Arenzville, Illinois

Arenzville is organized as a village, under the general law, but as a hamlet or unincorporated town it has been in existence for many years. About 1821 James Smart found his way into that part of Morgan County, and seeing the need of a gristmill in that locality, and also being impressed with the natural advantages offered for water power on Indian Creek, erected a small mill which was a boon to the people scattered along the Illinois valley, and on the upland prairies to the east. On October 31, 1827, Mr. Smart entered the east half of section 31, and on April 6, 1829, the west half of the same section, and continued running his mill until August, 1831, when he sold his land to Bennet Smart. On July 30, 1832, Francis Arenz purchased the southeast quarter section, together with the mill, and operated it together with his other business interests, with very indifferent success, until about 1853 when he sold to Herman Engelbach and Peter Arenz.

Passage source: History of Cass County Illinois, published 1915.

In the meantime, Francis Arenz had laid off a few lots and sold them to settlers who formed the nucleus of the future thriving village. In 1852 Mr. Arenz had John Craig, the county surreyor of Cass County, survey and plat, together with the lots already sold, a part of the southeast quarter of section 31, township ite range 11, for a town, to which he gave the name of Arenzyille, although that part of Morgan County had been designated Arenzville Precinct for some time before Cass County was formed. Mr. Arenz certified to the plat and acknowledged it before his brother, John A. Arenz, a justice of the peace, June 26, 1852, and filed the plat for record on July 80 of the same year. Mr. Arenz died in 1856, and his executors, in the next year, made an addition to the town. naming it the "Addition of the Executors of Francis Arenz," and recorded the plat. In 1876, Thomas Y. Finney, for a number of years circuit clerk of this county, made a complete plat of Arenzville, and the additions, which was recorded October 22, 1876. On May 22, 1878, the trustees of the village adopted the plat by ordinance, as the limits of the town. The first organization of the town was July 9, 1853, and a board of trustees elected. The first president of the board was Francis Arenz, while the clerk was Dr. Julius Philippi, the treasurer was Herman Engelbach, the supervisor was John Goebel, and the town constable was Charles Heintz.

Passage source: History of Cass County Illinois, published 1915.

When <Arenzville Precinct was established it extended to the Illinois River, with the voting place at the town of Arenzville, but in 1857, the west part was cut off and made into a voting district or precinct, and named Indian Creek. There are three water courses traversing the precinct, Indian Creek the largest, which enters the county from Morgan County, just south of the village of Arenzville, and making a great bend north of the village runs in a westerly course, bearing a little north, and empties into the Illinois River; Clear Creek, which runs westerly across the center of the precinct into Indian Creek; and Mud Creek, which is a small tributary of Indian Creek, running from the south line of the precinct near Arenzville, northwesterly for about six miles. Both Indian Creek and Mud Creek overflowed badly and kept the lands west of Arenzville in a wet and unhealthful condition, and rendered it unfit for cultivation except in an unusually dry season. The land was too valuable to be left in that condition, and the enterprising farmers who owned it and had purchased it at a very low price, organized a drainage district about 1899 and have reclaimed the land, and now have hun dreds of acres of excellent soil, producing abundant crops annually. Being now free from the fear of overflow and destruction from high waters, the farms have been well improved, and

Passage source: History of Cass County Illinois, published 1915.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Arenzville Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.