Fairbury, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fairbury is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,968 at the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Fairbury was founded in 1857 by civil engineer Octave Chanute, and originally settled by Caleb Patton. Chanute, a French native, managed the construction of the New Peoria and Oquawka Railroad, which is currently named the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw Railroad. He was famed for publishing Progress in Flying Machines, which helped pioneer aviation. The Wright brothers even mentioned Chanute as a mentor to them. Chanute built the railroad that made Fairbury possible, but did so against the will of Patton, Fairbury's first citizen.

It is Caleb Patton who should really be credited for the creation of Fairbury. It was he who owned the land that the original town was built on. And it was he who advertised lots for sale and attracted other people to live there. Today, the original town's area starts at the corner of Maple Street and First Street, and stretches to the corner of Oak Street and Seventh Street. When Patton heard that Chanute was wanting to build a railroad in his general direction, he saw it as an opportunity to make use of his otherwise deserted land and struck a deal. If Chanute built his railroad through Fairbury, then Patton would give Chanute half of the town's property.

Patton and Chanute had reached an agreement, and Chanute kept up his end of the deal. Patton gave a small chunk of the land to the Baptist Church, and set aside an area for the railroad and a depot. However, when Chanute reached Fairbury, he was met by a group of armed citizens. The town had passed an ordinance that no railroad would pass through Fairbury, and they advised Chanute to simply build around the town (preferably where the golf course is currently). They had even received an injunction from Pontiac, Illinois forbidding Chanute from building a railroad through the town. Alma Lewis-James, author of Account and Tales of Early Fairbury best describes what Chanute did next,

...Chanute was clever. He did not use force, but quietly laid his rails to the eastern edge of town, skipped Fairbury, began again at the western edge, and worked straight on until Saturday night. In the darkness and secretly, he moved his crews back; and the next morning, at first dawn; and reinforced by armed guards of his own, he was ready for business. To the consternation of the dumbfounded and helpless villagers, he rushed the track straight through the town and the courthouse was closed. By Monday morning he was well on his way to Peoria.

In 1859 John Marsh bought 80 acres of land to the west of Patton's. He donated a section of his property to the town, and it was named Marsh Park. He named another part of his addition to the town Livingston Square. It was to be used for businesses and markets. He built the Arcade Block in another section, which were a series of brick buildings connected to each other. Inside this block were two saddle and harness stores, a gun and sporting goods store, a poultry house, a drug store, Fairbury Marbel Works (they made tomb stones for the cemetery), and a bedspring factory. Many more businesses were located here later on. In 1866, the Livingston Hotel was built. It was renowned for being the only hotel in Illinois with running water.

Marsh did not like the east side of Fairbury, and developed his west side vigorously. His addition to the town caused it to split; the east side versus the west side. Each side wanted to have the better houses, the better buildings, the better parks, the better everything. However, no one really knows how this feud started, but the town was clearly divided. After that devastating fire, many of the people on the east side went to work in Marsh's west side because of all of the work opportunities over there. A new railroad was being considered, and Marsh used his power to see that it only pass through the west side of Fairbury, and not through the east.

Patton sold his real estate in Fairbury years prior to this, and Wallace Amsbary was now the most prominent citizen in the east. When the railroad came to the west end of Fairbury, the tracks were laid. Marsh and his friends celebrated that Saturday evening. During the celebration, Amsbary and his friends built the railroad through the east side of Fairbury and then started it southbound towards Strawn. A train passed over the tracks the next day, and they stayed there. Amsbary celebrated his victory by building the Fairbury House, and advertised it as the "Poorest Hotel in Illinois."

After the fire caused by the train, three more subsequent fires succeeded in destroying many parts of the town. All of them were around the railroad, and together they destroyed more than twenty buildings and houses. Additionally, every few nights someone would try to start a fire in a residential area, and sometimes succeeded. Fairbury had somehow managed to become a prime location for pyromaniacs.

Whenever a fire would erupt, the town's fire bell rang. Currently, the bell can be found in front of the fire station on Locust Street. A fire was more of a festival than a tragedy because it seemed like whenever the bell rang, the whole town would show up to watch the fire. Fairbury wasn't necessarily large at the time, so finding the fires were not too difficult. Soon, Fairbury became known as the most flammable town in the Midwest.

The fire era of Fairbury came to an end after the Livingston Hotel burned. Marsh blamed Amsbary for the fire, and Amsbary blamed Marsh. Both of the men filed suits against each other for arson, and then for slander. Marsh was indicted, but was found not guilty. The power that the two men held in the town quickly died down, as did the feud between the east and west sides of Fairbury. The town ceased its civil quarrel, and agreed to work with each other instead of against each other. With that, Fairbury was to become just another small town along the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw Railroad.

[edit] Geography

Fairbury is located at 40°44′46″N, 88°30′51″W (40.746103, -88.514092)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 3,968 people, 1,544 households, and 1,053 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,178.5/km² (3,060.1/mi²). There were 1,623 housing units at an average density of 482.0/km² (1,251.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.80% White, 0.40% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 1.66% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.60% of the population.

There were 1,544 households out of which 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 21.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $41,298, and the median income for a family was $51,117. Males had a median income of $33,507 versus $24,188 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,145. About 3.3% of families and 4.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.5% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Trivia

A group of citizens once formed an Anti-Horse Thief Association. However, since horse thievery was not very common, the group spent the majority of its time hosting picnics and oyster suppers, and held parades.
Fairbury formed a Bicycle Club. This club would take all day trips to Forrest or Pontiac. They rode on the railroad tracks because the ties were smoother than the roads. A bicycle race was introduced at the fair, and was very popular.
Fairbury once claimed to be the motorcycle capital of the world. The town had more than 300 of them, more per capita than any other place in the world.
Three large flag poles were erected on Main Street that represented the three political parties. On the east end, near the town dump ironically enough, was the Republican's flag pole. In the middle of Main Street, near the depot, was the Democrat's flag pole. And on the west end of Main Street by the arcade block was the Prohibition Party's flag pole.
Neither the Blade nor the Local Record had one news report about January 1, 1900. It was just another day to the citizens of Fairbury.
Fairbury passed an ordinance forbidding people from launching missiles within the town. Violators could be fined up to $100.
Judge Woodford McDowell had Fairbury's saw mill disassembled and reassembled in Jefferson County, Nebraska in 1869. A town sprouted up around the mill, and he named it Fairbury, in honor of his home town in Illinois.
An ordinance was passed forbidding saloonkeepers from opening before 5:00 A.M. and closing after 10:00 P.M. No pool tables or games were allowed inside saloons, and they must be closed on Sundays. In fact, the owner of a saloon was not permitted to even go inside it on Sundays any longer than one minute.
Fairbury was once known as the most flammable town in the Midwest due to the large number of fires that started in the town.
One of Fairbury's famous natives was Francis Townsend. He was the son of a farmer and was born in Fairbury on January 13, 1867. When he was a child, the family moved to Nebraska. After leaving school, Townsend worked as a farm laborer in Kansas and Colorado. He eventually attended Omaho Medical College and graduated in 1907. He set up as a doctor in the Black Hills of South Dakota, but joined the Army Medical Corps when the United States entered the First World War in 1917. After leaving the army, Townsend worked in Long Beach, California. His medical practice was not a success and he obtained employment as assistant city health director. He lost his job during the Great Depression and was forced into retirement. In 1933, he witnessed three old women rummaging through the garbage cans in his alley for food. He was horrified by what he saw and decided to get involved in politics. Later that year, he proposed a scheme whereby the Federal government would provide every person over 60 with monthly pension of $150 (later increased to $200). Townsend argued that the pensioners would immediately spend the money and would thereby create new jobs and bring an end to the Great Depression. He suggested that his Old Age Revolving Pension Plan could be financed by a Federal tax on all sales (wholesale and retail). The plan obtained a great deal of public support and by 1935 his Townsend Club had over 5 million members. In 1935, Townsend handed President Roosevelt a petition supporting the Old Age Revolving Pension Plan that had been signed by over 20 million people. In response to the petition, Congress passed the Social Security Act. Townsend claimed that Roosevelt's social security legislation was completely inadequate and in 1936 joined with Father Charles Coughlin, Gerald L.K. Smith, and followers of Huey Long to form the National Union of Social Justice. William Lepke was selected as the party's candidate in the 1936 presidential election, but won only 882,479 votes compared to Franklin Roosevelt (27,751,597) and Alfred Landon (16,679,583). In 1936, Townsend was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice for contempt of Congress. However, President Franklin Roosevelt commuted Townsend's 30 day prison sentence. Francis Townsend died in Los Angeles on September 1, 1960.

Apparently Francis Townsend returned to Fairbury several times. In the August 9, 1946, edition of The Blade, the Fairbury newspaper, reported "Delegates and visitors to the eighth annual homecoming for Dr. Francis E. Townsend, founder of the Townsend old-age pension plan, will start coming in today. Several thousand people are expected here for this annual event. The room formerly occupied by Fun Haven has been leased during the homecoming and the business sessions and other activities will be held there, including a dance Saturday."

Green Frog Productions produces video history of U.S. railroads including the TP&W which passes through Fairbury. According to the video history, the TP&W railroad holds the dubious record of the only railroad taken over by the U.S. government 3 times. The takeovers were related to union activity on the railroad.

With 7 million total U.S. patents granted and a U.S. population of roughly 300 million, one would not expect any patents to be issued to residents of a town with a population of 4,000. Surprisingly, forty-nine U.S. patents have been granted to citizens of Fairbury since 1973. The 49 patents have been issued to Dana Coldren (24), Dale Maley (15), Donald Slagel (1), Norman Rittenhouse (1), Robert Daniels (1), Lloyd Metz (1), Argil Luttrell (1), Howard Alm (1), Ralph Hoffman (1), Christian Huette (1), Lyle Honegger (1), and Joseph Stevenson (1).

[edit] References

Much of the information about Fairbury found here came from Accounts and Tales of Early Fairbury, Illinois by Alma Lewis James. This book can be checked out from the Dominy Memorial Library in Fairbury, IL. Several parts of the book were also published in the Fairbury Blade on April 3, 1958, and was dubbed The Buckle on the Cornbelt.
Dale Albee published a number of stories of Fairbury life in The Blade entitled Fairbury Glimpses.
K.A. Strickland wrote an essay about Fairbury's saloonkeepers for a History 402 class. She provided insight on the daily life of Fairbury's citizens in the 1800's.
The 60 Years Ago section of The Blade reported on July 26, 2006, that Francis Townsend returned to Fairbury around August 9, 1946.
John T. Flynn's 1948 book The Roosevelt Myth contains several references to Francis Townsend.