Boone Township (part 2 of 2)

In 1836 a school was taught in a little log house in the Zane settlement by Mrs. Sophia Dj'e. This, it is believed, was the first school in the toMiiship. The following year a school was taught in the Dillingham settlement by Anna Lyons, and a year later a log school house was built in that locality, in which E. P. Cole taught several terms. A school was likewise opened in tfie Salt Creek settlement in 1837, but the name of the teacher cannot be learned. The first frame school house was built in 1 856. As in the other parts of the county the first school houses were built by the cooperative labor of the citizens, and the schools were maintained by In 1911-12 Liberty had seven district schools in operntion, the teachers in which were as follows: No. 1 (the Phares school), Eva Wheeler; No. 3 (the Cole school), J. M. Lentz; No. 4 (the Lindorman school), Eda Lawrence; No. 5 (the Johnson school), Nellie Cnuuley; No. 6 (the Babeock school), Grace Moore; No. 7 (the Daly school), . - Phoebe Hess; No. 8 (Crocker), Coral Toseland.

supply this deficiency Abram and Peter Stail'oiHl and Dr. Stanton conceived the idea of building a steamboat to navisaU' lower Salt erode and the Calumet river, for the purpose of carrying or lowiiii;- tiiuber and produce to the Chicago markets. W. D. Ci'utliers ialur liccanu- associated with the projectors, and about the close of the ClJvil war work was commenced on a small vessel, twelve feet wide and thirty fvv\ long. Some two years passed before it was finished, but eventually it ^tart('d on its maiden trip. The experiment was not the success autieipatcd, and after two or three trips the boat was sunk in the Calumet river. Thf pr omotcrs were so badly discouraged that they made no attempt to raise the vessel, and somewhere in the Cahimet river the fishes play hide and seek among the ruins of the only steamboat ever built in Portei- county fcft- the navigation of local waters. At the present time transportation is furnished by three lines of railway. The Baltimore & Ohio crosses the township east and west a little north of the center; the Wabash runs along the northern border, and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern crosses tlie northwest corner. Woodville, a station on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, one mile west of the eastern boundary, is the principal village of the to\vnship. It grew up after the building of the railroad and in 11)10 haii a poi)idation of less than'lOO. The postoffice was established there in 1881 or 1882, and in 1912 it was the only postoffice in the county, the others having been discontinued on account of the rural free delivery routes which cover all parts of the township. Three miles west of Woodville is a small station called Babcock, and in the northwest corner, at the junction of the Wabash and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, is the village of Crocker, with a population of about 200. It is a trading and shipping point of some importance, and owes its existence to the crossing of the two lines of railroad at that point.

While the increase in population lias not been great in i-ecmit years, Liberty has not been humiliated by a decrease as have some of her sister townships. In 1890 the number of inhabitants, according to the llnilcd States census, was 855; in 1900 it was 877, and in 1910 il liad jeaclicd 881.