Industry High School - Eagle Yearbook (Industry, IL)

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Hrgbee was addresstng a polrttcal meettng at the courthouse when the butldtng began to crack The crowd dtspersed very qurckly and after that whenever a meettng was assembled tf a sltght notse htnted that the butldlng mtght fall tt was almost rmpos stble to retarn any audtence Contracts for the present courthouse were let rn 1868 Together wrth tts furmshtngs the present structure cost around S155 000 The plan for the ctty ofMacomb was gtven by James Campbell ptoneer storekeep er whose home was the second butldrng erected tn Macomb The unusual arrangement of streets enterlng the courthouse square and the rest of the lay out of the clty were copred dtrectly 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 ntght the snow fell prltng up to fourteen feet on the level and tn dnfted places sttll deeper Some hrstorres tell of chtldren rn the late 60 s walktng to school on top of the tce encrusted snow over the tops of fences Educatron tn Macomb began tn 1834 when a one room one wmdow log school house was opened as a prrvate school Each puptl s tuttton cost hrs parents one dollar rn cash and three dollars rn merchandtse or produce In 1835 McDonough College was establrshed Thts undertaktng proved a fatlure as dtd four successtve attempts by var xous groups All were short ltved Ftnally tn 1899 Western State College was es has prospered and grown now numbenng some 1500 students and sponsorrng a Tratmng School for grade school puprls rn connectxon wrth the college teacher Ualnlflg program ln place of the one room schoolhouse Macomb now has ftve grade schools one parochral one Junlor Hrgh School and a Sentor Htgh School tn addttton to the Tram mg School at the college It rs dtfftcult for people of thts day accustomed to the present 23 mtles of paved streets tn Macomb the electrrc street lxghts and the cement stdewalks to realtze the prtmtttve condttrons whrch extsted tn 1856 when Macomb was mcorporated as a ctty Candles or otl lamps were used tndoors whtle lanterns were carrled when people were out on the streets at ntght The ftrst street lrghts were gas tended by men who went about early tn the evenrng to lrght them and agatn later to extmgutsh them the streets berng dark from mtdmght on unttl the present all mght electnc ltghts were tnstalled Before streets and roads were paved people were often forced to use mudboats lrke scows drawn by mules or oxen to come to town stnce no horse drawn vehrcles could get through the deep mud There were no stdewalks for some ttme The ftrst ones were made of planks lard srde by srde and fastened to strtngers Next came regular board walks some three feet wrde followed by bnck walks and fmally concrete walks . - . S tablished on a campus of approximately 70 acres on the edge of the city. The college

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STORY OF MACOMB As the true beauty of an object becomes apparent only when vtewed from a dts tance so can the real romance of a city s growth be seen only from a detached view potnt Progress can be noted as the contrast between what was and what ts The htstory of Macomb located on the old Burltngton Trail to Burlmgton Iowa ts lnextrtcably interwoven with that of McDonough County whose majesttc courthouse dominates Macomb s Square Both the city and the county were named for heroes of the War of 1812 General Alexander Macomb and Commodore McDonough who to gether defeated the Bilttsh at Lake Champlatn. The whole area was part of what was termed the Mtlitary Tract grants of land set aside for those who volunteered for ser vtce tn the War of 1812 For a whtle McDonough County as tt is now known was ftrst part of Madison and then a part of Ptke County until tts present boundartes were set up in 1826 Even then though the county had its name and tts boundartes tts admtnts tratton and tax collection were left in the hands of Schuyler County officials unttl the new county could gatn a population of 350 In the same year the county gathered its ftrst whtte settlers Wtlliam Carter and Riggs Penntngton who settled southeast of Industry In the sprtng of 1829 Reverend John Baker a Bapttst mtntster butlt the ftrst log htgh school stands today The cabin was not far from the exact center of McDonough County whtch ls at the corner of West Piper and South Johnson Streets In 1830 a court order tssued at Rushville recogntzed that the county had the necessary populatton for county government and an electton for county commissioners was ordered held These commissioners located the seat of Justtce at the hut of John Baker then the only house standing on the stte of what ts now Macomb In December of 1830 James Clarke was sent to Sprlngfteld to get title to the quarter section on which the Baker house was located He did thts getttng caught tn a terrible snowstorm on ms way back and recetving the sum of three dollars for hts trouble The Baker house was butlt of logs plastered with ordtnary mud and served as tav ern grocery courthouse and clerk s office until a new courthouse was built. The site had been given the tentative name of Washtngton but the state legtslature, meet ing in Vandalia in December 1830 passed an act locattng the county seat for Mc Donough and giving this county seat tlte name of Macomb There has never been any attempt to have its name changed. It has rematned the county seat ln spite of a sptr lted attempt just after the Ctvtl War to estabhsh the county seat at Bushnell For a few months offictal records of the county show a McComb spelling, thought to be due to lrtsh tnfluence in the county before proper spelling was learned. Three courthouses have been butlt at different stages in Macomb s history all be ing erected on the same location where the present one stands today The first court house made of logs was butlt ln 1831 at a cost of under S70 The second butldtng erected ln 1838 was a brick structure costing around 38000 In 1860 Judge C L cabin on the site of the present city of Macomb. This building stood about where the

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The Chxcago Burl1ngton8gQu1ncy Railroad s Kansas C1ty Lrne came through ln 1855 56 the depot bemg about 400 feet west of the present crosstng on West Jackson Street The Macomb lndustry and Lrttleton Raxlway was apparently rn servlce as late as 1929 but has srnce been dtsconunued Macomb rs now a crty of 10 312 C1950 crty drrectory censusy and extends over 2 3X4 square mrles Its locatlon nn the center of a vast farmland area wrth no large towns wrthm a radtus of 30 40 mrles makes tt a natural hub of activtty not only as a retaxl and wholesale center but also as a gathenng place for men of all professlons lawyers doctors dentrsts optometnsts, etc The number of fme stores surroundmg the center courthouse square IS constantly rncreasrng Macomb has achreved a reputa tron as a medrcal center There are two hosprtals, totaling 150 beds Other rnsutu trons establrshed to serve the pubhc rnterests rnclude two banks one established rn 1890 and the other rn 1871 a publrc lrbrary 19 churches and three hotels totaltng 190 beds One of the hotels largest IS commumty owned Recreatronal facrlmes tnclude 4 parks 6 playgrounds a country club complete wrth golf course, an Argyle Lake project two movtng prcture theaters and two bowl mg alleys The present number of telephones rn the Macomb area has soared to around the 4500 mark Many orgamzatrons rncludrng Rotary Krwanxs Optnmrsts, Busmess and Profes sronal Women s Club Elks Moose and Macomb Woman s Club and many others are represented rn the crty One of the early mdustnes of Macomb was the Tmsley Flour Mill, where such ex cellent flour was made that tt sold qutte extensrvely much of tt m St Lours Flour was then sold rn barrels and the Tmsley Mtll, located on South Randolph Street had rts own cooper shop and made xts own barrels Other early mdustnes rncluded a bnck manufacturtng plant and a woolen mrll both of whrch are absent from the current scene Industrral development tn Macomb may be charactenzed as sound and conserva trve A good proportxon of thrs development rs based upon the explortatron of rxch and practtcally tnexhaustrble natural resources whrch makes for permanency Stnce Macomb rs known as one of the prrnctpal clay manufactunng centers of the state, rt ts to be expected that tndustrres usrng clay as therrbaslc raw materlal are rn the majonty However there are enough other rmportant manufactunng orgamzatrons that the crty s growth may be satd to be drstrnctlve because ll has attracted such a wrde vartety of tn dustnes Thrs drversrty of lndustry grves labor a wrde chorce of employment It ts srgmfrcant that labor troubles are unknown tn Macomb and the out look for the future presents an unclouded horrzon of smooth, satxsfactory relatronshtps between labor and . . . . , . . . g u I f n I I n ' 1 s . - -- 9 9 n I . - O I - I 1 o n I f I - I 0 r 1 1 ' 0 . n I s ' ' v 1 9 a I r s 9 o Q I I . I . Q g . 0 . . . . . , 0 I O . -