Scott Field Historic District

The first house erected in the village proper was by Edwin Pierce, in 1845. It is still standing, just in the rear of the church, and is known as the Gaag house. The next dwelling was built by Robert Dorey. Jacob Canmann erected the first store-house and opened the first stock of goods for sale, in 1845. Andrew Haege erected two or three houses, and his brother Jacob erected a dwelling and blacksmith shop about the same date. Jacob Haege was the first blacksmith. A steam saw-mill was erected by Edwin Pierce, Philip Scott and Charles Alexander, about 1847. The village is located in the north-western part of the precinct, near the O'Fallon line, and was laid out by Martin Stites and James Atkins.

Passage source: History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With Illustrations ... and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1881.

|HIS is one of the northern tier of precints, bounded on the north by Madison county, east by O'Fallon, south by O'Fallon and French Village, and west by East St. Louis. It contains twenty-three sections or about 14,720 acres. It is drained by Canteen creek and its affluents in the northern and eastern part, and the Grand Marias in the south-western. Caseyville, situated a little north of the geographical centre of the precinct is the only village within its borders. The Ohio & Mississippi, and the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute Railroads enter the western part of the precinct and run side-by-side until they reach Caseyville, when the latter takes a north-easterly course and passes out on section three. From Caseyville the 0. & M. runs in a south-easterly course and passes out on section 27. The surface of the precinct is divided between bottom lands And bluffs. The line separating the two passes through Caseyville in nearly a north-eastern and southwestern direction from that point. In early times the bottom lands included in this precinct were covered with water the greater part of the year, and only for a few years back have they been drained so as to insure crops when sown. The bluffs in the region of Caseyville are very rugged, and mostly covered with a heavy growth of timber. They are composed principally of sand, clay and gravel. Hence, from these facts, the territory embracing Caseyville was not so early settled as some of the precincts adjoining it.

Passage source: History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With Illustrations ... and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, published 1881.

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 Shiloh Valley Township - 4,315 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.