History of Odell – Part Three

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At the April 2, 1867  town meeting, it was voted that the burying ground committee reserve some suitable, prominent place for burying soldiers who had fallen in the Civil War and that the committee be instructed to move bodies of such soldiers to such plot at the expense of the town. At the April 6, 1869 meeting it was voted that five thousand dollars be levied on taxable property of the town for road and bridge purposes. At the township election in 1874, Michael Cleary was elected Supervisor and served continuously till his death in 1914. He also served in the State Legislature for four terms as Representative from this District. In 1869, one of the worst rains and floods visited this section of the county. Here in Odell it was accompanied by hail which resulted in great damage to growing crops. It lasted the last three days of June and the first four days of July.

Another great disaster struck Odell on Wednesday May 12, 1886 at 3:45 p.m.  A terrific tornado demolished business houses, dwellings, unroofed half of the principal business block, laid waste fences, trees, sidewalks. It demolished Hoke’s livery barn, the hardware store of Samuel Cole crumbled in a mass of debris burying six persons and injuring two children, unroofing the Eastern Hotel, unroofing the Alton Elevator and Vincent’s two warehouses, the old school house was completely demolished, the Congregational Church was moved from its base, the barns of John McWilliams, Jeremiah Clay, Frank Finefield, R.R. Puffer, E. M. Vaughan, and others were destroyed. Lottie Zweifel, a girl, aged six years, was caught by the wind and hurled onto the railroad track, inflicting fatal injuries from which she died the following morning. The loss to buildings and damage to stocks of good was estimated at fifty thousand dollars. With the development of farming interests, the consequent increase of population made necessary the increase of service industries and stores to take care of the needs of the people. In 1881, the Bank of Odell was organized by John McWilliams, and he continued as sole owner until 1909.

From 1881 to 1897, and later, many names of business and professional people are remembered. The following: T.O. Bannister, M.D., S.P. Root, M.D., E.H. Fitzpatrick M.D., and D.B. Muzzy D.D.S. A total of four doctors and one dentist were in town.. Dry goods and groceries: J.F. Baird, Pernet, A. McDonald, Whitson and Newsam. This being the horse and buggy or wagon era, no less than half a dozen blacksmiths and wagon shops were operating. Among them were E. Allen and Son, Frank Finefield, and George Maile and they were kept busy with repairing of all kinds. Others in the business directory: T. H. Gebhardt, R. Premersdofer, I. H. Gordon, had clothing, shoes and some dry goods; C.A. Vincent, grain and coal. Kenyon and Co. lumber and coal; A Des Voignes, harness and leather goods; C.M. Francis, John McLeod, G.W. Van Buskirk, painter and paper hanger; Smith and Carmichael and Beck and Donahue, meat markets.

During the era between 1881 and 1897 progress was made along many lines. The American Telegraph and Telephone Company, a long distance company, was in charge of William Cleary at the Hunter’s Drug Store. This was in connection with all the principal cities of the east,  and Odell and Dwight were the only stations on the line in Livingston County. The office of the Central Union Telephone Company was at C.E. Axt’s store.

The first newspaper, the Odell Herald, was published by J. H. Warner in 1877, but it and later newspapers proved unsuccessful ventures until 1888 when the Odell Gazette and Reporter was organized and successfully published for many years by Charles A. Stock.

In 1887, the monthly Horse Fair and Sale was organized and lasted for many years. It was given wide advertising and largely attended and sales averaged from twenty five thousand to forty thousand a year. Lyons and C.H. Hoke organized the Horse Fair in the spring of 1887, and the fair was held on the first Friday of each month. These were big days in Odell and pronounced as the best in the state by the leading buyers. Livingston County breeders raised and shipped as many draft and road horses as any other county of its size in the state. Buyers from all the leading markets in the United States were in attendance.  At the end of the first four years of its existence, the Horse Fair in Odell had brought and shipped 3,000 horses.

By this time, Odell had many first class business houses, reliable bank, weekly newspaper, fine churches and schools. The system of waterworks with a pumping station and tower with tank one hundred twenty feet to the top was constructed.

During 1897, shipments included one thousand five hundred seventy five carloads of grain and thirty cars of stock. Among the 1895-1900 interesting items taken from the Odell Gazette and Reporter of July 20, 1895, mention may be made of the market prices of the date: corn – thirty nine cents; oats – nineteen to twenty one cents; hay – ten dollars; hogs – four dollars twenty five cents to four dollars and fifty cents; hard coal – six dollars and twenty five cents; soft coal – two dollars and fifty cents.  Another: Chicago and Alton R.R. Time Table listed many trains leaving North and South for the accommodation of Odell travelers. In fact there were four trains each way that gave the opportunity for Odell travelers. Farms at this time were being sold for around seventy five dollars an acre.

The Odell Grain and Coal Co. started in 1903. Odell Grain and Coal, now Farmers Elevator, first officers were SJ. Lyons, president; Esiah Gutel, vice president; J.H. Legner, secretary; and board members Alfred Gutel, T.R. Gall, J.F. Verdun and J.J. Matem. By 1954, one million bushels of grain were shipped out of Odell each year. Mr. E. J. Brumback opened his garage in 1912, Wykes and Bradshaw’s Grocery started in June of 1914 and the W.A. Watson Furniture started in the Fall of the same year. The Watson Funeral Home was an up-to-date establishment that would be a credit to towns much larger than Odell. It was owned by J.M. Watson and was remodeled in the early 1950s to afford every convenience to funerals.

By 1920, motor cars and mechanized farming were making great progress. Gradually, tractors were replacing horses on the farm and as the years passed labor saving and time saving machines were offered until every operation on the farm was done by motor. In the homes, too, manufacturers had produced appliances and gadgets so that comfortable and pleasant living is found on the farm.

The building of hard roads began in the early 1920s, and more and more people combined a pleasure trip on the roads with a shopping expedition. Very soon, hotels, livery bams, blacksmiths and harness makers gave way to garages, oil stations and welding shops. Names familiar in garage and automobile business down through those early years included E.J. Brumbach, Cleary and Turner, C.C. DeLong, William Zebell, Henn Brothers, Ted and Wm. Martin, Fried Zweifel and W.F. Downey. Oil stations in operation in the centennial year of 1954 were Frank Zebell, Al Blessing, E J. Brumbach, J.E. Cleary, J.R. Jones, John Stonecipher and John Fogarty. Joseph Kelso who managed the station in 1954 built on the site of the Eastern Hotel. C.A. Vincent, a Civil War veteran, continued in the grain elevator business for 63 years, and then sold the business to the Quaker Oats Co. of Chicago in 1929. Theodore Trecker, who had been helping Mr. Vincent, remained on as a manager until Elmer McClurg was sent here by the company in 1941. When Quaker Oats bought Mr. Vincent, there were two elevators, one of which was located in what is now Alton Park, on the east side of the tracks. The elevator in the future Alton Park was razed in 1938.

In 1946, Quaker Oats also bought the elevator in the south end of town from the Valley Grain Co. Other business houses changed rather rapidly in the years following the new names appeared with old familiar ones. Cosgrove and Cleary, hardware dealers for many year were succeeded by William Trecker and after his death, R. M. Mackinson became owner. He enlarged the business to accommodate the growing implement industry. Merton Pope had a dry goods store for many years having bought same from J.F. Baird who retired and moved to Springfield. In 1954, B.F. Johnson, was the sole druggist, having been in business for thirty-five years. Previously, he had been in partnership with H.J. Hare, both gentlemen having taken over the W. P. Cleary drug store after the death of Mr. Cleary in 1907. The furniture and undertaking establishment was owned by J.M. Watson in 1954, who succeeded his father, the late William A. Watson. Other firms 50 years ago were Whitson and Newsam, dry goods and groceries was succeeded by T. M. Cosgrove and F. J. Zebell; general stores operated by J.C. Langan, Pemet and Gutel, and P.H. Langan; shoes and clothing.

Part 4