Christian County, Illinois History
Source: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 1901
Transcribed by Kim Torp, © 2004
COUNTY HISTORY
Christian County, Illinois History
Source: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 1901
Transcribed by Kim Torp, © 2004
COUNTY HISTORY
CHRISTIAN COUNTY - a rich agricultural county, lying in the "central belt"
and organized in 1839 from parts of Macon, Montgomery, Sangamon and Shelby Counties. The name first given to it
was Dane, in honor of Nathan Dane, one of the framers of the Ordinance of 1787, but a political prejudice led to
a change. A preponderance of early settlers having come from Christian County, KY., this name was finally adopted.
The surface is level and the soil fertile, the northern half of the county being best adapted to corn and the southern
to wheat. Its area is about 710 square miles, and its population (1900) was 32,790. The life of the early settlers
was exceedingly primitive. Game was abundant; wild honey was used as a substitute for sugar; wolves were troublesome;
prairie fires were frequent; the first mill (on Bear Creek) could not grind more than 10 bushels of grain per day,
by horse-power. The people hauled their corn to St. Louis to exchange for groceries. The first store was opened
at Robertson's Point, but the county-seat was established at Taylorville. A great change was wrought in local conditions
by the advent of the Illinois Central Railway, which passes through the eastern part of the county. Two other railroads
now pass centrally through the county - the "Wabash" and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. The principal
towns are Taylorville (a railroad center and thriving town of 2,829 inhabitants), Pana, Morrisonville, Edinburg
and Assumption.
TOWN HISTORIES
EDINBURG - A village of Christian
County, on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway, 18 miles southeast of Springfield; has two banks though
some coal is mined here.
Population:
1880: 551
1890: 806
1900: 1,071
MORRISONVILLE - a town in Christian
County, situated on the Wabash Railway, 40 miles southwest of Decatur and 20 miles north-northeast of Litchfield.
Grain is extensively raised in the surrounding region, and Morrisonville, with its elevators and mill, is an important
shipping-point. It has brick and tile works, electric lights, two banks, five churches, graded and high schools,
and a weekly paper.
Population:
1890: 844
1900: 934
1903 (est.): 1,200
PANA - An important railway center
and principal city of Christian County, situated in the southeastern part of the County, and at the intersecting
point of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, the Illinois Central and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago &
St. Louis Railroads, 35 miles south by west from Decatur, and 42 miles southeast of Springfield. It is an important
shipping-point for grain and has two elevators. Its mechanical establishments include two flouring mills, a foundry,
two machine shops and two planing mills. The surrounding region is rich in coal, which is extensively mined. Pana
has banks, several churches, graded schools and three papers issuing daily and weekly editions.
Population:
1890: 5,077
1900: 5,530
TAYLORVILLE - A city and county-seat
of Christian County, on the South Fork of the Sangamon River and on the Wabash Railway at its point of intersection
with the Springfield Division of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern. It is about 27 miles southeast of Springfield,
and 28 miles southwest of Decatur. IT has several banks, flour mills, paper mill, electric light and gas plants,
water-works, two coal mines, carriage and wagon shops, a manufactory of farming implements, two daily and weekly
papers, nine churches and five graded and township high schools. Much coal is mined in this vicinity.
Population:
1890: 2,839
1900: 4,248