ARGENTA AND OREANA On the I. B. & W. Railroad, are towns growing in importance and will, in a few years, become points of considerable commercial interest. [Smith, J. W. (1876). History of Macon County, Illinois, from its organization to 1876. Springfield, Ill: Rokker's Printing House. Transcribed and annotated by Judy Rosella Edwards. ] Argenta. The village of Argenta was platted on land owned by Russell B. Rogers in 1873, when the Decatur, Monticello & Champaign Railroad, now a branch of the Illinois Central, was constructed. The fortieth parallel passes through this place dividing it almost equally. The first house was built by George M. George in the northeast part of town. The first store room was built by William Ellis; it was destroyed by fire, then replaced by the one now owned by William Kidder. The village contains two general stores, two hardware stores, one furniture store, two barber shops, one harness shop, two restaurants, one hotel, one meat market, two elevators, one bank, one lumber yard, one livery barn, one paper, "The Argenta Hustler," a Methodist church, a Cumberland Presbyterian church, a United Brethren church, and a Christian church, also a four-room school house; two doctors and one dentist are located there. [Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois. 1903. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. p. 71. Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards.] Oreana. Oreana was platted in 1872 on land owned by H. C. Bower. Two general stores, two elevators, a blacksmith shop and a substantial modern school house are located in the village. A Christian church, a Baptist church, a Modern Woodmen lodge and a Knights of Pythias lodge are here located. The population is about 150. But one doctor, C. A. Mallory. It is situated about seven miles northeast of Decatur in the midst of fine productive rolling prairie lands. [Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois. 1903. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. p. 68. Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards.] HOME ©2008 Genealogy Trails