Bloomington Village

Bloomington Village

Early Settlers - ' Tafton Becomes a Village - Casualties - The Great Fire - Town Organization and Officers - Newspapers - Schools - Churches - Secret Societies - Blake's Prairie Agricultural Soolety.

Early Settlers

Up to the fall of 1859 this town was a part of Patch Grove town¬ ship. The history of the surrounding region begins many years be¬ fore that of the village. The story of the old trading post of Captain Marin has been told on page 6. The first settler within the bound¬ aries of the township in our age was Page Blake, who located on a farm on Section 17 about four miles northwest of the present village in 1831. " Pap" Blunt settled a little north of the present town line about the same time. Zachary Lyon settled on his farm a mile and a half northwest of the present village in 1833. William Peck settled on Section 20, about three miles northwest of the present village, about 1836. Samuel Scott opened a farm on the same section in 1844. James T. Murphy settled on Section 17 in 1845. What is known as the Bunker Hill or Red School-house settlement was began in 1845, and it was probably at that date -that Dr. Hiram Sargent settled there. His brother Cyrus Sargent, a bachelor, lived with him, probably in 1845, as he was appointed a justice of the peace in 1846. Ih 1846 George Engle came to the settlement. The Lord brothers, Henry, Horace, and Homer, came in 1847 to this settlement, as did George W. Lee, and the next year his father-in-law, W. W. Cilley, although they settled some distance southeast of the others. In 1849 Robert Lumpkin settled at Bunker Hill. With him came his father, (Robert Lumpkin, Sr., who afterward was noted as Grant County's centenarian, in our centennial year. Jacob Martin settled a little north of the Red School-house the same year. These Banker Hill settlers were about the first to settle out on the prairie, all the others who took up prairie land keeping to the edge of the timber for building sites.

In the western part of the town, near the Mississippi, James C. Otr settled in 1836. He afterward became a large landowner in the neighborhood and a prominent business man, living in the township until his death, April 18, 1881. In 1836 Mr. Orr, in company with Messrs. Tucker, Dilley, and Cobb, laid out a town called New Cintincinnati, on the Mississippi, a little above the mouth of Sandy. There is no record of any sale of lots and no building was done.

Aaron Trine settled in the western part of the town in. 1849. The same year Luke Hadley settled on his farm about a mile south of the present village.

Prom 1851 to 1854 a small settlement of Scotch and Scotch-Canadians was made in Sections 3 and 4 near the edge of the towns of Beetown and Glen Haven. There were Adam Batie (who had a large family of sons and daughters, most of them grown), William John¬ stone, and William and Peter Thornton.

The first settler on the site of the village was Enos P. Finn, who built a cabin on the site of the lower mill-pond in 1841 and entered the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of that section. A little farther to the east Amos A. Franklin built a cabin in 1842. That year Mr. Finn raised some corn on the bottom, probably the first ag¬ riculture in the vicinity. Mr. Philemlee built a cabin on the site of Brooklyn in 1842. After a residence of two or three years here all three of these settlers left, Finn and Franklin going to Patch Grove, and the site of the village to-be was left in loneliness. The site (except Mr, Finn's entry) was entered by Richard G. Shipley in 1850. In 1845 William Buchanan had opened a farm on the hill near the upp4r mill-pond, and Silas A. McApes another just west of Buchanan in 1849.

Tafton Becomes A Village

In 1852 Mr. Shipley sold his land to D. W. Taft and P. C. Schuyler and went to California. Mr. Taft soon bought out his partner and began the building of a grist-mill. A rough board house was put up a little north of the present hotel and used as a boarding house. A man named McIntosh was the proprietor. Mrs. Henry Palmer, after¬ ward of Wyalusing, cooked and washed for all the men working on the mill. The village was laid out in 1855, C. W. Hayden being the surveyor. Mr. Taft had a dwelling built near the mill, the one now occupied by the Tdephone exchange. Jesse Brooks, who has been for thirty-seven years a resident of the village, did the plastering on this building and others in the new town. In 1832 Ira Stockwell came in and established a blacksmith shop and built a dwelling, afterward occupied by Mr. Benham and Orrin Wilson, and now belonging to James Sprague. The mill was finished in 1853, William C. Warwick being the first miller. Mr. Warwick had come into the township in 1845, and had been a farmer. The next year a new set of buhrs was put into the mill, enabling it to do first-class work, and it proved a potent factor in building up the new village. In 1854 a store was opened by Benham & GJines on the comer where the hotel now stands. In 1855 a post-office was established at the village with Mr. Benham as postmaster. It was supplied by a tri-weekly mail line from Lan¬ caster to West Union, Iowa. A post-office was also established at Bunker Hill the same year and supplied by the same line. The people in and near the venerable towns of Beetown and Patch Grove looked with little favor on the rising young village, and for many years they contemptuously called it "PJugtown." When a petition for a postoffice w.as being circulated, the sarcastic Frank Barr, then postmaster at Beetown, said there never would be as much mail at Plugtown as one could carry in his hat.

About 1853 a rival to- Tafton was started on the bill where the Congregational cemetery now is. A Congregational church was built there and a village called Waveland was projected by Samuel Tracy and Rev. Ira Tracy. But a church proved to be not so good a found¬ ation for a village as a mill ; Tafton grew, Waveland- did not, and the church " went west to grow up with the country."

In 1856 Dr. R. C. Brooks settled in -the village and practiced there till his death in 1864- Leonard S. Osborn came in 1856 and bought out Mr. Glines, the mercantile firm then becoming Benham & Osborn. That year Tafton had the best celebration of the Fourth in the coun¬ ty, although some of the old Democrats complained that it was a Fremont ratification meeting. In the spring of 1858 Orrin Wilson ar¬ rived from Ohio and opened a stock of goods in a part of his residence, the bouse built by Ira Stockwell. About this time James C. Traner established a blacksmith shop in the village. The other residents at this time who have not been previously mentioned were Dr. Allen (a dentist), Prof. M. T. Allen, Prof. David Parsons, William Holford, Elijah Mount (a carpenter), George W. Bowers, Elder E. M. Lewis (the Baptist minister., whose dwelling was where James Ballantine's house now stands), Aaron S. Osborn, Mr. Stone. L. S. Northrop, John

Collier (a blacksmith), and a few others. William Cole had moved his store building up from Beetown, but did not put in a stock of goods ; he used the upper story as a residence. All of those mentioned had built residences. J. W. Brackett came from Ohio about 1855 and settled on a farm a mile east of town.

In 1859 W. H. Brown came from Patch Grove and opened a store on the southeast corner of the public square. His brother, D. F. Brown, soon joined him. The building was afterward moved, down to Canal Street, where it was occupied as a store by the Browns and others until it was swept away in the fire of 1897. In 1859 Fred A. Savage and Harry Savage came from Prairie du Chien and opened a store in the large frame building close to the mill.

The war, with all its excitement and its draining away of Tafton's young men, did not- atop the steady growth of the village. In 1862 Otis Weld put in a harness-shop, and about 1864 George H. Smith put in- another. In 1863 Linn Hoskins opened a furniture And under¬ taking-business which grew to large dimensions. He carried it on un¬ til his death in 1888, since which tkne it has been carried on by his son, R. N. Hdskins.

In 1864 the old store building on the corner of Canal and Mill Streets was refitted and enlargcd-for a hotel building. It was succes¬ sively occupied by Simon Woodhouse, Samuel Woodhouse, George Harger, Mark Hadley, and J. M. Donnelly. A new store building, at present occupied by A. J. Fnazier, was built oh the upper side of Canal Street and occupied by Wilson & Osborne - Orrtn Wilson and L. S. Osborne, his son-in-law. This firm afterward became Wilson & Wheeler, Wheeler, Wilsons & Co., and as the senior members died, Os¬ borne & Cobb, in 1880. Meanwhile D. F. and W. H. Brown had dis¬ solved partnership, the latter opening another -store, and the former taking into partnership George H. Greer, who withdrew in 1866 and established another store in company with his son, Frank L. Greer. The senior withdrew from the business in 1880. D. F. Brown built his- large atone store on Canal Street in 1864. In 1868 James M. Grant built a store building on the lower side of Canal Street and opened a store, afterward taking into partnership bis son Frank, con¬ ducting the business till his death in December, 1875. In 1877 the Grangers established a cooperative store in the Grant- building. Geo. Sprague was the first manager and he was succeeded in 1881 by Chas. R. Thomas. In 1870 L. D. HoUord and W. H. Holford established the first drag store in the place, afterward patting in a stock of groceries. In 1880 L. D. Holford and Janies Spragne built the fine stone block on the corner of Canal and Congress Streets which was occupied by Hol¬ ford 's drugstore and Greer's store.

Bnt while the village was thus flourishing, trouble befell its found¬ er, D. W. Taft. Getting into financial difficulties, the mill property fell into the hands of the mortgagee, Cyrus Sargent, who soon after transferred it to Woodhouse & Thomas. A good many of the villagers had become unfriendly to Mr. Taft and through their influence the name of the village, township, and post-office was changed to Bloom¬ ington in 1867. The change in the name of the town and the village was made by the legislature. Before this the village had been divided into factions on the academy matter, and now one faction espoused the cause of Taft and Tafton and the others that of Bloomington. The County Board was petitioned to change the name back to Tafton, and at its annual session in November, 1867, the Board ordered a special election to determine the matter ; bnt if the town neglected to hold such election, then the name should be changed to Tafton. Such election was held and the name Bloomington received 143 votes and the name Tafton 96 votes.

There were matters which operated against the prosperity of the city. Unfortunate differences caused the decline of the academy in 1863, which had been an important factor in the prosperity of the place. In 1867 James C. Traner, who, in addition to his wagon and blacksmith business, had built up a large business in the manufacture of plows, removed to Prairie du Chien, and for the first time in the history of the place, there were vacant dwellings in the village. But others took his place to some extent. Max Kolb and William Batie built up a large business in the manufacture of wagons, and Messmore & Merrill opened a foundry in 1 868.

The mill, which had been the backbone of the place, also declined. The flow of the creek decreased as years passed, and first the old pond and then the new one filled up with mud, so that no head of water could be retained. It stood idle a good deal of the time. It was re¬ fitted in 1891 by Mr.-Stockert, but did not do a great deal of work. It is now run as a feed mill by 0. J. Day.

In 1871 a bank was established by William Humphreyand W. B. Clark. In 1875 it was moved into a new and commodious brick building on the upper side of Canal Street, where it still remains. Af- ter running the bank about twelve yean Humphrey & Clark sold it to Peter Woodhouse and P. Bartley, who still conduct it. M. P. Woodhouse is cashier.

A creamery was established on the eastern edge of the village in 1883 by Mr. Schulte, and was very successful for some yean, but was discontinued, and another one established half a mile southwest of the village in 1894. It is now operated by a stock company of which Hiram Cliff is president and M P. Woodhouse secretary.

Bloomington has not suffered as many of these as most towns. The fint one was an explosion in the store of Benham & Osborne, in February, 1857. Mr. J. F. Benham was about to measure out some machine oil and took a can which he supposed to contain oil and placed it on the stove to warm it. It proved to contain powder, which exploded. The front of the store was blown out and the build¬ ing otherwise damaged. Mr. Benham was knocked senseless, and was badly burned and the sight of one eye destroyed. The next accident was less serious. A donation party was held in the building just across the street from the hotel January 31, 1857. The floor on which the party was assembled gave way, precipitating them all into the basement, where the supper table was set. The supper was worse damaged than any of the party. One lady put her foot into a large piece of butter whose elaborate molding had called forth a good deal of admiration before the accident, and another landed (if landed is the appropriate word) in a wash-boiler full of oyster soup.

A similar accident occurred February 2, 1878. A large crowd had assembled in the office of Jesse Boooks to witness a trial. The room was built high over the race. The floor gave way and the crowd went down into the race. There was wild scrambling for a time. Adelhert Bates had an ankle broken ; Edward Garside was severely in¬ jured, and John Hicklin somewhat less so. Esq. Brooks received a severe cut in the bead.

On the morning of December 15, 1883, the village was shocked to learn that John Stanley bad committed suicide by shooting himself. Mr. Stanley was a bachelor of about forty-five, a good business man and with a comfortable property. No cause for tbe act was known.

On the 28th of October, 1883, Cyrus Sargent, the wealthiest man in West Grant, was killed by falling from a load of straw and break¬ ing bis neck. Mr. Sargent came to Grant County in 1842 and taught school in Beetown. He early in life became a money-lender and con¬ tinued to be such until his death. He remained unmarried and was frugal and economical. He became a large landholder in the county, principally through his loans of money. He became owner of three or four mills through foreclosure of mortgages. His acquaintances bad an exaggerated idea of his wealth, which was .supposed to be at least half a million, but which proved to be about $85,000. It was inher¬ ited by his brother and his niece. He had a good education and was exceptionally endowed intellectually. He was -not an office-holder nor an office-seeker. He did not care for any of the smaller offices. He would have been wilting to be a Congressman and would have been a good one; but as things were the idea of "tapping a bar'I " to pay the expenses of tbe boys in "-whooping it up" -for him - a -'very neces¬ sary thing for a congressional candidate to do - was horrifying to him.

On the night of January 19, 1693, Mr. Angove- of-tjbe 4*wn of Hickok & Angove/ saloon-keepers, was fatally -burned.. He noticed that considerable oil hat} leaked from a kaspsene barrel, in the saloon, And thought to get rid Ofit' by-bum mg itv It m ade alaeger -fire than be ha# supposed, dd# he attempted to put, it out bywrikmg it with bireoat -scattering the rower* direction. The beat exploded

The Great Fire

For nearly forty-five years Blooeqiugton existed as a village with¬ out a house being burned - a remarkable record. The Finn building caught fire three times, but each tune the .fire was discovered in time to he extinguished without serious damage. But at last, on the night of March 22, 1897, what everybody had been expecting for thirty years happened, and two-thirds of the business part of the vil¬ lage was swept away in .a night. The burned part consisted of a row of wooden buildings extending for about two hundred yards along the south side of Canal Street, adjoining or very close to each .other. As. the village was entirely without fine apparatus, it was evident that when one of these buildings burned all must go.

The fire started about midnight in the saloon of Joseph Gobel and quickly spread east and w*st. To the west it burned the- whole Jength of the row, but to the east it was atopped by Sam Kitto'e hardware store, a stone building with an iron roof. The hnildia gs- burned were

Whitcomb's photograph gallery and dwelling, the Grant, Woodhouse, and Wm. Brown store buildings, occupied as stores, the Woodhouse saloon building, and the old Bidwell, Greer, and Hale buildings, occu¬ pied as saloons, the Maker & Chambers "twin" block, Enke's and Weld's harness shops, Thomas Smith's shoe shop, the Finn building, and in fact, the whole row. The heaviest losers were Holford & Rob¬ erts, general merchandise, loss $4,500; next Ludden & Co., general merchandise, $3,000. The total loss was estimated at $44,000.

Town Organization And Officers Town Officers

1866 - Supervisors, G. W. Harger, A. Francis, W. B. Slocum; clerk, Levi Brown; treasurer, Jas. Woodhouse; assessor, A. C. Stiles ; jus¬ tices, G. H. Chambers, L. R. Bingham, A. C. Stiles; constables, Thos. Osborne, Alfred Green, Jas. Burton.

1867 - Supervisors, J. T. Murphy, H. Lord, A. Francis; clerk, treasurer, and assessor, same as in 1866; justices, G. H. Chambers, D. E. Wilson, Geo. W. Fennell ; constables, Thos. Osborn, J. Handy, Geo. W. Lee.

1869 - Supervisors, same as in 1868; clerk, A. S. Osborne; treas¬ urer, D. F. Brown ; assessor, J. W. Brackett ; justices, Jesse Brooks, James Kenyon ; constables, John Batie, D. R. Allen, J. Stone.

1872 - Supervisors, Henry Lord, George Greer, Geo. W. Fennell; clerk, treasurer, and assessor, same as irt 1871; justices, J. W. Brack¬ ett, Homer Beardsley, J. T. Murphy ; constables, Lyman Sawyer, Wm. Bennetts, Wm. Peck.

1884 - Supervisors, Patrick Bartley, Wm. Harvey, Henry Lord ; clerk, treasurer, and assessor same as in 1883 ; justices, J. P. Jenkins, Jesse Brooks; constables, W. E. Garthwaite, H. M. Hamilton, C. W. Stone.

1887 - Supervisors, clerk, treasurer, and assessor same as in 1886; justices, C. J. Woodward, Henry Lord ; constables, W. E. Garthwaite, Thomas Lord, Joseph Jacco.

1888 - Supervisors, D. F. Brown, Jacob Schreiner, Wm. Harvey; clerk, treasurer, and assessor same as in 1887; justices, F. Lewis, Henry Roberts, Jesse Brooks, J. P. Jenkins ; constables, Charles Pierce, Ephraim Cornish, W. E. Garthwaite.

1893 - Supervisors, Jacob Schreiner, Wm. Pohle, Henry Lord; clerk, treasurer, and assessor, same as in 1892; justices, Matthew Baldwin, F. Phillips; constables, H. Cliff, Tucer Hammond, William Patterson.

1895 - Supervisors, clerk, treasurer, and assessor, same as in 1894; justices, L. D. Holford, Otis Weld, Lincoln Abraham; constables, Thos. Lord, E. B. Cornish, H. M. Hickok.

1896 - Supervisors, D. F. Brown, Tucer Hammond, John Harris; clerk, treasurer, and assessor, same as in 1894; justices, C. W. Stone, George Millen ; constables, Samuel Ketner, H. Cliff, John Lord.

1897 - Supervisors, clerk, treasurer, and assesor same as in 1896; justices, C. W. Stone, Wm. Patterson, Wm. Hadley, Andrew Roberts; constables, P. McKevitt, James Sutton, H. Hickok.

Village Officers

1874, Rev. J. J. Clifton, a Methodist minister, was taken into partnership and the paper enlaiged to a sevencolumn fob). The Washington press on which the Democrat at T^ncaster had been printed was purchased.

The paper was quite successful, but in the foil of 1874 Mr. Clifton was transferred to another field and sold his interest to P. Bartley. Mr. Bart¬ ley desired a wider field for the paper, and also to make it an oigan for the Democratic party in Grant

The Bloomington Record. - This paper was started July 15, 1880, by Charles J. Glazier. In October, 1881, he sold the paper to C. N. Holford and removed to Breckinridge, Minnesota. The Record was printed on the same press and type with which Mr. Holford had years before printed the Argus in Lancaster. On December 15, 1882, C. N. Holford sold the paper to L. C. McKenney, who published it until September 18, 1888, when he sold it to Cook Brothers. The changes of publishers were afterward frequent : Ernest Brooks and U. L. Hol¬ ford, in 1889, C. W. Cook in the same year, then Ernest Brooks, then C. H. Curtis & Co., all in 1890; then Steele & Brooks and Frank Wagner in 1891. In 1895 Ernest Brooks took charge again and still publishes the paper.

The first school taught within the present limits of the township was in the Bunker Hill settlement about 1845. The first school-house was a log building, which was afterward replaced by a frame painted red, and that building and its successor have always been known as "the Red School-house. " The first teacher was David Augerlist.

The first school-house used by the people of the village of Tafton was a small frame about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the vil¬ lage. This was moved into the village, on the site of the present stone school-house, and for fourteen years served as a.school-house for the growing village, and now serves as a kitchen for Max Kolb's resi¬ dence. Among the ante-bellum teachers in this old building were Miss Laura L. Wilson, now living in Washington, D. C., and Joseph W. Brackett, Jr. In 1870 a commodious two-story stone building was erected and a graded school under the superintendence of P. Bartley was established. This building soon proved insufficient for the grow¬ ing needs of the village and in 1884 a handsome brick building was erected on what was the public square, but which had become the property of James Ballantine and was bought by the district as a school lot. A high school was organized. The school is now under charge of Prof. C. E. Washburn, principal, and a corps of assistants.

Professor David Parsons and Mrs. Parsons came from Bellefontaine, Ohio, where the Professor had acquired a high reputation as an edu¬ cator, and\he Tafton Collegiate Seminary was organized. The first term was taught in the building next to the mill, and the next term in William Cole's building. That summer a commodious two-story frame building was erected on the north side of the public square, and dedicated October 25, 1858. It was soon afterward occupied by the school. Professor Parsons was a most zealous and successful educa¬ tor, and he also knew the value of printer's ink. Besides advertise¬ ments in the newspapers, the merits of the academy were shown forth in a periodical edited bv Professor Parsons entitled The Offering. The curriculum of the school was ambitious and far-reaching, and the corps of teachers was in numbers and ability equal to all the demands. From July, 1859, to July, 1862, there were 249 students on the cata¬ logue of the Seminary, most of them attendants for the whole time. In 1861 unfortunate differences arose between the principal and many of his influential supporters, and by 1862 there was a great falling off in the attendance. In 1862 Prof. Parsons was elected county super¬ intendent of schools and from January 1, 1863, the Seminary was in charge of Mrs. Parsons, a very able teacher, but not the equal of her husband in zeal and knack. At the close of the winter term of 1864 Mrs. Parsons retired and the school was in charge of Capt. W. W. Likens for a time. In the fall of 1865 the academy was reopened with W. H. Holford and T. J. Brooks as associate principals. These were succeeded in the fall of 1866 by Prof. Charles-Newcomb and Mrs. E. J. M. Newcomb who carried on the school for two years, when it was abandoned and the building stood vacant until it was transformed into the Congregational church. Prof. Parsons after leaving Grant County was superintendent of the city schools of Dubuque, Iowa, and Freeport, Illinois, and then went into the insurance business at Detroit, Michigan, where he died a few years ago.

The Baptist Church. - This society originated in Beetown, and its early history may be found in the history of that town. In 1857 a series of meetings were held in Tafton and the church removed to that place. Elder E. M. Lewis preached until 1858, when he withdrew front the denomination. In April, 1859, Fred G. Thearle, a licentiate of the Darlington Church, became pastor, and remained until 1864. After him came Revs. E. B. Law, W. T. Hill, G. F. Strong from April,

1872, to his death in September of that year; J.C. Webb, G.D. Stereos, and J. A. Abbott. In 1884 Rer. J. G. Johnson came and preached five months, when he was informed in a letter from Edward S. Perrin, a member of the church, that if he did not leave Pterin would "run him through with the sword of the spirit of the Lord." Mr. Johnson left and the people, who were curious to know how the operation would be done and what for, never learned any more about it. Mr. Pterin was expelled from the church.

In 1860 work was begun on a church building. Subscriptions had been made by the citizens generally, many of whom were not Baptists, for the sake of having a church in the village. But the work lan¬ guished and the frame stood uncovered for a year or so. The church was not completed until 1863. It still serves the Baptist congrega¬ tion as a place of worship.

The Congregational Church . - This church was organised April 10, 1847, at the house of Hugh Garside near Patch Grove, by Revs. J. D. Stevens and O. Littlefield. The latter was the first minister, preach- ing also at Beetown. He remained until February, 1849. Rev.C. W. Monroe became the pastor December 25, 1849, and left in 1850. Rev. S. W. Baton, of Lancaster, preached to the society occasionally until

October. 1851, when Ira Tracy became the pastor, preaching at Patch Grove and the Red School-house, and afterward at some other points. The first services of the society were held in "Pap" Blunt's barn in the town of Patch Grove. In 1855 the erection of a church budding was begun a mile and a half southwest of the new village of Tafton. Mr. Tracy con tinned as pastor until April, 1856, when he was succeeded by Rev. A. M. Dixon, of Platteville. Some time after¬ ward Mr. Tracy went to Minnesot and died there in 1875. Mr. Dixon remained until 1875. He was succeeded by Revs. George M.

Smith. William A. Lyman, Jnlian Dixon (son of A. M. Dixon), A. B. Tracy, and C. T. Melvin. In June, 1866, Rev. A. A. Young came as pastor and remained five years, aided by Rev. W. H. Marble. When organized the church was called the First Presbyterian, which name was soon changed to Blake's Prairie Congregational Church of Tafton. In June, 1872, Rev. David Wirt came and was pastor one year. This year the old academy building in Bloomington was bought and transformed into a neat and commodious church building, at a cost of $1,160, and dedicated August 24. 1873. Of the debt of $600, $512

The Village Church

The subsequent pastors were Revs. Smith Norton, R. L. Cheney, Mor¬ timer Smith, J. B. Adkins, G. W. Brownjohn, G. W. Jackman, and F. W. Schoenfeld. A parsonage was built in 1879.

The Methodist Episcopal Church. - The first Methodist class was organized in tfte fall of 1857 with Henry K. Wells and his wife,* Jere¬ miah Gee and his wife, L. S. Osborne and his wife, Luke Parsons, Wil¬ liam T. Crowley, Miss Annette Wilson, and Miss Minnie Gordon as members. Mr. Wells was class-leader. The first meetings were held in the school-house, in the Baptist church, and in Brown's Hall, until 1871, when the present frame church building was erected. Until 1877 the church was in the Patch Grove circuit and preaching was by ministers resident there, whose names will be found in the history of that town. In 1876 Mr. Robert Hoskins, a returned Indian mission¬ ary was resident preacher. He returned to India in 1877, and Rev. James Ward became resident minister. After him there have been the following ministers: J. C. Lawson, J. A. Willey, Charles Harris, D. J. Whiting, W. O. Nuzum, F. E. Lewis, J. W. Mills, A, C. Halsey, Richard Pengilly, A. A. Loomis, and Alfred Verran, the present incumbent.

some brick edifice of which the Catholics of the parish are justly proud. It is 40X70 and cost $7,000. Connected with the church is a parsonage which cost $1,400, while the lots cost $450. The parish is in charge of Rev. Father Michael Honert.

Bloomington Lodge No. 59 , I. O. O. F. - This lodge was instituted December 9, 1868, with Jesse Brooks, George W. Nevins, Alonzo Wil¬ son, T. J. Brooks, Elijah Mount and Frank F. Grant as charter mem¬ bers. The first initiates were Samuel Woodhouse, G. W. Harger, D. L. Riley, I.McWilliam, Robert Hicks and Linn Hoskins. Alfred Green, H. W. Johnson, John Woodhouse, Mark Hadlej', and J. H. C. Sneclode were ancients. Of all these only Jesse Brooks remains. Two or three others are living in other places, but most have passed from earth. The lodge is now in a flourishing condition with the following officers: Thomas Smith, N. G. ; George Budworth, V. G. ; Jesse Brooks, R. Sec. ; Samuel Kitto, Per. Sec. ; Griffin Hickok, Treas.

Will Hickok Post , No. 134 , G . A. R. - The post was organized Sept. 11, 1867,* with the following officers: J.C. Frederich, Commander ; John

This society was organised at a meeting held in Bloomington, August 15, 1868, and its first Cur held September 16 and 17, the same year. The annual membership fee was made one dollar and the fee for Efe membership ten dollars. The following were the first officers: Pres¬ ident, Wm. Humphrey; vice presidents, John Milner and John Batie; treasurer, D. P. Brown; cor. secretary, Jesse Brooks; executive committee: J. M. Hickok, Robert Glenn, Robert Newman, L M. Obey, A. A. Bennett. The first fair ground was on the bottom between Canal Street and the bluff. Although the space was very inadequate, the society managed to have some very interesting and successful fairs. For several years it has had spacious and commodious grounds about half a mile north of the village. In spite of adverse circumstances, the society has kept up its exhibitions. The present officers are: Presi¬ dent, C. W. Stone; secretary, Lincoln Abraham; treasurer, Samuel Kitto.

In the post-office Mr. Benham was succeeded by L. S. Osborne, Da¬ vid Parsons, and George H. Smith. In 1870 George W. Nevins was appointed postmaster and held the office (except during Cleveland's second term, when John Brady was postmaster) until his death in 1899, when his widow, Mrs, Elisabeth Nevins, was appointed.