Odin, Illinois

The thriving little city of Odin is situated in the east side of township 2 north, range i east, and about two miles from the north line of the township. It is at the crossing of the Illinois Central branch and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railroads and is the product of these roads, hence was not built until the roads were. The first building was put up by one John Hill, as a saloon, and with Hill as a saloonkeeper absorbed much of the hard earnings of the railway laborers. It stood south of the railroads and near the tracks. The Illinois Central built their depot in 1856 and in 1860,

Passage source: Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, published 1909.

April 5th, laid out the town, it being on a railroad section. The house of the section boss, David Dudy, of the Ohio & Mississippi Company, was the first dwelling erected. The first store building was erected by P. Z. Stone, who opened a general store about 1857 or 1858. James Garretson was the first postmaster and hotel-keeper. He built the first hotel in 1859 and called it after himself, the Garretson House. It was afterward called the Hartley House. It still stands, but at present is not used as a hotel. Before 1860 one De Schan, Branson and Lester, and George Craig had opened stores and were doing a country trade and supplying the railroad men and passengers from one road waiting for a train on the other. During the years of the war between the states, 1862 to 1864, the town grew very rapidly, many refugees from the South making it a stopping place and many a permanent home. A woolen mill called the Odin Woolen Factory was built in 1867. It was of brick and two stories high and manufactured jeans and flannel. It was destroyed by fire in 1879, and was never rebuilt. There was a sawmill in connection, which did not burn at that time and was operated for some years by W. E. Smith, but it finally was destroyed by fire. In 1863 a large hay press barn was built by A. M. Woodward & Co., and it was afterward enlarged until it was one of the largest press barns in the country, but it, too, was destroyed by fire in the nineties. It may be well to state for the information of the younger generation that until about 1870 hay was pressed into bales only in barns built for that purpose with presses built in them, and these presses were massive pieces of machinery with a heavy weight arranged like a pile driver, which was drawn to the top of the barn and fell into the press and beat the loose hay solidly together until two hundred or three hundred pounds were beat into a bale, when an immense screw operated from below compressed the bale, which was then "baled" or bound with hickory hoop-poles being passed around them and nailed together. The hay had to be hauled to these barns loose and was much labor and expense. The invention of the modern portable hay press killed the hay barn press, but has been a blessing to the farmer. In 1863 Captain Pierce built a twoburr grist mill. It changed hands frequently and the firm of Morrison & Smart ran it from 1873 to 1880, and then sold to James Warren, the owner when the mill went out of business. Odin has a commodious twostory brick school building and has a corps of six teachers and takes pride in maintaining a first class school. The Methodist Episcopals and Protestant Methodists each have a church in Odin, as also have the Christians and Presbyterians, although the latter is not used of late, only occasionally, as no minister is in charge. Odin Masonic lodge No. 503 was instituted in 1866, under dispensation from the grand master. E. B. Wilcox was the first worshipful master; E. Sidwell, senior warden, and O. F. Ball, junior warden. It was organized with only eleven members. It is now in a flourishing condition. The Modern Woodmen also have a strong lodge in Odin, with about one hundred members. In 1886 a stock company was formed under the name Odin Coal Company, to sink a shaft and mine coal, which was successful in striking a fine vein of coal at a depth of seven hundred and fifteen feet, with a vein of about seven feet in thickness. After undergoing the usual ups and downs of such stock companies, Messrs. Morrison and Secor, with perhaps a few others, obtained a controlling interest, since which time it has been so successfully handled as to prove a valuable and profitable property. Some few years ago electric mining and haulage and electric lighting was installed. The dynamo of the mine also furnishes electricity for lighting the city. During the life of the mine it has been singularly free from fatalities, but few accidents of serious character having occurred. The railroad crossing of the Illinois Central branch and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern is controlled by an interlocking device controlled from a tower built so as to give the operator a view of both tracks.

Passage source: Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, published 1909.

The city of Sandoval, like Centralia and Odin, was laid out by the Illinois Central Railroad Company on their own section of land. It is at the crossing of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern and Illinois Central Railroad main line, and is about one mile from the west line of the township and two from the north line, and, like Odin, gave its name to the west half of township 2 north, range i east, when the township was divided. The survey and laying out of the city was on May n, 1855. Two other additions were laid out the same year. Welcome Martin, as early as 1853, put up a frame store house on the Ohio & Mississippi right of way just west of the right of way of the Illinois Central Railroad, and sold goods to the railroad laborers and the general public. The first boarding house or hotel was kept by J. B. Crawford, the original building afterward making part of the Sandoval

Passage source: Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, published 1909.

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 Odin Township - it names this place 2 more 2 times.