Macomb The unusual arrangement of streets enterrng the courthouse square and the rest of the lay out of the crty were copred drrectly from the ground plan of Mr Campbell s home crty Frankfort Ky Just after the foundrng of the town came the great snow For three days and nrghts the snow fell pllrng up to fourteen feet on the level and rn drrfted places st11l deeper Some hrstorres tell of chrldren rn the late 60 s walkrng to school on top of the rce encrusted snow over the tops of fences Educatron 1n Macomb began rn 1834 when a one room one wrndow log school house was opened as a prrvate school Each puprl s tu1t10n cost hrs parents one dollar rn cash and three dollars rn merchandrse or produce In 1835 McDonough College was establrshed Thrs undertakrng proved a farlure as drd four successrve attempts by var rous groups All were short lrved Frnally 1n 1899 Western State College was es has prospered and grown now numberrng some 1500 students and sponsormg a Trarnrng School for grade school puprls rn connectron wrth the college teacher trarnrng program In place of the one room schoolhouse Macomb now has frve grade schools one parochral one Junror Hrgh School and a Senror Hlgh School rn addrtlon to the Tram mg School at the college lt rs drffrcult for people of thrs day accustomed to the present 23 mrles of paved streets rn Macomb the electrrc street lrghts and the cement srdewalks to realrze the prrmrtlve condrtrons whrch exrsted rn 1856 when Macomb was rncorporated as a crty Candles or 011 lamps were used lndoors whrle lanterns were carrred when people were out on the streets at nrght The frrst street lrghts were gas tended by men who went about early rn the evenrng to lrght them and agaln later to extrngursh them the streets berng dark from mrdnrght on untrl the present all nrght electrrc lights were rnstalled Before streets and roads were paved people were often forced to use mudboats lrke scows drawn by mules or oxen to come to town srnce no horse drawn vehrcles could get through the deep mud There were no srdewalks for some trme The flrst ones were made of planks lard srde by srde and fastened to strrngers Next came regular board walks some three feet wrde, followed by buck walks and frnally concrete walks tablished on a campus of approximately 70 acres on the edge of the city. The college