Morristown, Illinois

On May 24, 1852, the first school district was organized, by a meeting called at the house of Willis Hinman, and comprised the whole township. In the Summer of 1853, the first school-house was built, upon the northeast corner of the southwest quarter of Section 26, and was for a long time known as the Hinman School-house.

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.

In 1854, the district was divided, the north half being set off, and was known as District No. 2. In this district two school-houses were eventually built, one in the northeast corner of the town, known as the Van Order School-house, and one at Morristown, in the northwest corner. The division above mentioned remained with no permanent alteration, save the division of the north district, until the year 1859, when the town was divided into nine districts, each two miles square, which division, with some slight alterations, remains at this day. The first Board of School Trustees was elected in May, 1852, and consisted of Willis Hinman, Samuel Hamilton and S. C. Welton. The first Board of School Directors were elected in June, 1852, and consisted of the same persons.

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.

This village was laid out on Nov. 30, and Dec. 1, 2, 3, 1870, by Patterson, Holmes County Surveyor, on the S. E. N. E. Sec. 29 - 40 acres, then owned by Orion E. Page, who caused the same to be done. It originally contained 11 blocks laid off into 183 lots. The streets leading east and west as named from north to south, are North Street, North R. R. Street, Market Street and South R. R. Street, and two avenues, leading north and south ; the west one is called Lincoln Avenue, and the other in the eastern part Washington Avenue. The first house was built in July, 1871, by G. P. Woodworth and Samuel Smith, the next by D. L. Purviance the same year. It now contains twelve dwellings, eight business houses and a blacksmith shop. There are about 80,000 bushels of corn and 90 to 100 cars of stock shipped annually from this place.

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 Osco Township - it names this place 12 more 12 times.