Seaton, Illinois

The Town of Seaton had its origin June 28, 1883, with the construction of the Iowa Central Railroad, which passed through the southern part of Abington Township. It was laid off bv George Seaton, proprietor, and was surveyed by W. B. Frew, then county surveyor. Since that date several additions have been made to the town. The town was located on the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 24, township 13 north, range 4 west. G. C. Henry & Company, merchants, opened business there in the fall of 1882. They kept a general store, which was patronized by a large section of country. The town was first called Sully, but after being laid out was officially named Seaton. By December, 1884, the Mutual Fire Insurance Company had in force ninety-seven policies, covering property worth $97,680. The Seaton Hotel was started in the '8os by John Conner. Early in 1890 the Seaton Creamery was established and for some time was active and prosperous. In January, 1893, they made 747 pounds of butter and bought 18,232 pounds of milk for 85 cents per 100. They put up their butter in 1 -pound boxes. Samuel Brewer & Son started a wagon factory there about 1890. In the early '90s the Seaton Butter and Cheese Association sold all of its lots, buildings, machinery, etc., at public auction and retired from the business. N. C. Ranny was president and J. M. Candor secretary. Why they quit business is not clear because from appearances they were making money and should have continued. J. P. Yarington had a general store at Seaton about this time. Josh Cabeen was also a merchant there, as was also Duncan & Son.

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

The business houses of Seaton in 1900 were as follows: Bank, State Bank of Seaton; boots and shoes, E. L. Elrick; brick and tile, George Seaton; blacksmiths, E. E. Bower, E. H. Brewer, E. L. Bower; dry goods and clothing, Josh Cabeen; druggist, Palace Pharmacy; contractor and builder, J. T. Harper; groceries and general merchandise, Greer & Logan, Gavlor & Wright, W. H. Robb; grain and lumber, A. L. Duncan & Son; harness, J. H. Wheatley; hotel, Conner House; hardware and furniture. Mclntyre & Dalrymple; jeweler, B. L. Seybold; livery and feed barn, George Laird; merchant tailor, Fred Nagle; meat market. Robert Swearingen; mill, Seaton Flour & Feed Mill; millinery, Ora P. Holmes; physicians and surgeons, T. C. Hainline, V. A. McClanahan; poultry buyer, W. T. Hawkins; painter, J. S. Ellison; restaurant, Charles Amy, J. M. Ellison; stock buyer and shipper, William Burns; woodworker, S. C. Brewer.

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

In August, 1901, a destructive fire occurred at Seaton, the loss amounting to about thirty-five thousand dollars. During a dance in the evening in Elrick's Hall a lamp in the ticket office was accidentally turned over and the flames spread so rapidly that an explosion occurred, after which the fire secured such headwav that it could not be put out. In the store room under the hall was the Green & Logan grocery and hardware stock and their farm implements were in a shed in the rear. These were all destroyed. A line of buggies kept therein was also burned. On the second floor of the building were the mechanical headquarters of Riley & Swearingen, telephone builders. Their building, as well as the remaining part of the business block, owned by J. H. Elrick, was destroyed, the loss to them being $10,000. The other losers were: The postoffice building; Nelson Brothers' restaurant; the Seaton Independent, a newspaper conducted by Mr. Duncan; Gayler & Wright's grocery stock; E. L. Elrick, shoe store; Robert Swearingen, ice

Passage source: Past and Present of Mercer County, Illinois, published 1914.

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