Hall Township

Hall Township

The township of Hall in 1880 had a population of 1058. Twenty years later, in 1900, it had a population of 9844. and it has greatly increased since then. Its principal industry is mining. \Mthin the boundaries of Hall township may be found the city of Spring Yalle}', corporations of Ladd. Marquette, Dalzell, Seatonville and Cherry. All of these towns are given over to coal mining. \'ast shipments of coal are sent to different parts of the country. The facilities for shipping are very superior, as it has several lines of railroad Ijcsides having a frontage on the Illinois river. The population embraces nearly every^ nationality on the globe. Southern Europe is largely represented. The first settler was Eeason Hall, who located on section 34 in 1828. In 1833 Henry J. Miller built on section 33 and William Miller on section 36. The same year Edward Hall settled on section 39 and William Swan on section 19. J. Whitehead. Eobert Scott, A. Wixani, Alexander Holbrook and Martin Tompkins were among the early arrivals. Daniel Webster early owned a tract of land in Hall township, which was afterward owned by his son. Calvin Combs, Samuel J. Williams and Moses Tichner came previous to 1840. One of the iinest geological collections in the state is that of James Murray, who was born in Scotland in 1820 but has lived in Hall for many years. This collection has been gathered with great care and has attracted the attention of the geologists from all parts of the country. The population in 1900 was, including Spring Valley, Ladd and Seatonville, 9844, of which Spring Valley had, in the first ward, 704; second ward, 968; third ward, 639; fourth ward, 2474, and fifth ward, 1439; total in Spring Valley, 6214; Ladd, 1324; Seatonville, 909. The supervisors have been as follows :

Past And Phksext Of Blheau Cofxty

Selby township lies east of Princeton, and tliroufrli it pass Bureau, Brush and Negro creeks. It was early settled \>y the Seatons, Kellums, Searles auJ Ilaslers. These families have been widely known throughout the county. The first settlers were Amos and Daniel Dimniick; then Judge Hoskins came. Negro creek is said to be named from a negro by the name of Enoch Love, who early settled near it. Selljy contains a large German ])opulation. There is quite a little broken land in Selby, l)ut it also contains some very line ])raii-ie farms. Eike Hall it is underlaid with coal, and several shafts have been worked for many years.

De Pne is in the south part of this township, and was named for an early Indian tiader. It was formerly called Trenton, but was changed to De Pue in 1860. De Puc is situated on Lake De Pue, an arm of the Illinois river. It is about three miles long, and is a bcaiitiful little Ijody of water. For many years thei-e were great quantities of ice put up hero and shipped south in the summer, but the ice plants of today have ruined the industry. Benjamin Newell laid out the town in is.jO. and it was a line shipping point until the railroads were put through the county. For many years De Pue has Ijeen going to decay, until 1904 a company bought up a large tract of land adjoining the corporation and people began to wonder what was tn ha]ipen, but finally it develoj)ed that it was til lie the site of a great zinc plant, and De Pui', being aroused from her long sleep, began to talk of the futui-e instead of the past, and now the streets of this long dead town hum with the activities of business. The zinc plant has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and the works are not nearly complete. When linisbed it will be one of the great industrial plants of the state. The population of Selbv, including Hollowayville and De Pue, was 1662 in 1900. De Pue had 188 and HoUowayville SOT. The supervisors have been as follows :

Concord for many years was the second township in ])opulation and wealth in the county; in fact, held that jiosition until the development of the coal lii'lds in Hall, which cDuimeneed in the iirst half of the eighties. This township has two muiHcipalities: Sheffield on the west line, on section 19, and Buda on the south line on section 34. It is crossed by four railroads and the canal. The Eock Island road passes a little south of the center and runs across the entire township from east to west. The Burlington cuts off about three sections of the southeast corner. The North-Western passes through the township from nortli to south. The Rushville branch goes from Buda south. The canal extends in a northwesterly direction through the entire township; it enters on section 13 and passes out on section 6. It will bo seen by this. Concord township will never suffer for transportation facilities. The Iirst settler is said to have been Thomas Ilartzell, who bad a temporary trading ])ost there as early as 1833. Thornton Cummings came to French Grove in 1834; Caleb Moore came in 1835, and lived in the cabin the Indian trader Hartzell had left. Soon after Moore, a J. G. Reed settled on section 30. In 1836 John Stevens, T. J. Stevens, Josejib Lyford, Judge Jes.se Emmcrson and Moses Stevens settled near Bulbona Grove: soon after Peter Fifield, James Carroll, Samuel Fifield, Joseph Foster, C. P. and Jolm Ma.«on, S. Brainard and others came. Jolm Stevens built the first saw-mill on section 3S in 1840. Buda was jilatted in 1854, soon after the completion of the railroad to that point. Previous to the locating of Buda. the people in that vicinity Tised to gather at the postoffice, which was kept at French Grove. Buda was named from Buda in the kingdom of Hungary, under the dominion of Austria.

Judge Emmerson laid off a part of his land for tbe town ])lnt anil James S. Zink ]ilatted the west side, where the business ]iart of the town is located. The first store was opened by Judge Emmer.son ; he al.«o started several other enterl>risis that added to tiie business of the village. W. II. Bloom erected the second store. Dr. Holtoii came in 1855. He was tbe first physician to locale in Buda.

At one time Buda had quite an extensive manufacturing trade. The Stewart mill had a capacity of one hundred barrels a day. The Buda ^fanufactuiing Ci)m])any was organized in 1869. Captain Bufus Ford, jiresident, ami J. B. Stewart, treasurer. This company at first manufactured agricultural im])lemcnts. in 1881 the works were leased to a Mr. Chandler, superintendeut of the motive power of the C. B. & Q. railroad. In 1883 a charter was obtained and the name changed to the Ford & Mason Company, with a paid-up capital of $34,000, but after a few years the works were removed near Chicago. In 1864 a coal shaft was sunk by John H. Eobinson at his farm on section 25 and for some years a po.?totfice, named Lovejoy, was located there, but the enterprise iiually was abandoned.

Buda was chartered under the present law in 1872. Its previous charter was by a special act. Sheffield was laid out by the Sheffield Mining and Transportation Company in 1852. The village was named after Joseph E. Sheffield, of New Haven, Connecticut, who was one of the original owners of the large tract of land Imught of J. G. Keed by the above named company; the otlier heavy stockholders were: Charles Atkinson, Henry Farnliam and Ebenezer Cook. This company did business for somewhere around fifty years. The coal from the Sheffield mines was drawn out on an inclined track. The Pock Island railroad used most of the coal for many years. The first store wa.s opened in 1852 by E. Smith. The railroad reached Sheffield in the fall of 1853 and was the terminus for a time. This made Sheffield a place of distinction, also a place of great activity. Stage lines were established between there and Bock Island ; passengers came pouring in from all quarters, and as a result of this, Sheffield was over-run with strangers waiting for the next stage to start and when it did go, it was loaded down and still could not accommodate all of those anxious to go further west. This was a time when a large number were emigrating to Illinois and Iowa, but in December the road was completed to Geneseo and that removed the congestion to Geneseo. Mr. Alex Ruthven was the first secretary of the mining company. H. C. Porter followed Puthven and left in 1875 ; his memory is held in high regard by all who knew him. A part of Sheffield's fine school librarv was donated by him. Since then Mr. A. W. Boyden has ably managed the same. The railroad erected an elevator in 1855 and A. G. Scott, another in 1860. J. G. Peed was the first settler. Sheifield has always had a fine trade and its Inisiness men have been of the progressive type. Sheffield was chartered imder the pre.sent law, in Mav, 1883. Previous to that it was chartered under a special act.

Concord, including the corporations of Sheffield and Buda in 1890, had a population of 2,965; the village of Buda, 873. and Sheffield, 1,205.