Kewanee, Illinois

The traveler in 1853, had he passed from Dixon to Wethersfield, would have found where now stands Kewanee, a modest and well-tilled farm, the property of M. B. and J. P. Potter, on the west, and a broad, undulating prairie on the east, the division line being then a township road, and now known as Main Street. The unpretentious farm-house, now the residence of Harry Thompson, ma}' still be seen by the curious, standing directly north of the building known as " Phillips Block." The first settlers of the land comprised in the township were John Kilvington, Robert Coultis and Cornelius Bryan, who came in the Fall of 1836. In first entries. They were followed by Goodrich and Blish, whose entries bear date May 7, 1836, and in July by Henry Kemerling. This same year twenty-one sections - 13,440 acres - were taken up by the Connecticut Association, and before 1850 almost every acre was entered.

Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.

Nothing particularly noteworthy took place until the railroad depot was fixed on the northwest quarter of section 33. The company had at first decided to place it on the northeast quarter of section 82, but a defective title compelled a re - location. Matthew B. and J. P. Potter and Col. Blish owned the site. The former, after selling five acres of their quarter section to Geo. A. Morse and Silas Willard, traded the balance to D wight Need ham for his beautiful farm a little farther south. Mr. Needham at once sold to Capt. Sullivan Howard, Ralph A. Tenney - - better known as " Ralph''- - and Henry G. Little ; and these gentlemen sold a quarter interest to Nelson Lay. Willard and Morse's tract lay oh either side of the railroad, on Main street, and here they built a store and warehouse in 1853. This was known as the "Pioneer" store, and did a lucrative business for nearly twelve months without opposition. The building stood on the lot now occupied by the residence of Mr. Joseph O'Brien, and was, in 1863, destroyed by fire.

Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.

On May 1, 1854, the town was laid out by the following named gentlemen : Sullivan Howard, Nelson Lay, H. G.. Little, R. A. Tenney, Geo. A. Morse, and Sylvester Blish, all of whom, excepting Col. Blish, are still living. At that time all was life and activity. Wethersfield, which was then quite a thriving village, suffered in a very short time a loss of nearly all of her business houses, which were one by one put on wheels and moved to Kewanee.

Passage source: History of Henry County, Illinois : It's Taxpayers and Voters; Containing Also, a Biographical Directory, a Condensed History of the State; Map of the County; a Business Directory...etc, published 1877.

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 Kewanee Township - it names this place 162 more 162 times.