Jefferson County Illinois

BAKERSVILLE
Located in Dodds township and named for John Baker, who opened a store on the East side of the Chicago and Eastern Railroad in 1902. John Baker established a Post office in his store, June 12, 1902 it was discontinued July 31, 1905 This was not the first Post Office in the area, the first was called Cubb Prairie Post Office was established in March 26, 1868, the exact location is unknown and it closed February 12, 1872.

BEEHIVE
Located in Field township, G. E. Robinson opened a general store about 1890 and opened a post office under the name of Beehive May 12, 1892 it closed December 24, 1895. When the Railroad built in the area it set up a depot in Texico and that was the end of Beehive.

BLISSVILLE
Located in Blissville township which was named for August Bliss who built a store and opened a post office August 4, 1841 Bliss died in 1849 and the post office closed March 15, 1858.

BLUE RIDGE
A post office was opened February 2, 1858 and closed October 15, 1858, it reopened May 1860 and the name of the post office was changed to Hallock it is unknown exactly when the post office closed.

BOYD
Boyd, located in Rome township was surveyed for Phineas Boyd. A post office was established December 1887 and closed May 1905.

BUD TOWN
Located in Rome township, Bud Town consisted of a store and there was a post office located in the corner of the store. The store was owned by a man named Bud McCormick.

BUZZARD ROOST
Located in Elk Prairie township near where Nason is located.

CRAVAT
Located inGrand Prairie township, a post office was established April 5, 1899 and closed May 31, 1901. The post office was located in a store, coffin shop and undertaking parlor all under one roof. A post office was reopened in July 1906 and closed May 1911.

DAREVILLE
Located in Elk Prairie township, a store was opened by Curtis Black and a post office was established in the store on July 10, 1871 it closed January 31, 1907.The town of Nason absorbed Dareville when the mine came in.

DIVIDE
Located in Field township, and was named for the divide in between Casey Fork Creek to the West and Horse Creek to the East. A general store was opened at the crossroads in the 1870's, and a post office established in the store October 27, 1879 it closed May 31, 1905.

DRIVERS
Located in Shiloh township. Drivers was surveyed for James R. Drivers in November 1887. James R. Drivers built a store and established Drivers post office in January 9, 1888 it closed January 2, 1907 and mail was then sent to Woodlawn.

DRYDEN
Located in Bald Hill township, the post office was located in the home of Robert Allen, it was located near the Dryden cemetery also known as Black Jack cemetery. The post office opened August 1886 and closed September 1893.

EAST MT. VERNON
The villiage of East Mt. Vernon grew out of the wiskey contest.Tired of getting along without any saloons in town, it occured to some that if they had a villiage organization they might have a saloon. A petition came into county court in due form, an election was ordered and the result was 26 for and 1 against villiage incorporation. The saloons then produced their legitimate fruit. Mr. Thomas Caborn in 1880 concluded that he could endure it no longer so at the May term of the Circuit Court, Keller & Carpenter commenced a suit People ex rel. Caborn vs. Satterfield, County Clerk and the Villiage of Est Mt. Vernon. It may be well to state that the grounds for ouster were that the villiage never had 300 inhabitants, that some of the petitioners were non-residents, that one was a woman, that the first election was illegal and the record showed no canvass of the vote. The fall of East Mt. Vernon brought all the wiskey forces into the city election, and helped carry the wiskey ticket through.

ELM BRANCH
Located in Farrington township, a store was built and a post office established in August 1897 and closed January 1907.

EMMERSON
Located in Bald Hill township, also called Emmersonville was named for Louis Emmerson, governor of Illinois 1927 - 1933. A post office was established March 1907 and discontinued May 1910.

FARRINGTON
Located in Farrington township. The villiage of Farrington was laid out June 2, 1856, and was surveyed by A. M. Grant and Jehu J. Maxey. It comprised six acres of ground adjoining Mr. Johnson's place, and there were two blocks of five lots each.

FITZGERRELL
About 1849, a man by the name of J.J. Fitzgerrell and his wife came from Posey County, Indiana and settled in Elk Prairie Township and homesteaded several acres of land. A few years later the villiage of Fitzgerrell was started. The town was four blocks square. The post office went be the name Fitzgerrell, but the little town took the name of Winfield.
Mrs. Kirby Rogers, Waltonville, Illinois------History of Jefferson County ©  1962

GRAND ARM
Located in Blissville township, Grand Arm post office was established in June 1875 and closed August 1876.

HARMONY
Located in Farrington township, it consisted of a store, a church established in 1884, school and a cemetery.

HARRIS GROVE
Located in Pendleton township, the Harris Grove post office was established in a tavern April 1854 it closed July 1860, reopened in January 1861 and closed again in August 1869, it was opened and closed a few more times with last opening December 1876 and the final closing October 1881.

HICKORY HILL

HORSE PRAIRIE
Located in Elk Prairie township about a mile south of Winfield. The post office was established July 1840 and closed May 1842. It reopened in 1843 and closed in 1846. It again opened in September of 1846 and closed for the last time May 1849.

IDLEWOOD
Located in Mt. Vernon township, A depot was built when the Southern Railroad came through, the station was named Idlewood. A post office was established September 1890 and closed October 1901.

JEFFERSON CITY
Located in Casner township, it was surveyed for Oran Nulen, August 11, 1854 and consisted of four blocks of twelve lots each covering two acres of ground, it was vacated in March 1891.

JORDANS PRAIRIE
Named for Thomas Jordan who settled here very early. On July 20, 1835 the first post office was established in the home of a Mr. Andrews, and was called Jordans Prairie. An attempt was made to change the name to Rome, but another post office already had that name. The name was then changed to Dix.

KENNETH

KERN
George Kern built a store and a post office was located inside the store, the store and post office were first located inside Kerns home in Marion County, but when he built the new one across the road from his home it was in Jefferson County.The original post office was established in July 1902 and moved to the new location March 1905.

KING

LAUR
A post office was established on July 10, 1871  called Laur, on November 11, 1892, the name of the post office was changed to Williamsburg.

LOGANSVILLE
Located a little northeast of Farrington, consisted of a Post office and a small store kept by Dr. Lemuel Gregory. The post office was established in June 1871 and closed May 1879, it was reopened in March 1881 and closed for the last time February 1886. Loganville named in honor of Gen. John A. Logan, then a U. S. Senator. Although rejoicing under the high sounding name, there is no town nor has there been a town laid out here.

LYNCHBURG
Lynchburg located in Pendelton township was laid out in 1852-1853, by W. H. Lynch. The town was not recorded until February 1857. The post office opened September 22, 1858 and was discontinued September 22, 1875.

MARCOE
Located in McClellan township, the town was laid out for Granville W. Laughlin, May 10, 1895, there was a store owned by Henry Winger and a post office was located inside the store however, there is no record of a post office ever being established.

MARLOW
Located in Webber township, the town was laid out for George W. Evans, December 14, 1881. Abraham Marlow built grain house and opened a post office in the grain house. Marlow post office was established April 1882 with Abraham Marlow as the Postmaster the post office was discontinued in 1932.

MARTINSVILLE
Located in Mt. Vernon township, it was laid out for Martin Williams in November 1854.

McGUIRE
Located in Rome township, McGuire was on the west side of the road and Boyd on the east. It was surveyed for John McGuire in February 1888.

MESO
Located in Bald Hill township, the Meso post office was established March 1900 and discontinued July 1904. The town was named for Cornellius Meso/Mezo, who was a Civil War veteran and the oldest resident in the area at that time..

MILL TOWN
Located in Blissville township, Eli Gilbert built a mill and a store, mail was dropped at this store and it became the unofficial post office for Mill Town. Knob Prairie post office was opened in Gilbert's store in May 1860 it closed July 1862.

MOORES PRAIRIE
A post office with the name Moores Prairie located in Moores Prairie Township, was opened April 22, 1825 and discontinued January 25, 1894.

NASON
Located in Elk Prairie township, Nason a coal town was founded southwest of Mt. Vernon in 1922. The post office was established September 8, 1923, and was discontinued December 12, 1924.

PIGEON
Located in Webber township, The  Post office of Pigeon opened in October 1872 and closed May 1905. The post office was later moved to Farrington township but the name remained the same.

RANGE
Located in Field township, a post office was established February 1890 and closed May 1900.

ROACHVILLE
Roachville, located on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, was the capital of Casner township, was about ten miles west of Mt. Vernon. It was laid out April 6, 1870, by John D. Williams, for David Roach, the owner of the land upon which it is located. The place comprised of four blocks and forty lots. It once had three stores, a blacksmith shop and a mill and a few dwelling houses. It was in the south part of the township, but it proved to be too far from Mount Vernon and too close to Ashley ever to amount to much. Roachville was also known as Roach and Roaches.

ROME
This town was named for Rome, N.Y., Mr. Andrews, the father of the place came from near Rome, N.Y. and named it in honor of that place. It was laid out March 14, 1849. When the post office was established it was called Jordans Prairie Post Office. When Rome was laid out it was moved to town and it was found that there was another Rome in the State, and another name had to be selected. Dr. Jones named the post office after Gen. Dix and the Dix Post Office has since remained.

RYDER
Located in McClellan township, In 1891 Francis Ryder and his wife came to Jefferson county and purchased 140 acres of land, he built a sawmill, and a store and opened the Ryder post office January 1895 it closed January 1906.
Click on Ryder for picture of the Ryder Home/Store

SHIELDS
Located in Farrington township, Also known as Paper Town, it consisted of a few homes, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a feed store, amill and a school named Shields.

SHIRLEY

SPRING GARDEN
The villiage of Spring Garden was surveyed and laid out by James F. Duncan and John S. Lucas, October 24, 1848, and is situated about twelve miles nearly south of Mt. Vernon. a post office was moved from Pleasant Grove, Franklin County, to Spring Garden. The Spring Garden post office was discontinued February 14, 1906.

SPRING HILL
Located in Webber township, it was laid out for William Dale in 1853 the villiage was a quarter mile west of Bluford.

STRATTON
Located in Farrington township,  the Illinois Central Railroad had a telegraph station here and Fred Greenwalt built a store, it also had a feed mill..

TILFORD

WATKINS
Located in Casner township, it was about a half mile east of Woodlawn.

WEBB
Located in shiloh township, a post office was established in January 1888 but was known as Hook. W.C. Webb and W.D. Modglin had land plotted in June 1890, The name of the post office was changed to Webb in March 1895 it was discontinued June 1900.

WILLIAMSBURG
Located in Blissville township, Williamsburg was laid out December 1867 in its hey-day the town had 100 inhabitants. It had two drug stores and two doctors, several stores and a schoolhouse. A post office was established on July 10, 1871 but was called Laur, on November 11, 1892, the name of the post office was changed to Williamsburg. About 1892 the town of Waltonville was established about a mile from Williamsburg, with the usual results Williamsburgers moved to the Railroad leaving the villiage a ghostown.

WINFIELD
About 1849, a man by the name of J.J. Fitzgerrell and his wife came from Posey County, Indiana and settled in Elk Prairie Township and homesteaded several acres of land. A few years later the villiage of Fitzgerrell was started. The town was four blocks square. The post office went be the name Fitzgerrell, but the little town took the name of Winfield.
Mrs. Kirby Rogers, Waltonville, Illinois------History of Jefferson County ©  1962