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Community of Cropsey History
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

The township [of Cropsey] and village were named for Col. A. J. Cropsey, who settled there in 1864. Daniel B Stewart and other residents donated $10,000 to obtain the Kankakee branch of the Illinois Central railroad, which passed through Colfax and Anchor, and later to Bloomington. The town of Cropsey is almost on the county line between McLean and Ford, and is a trading center for many people in Ford County. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk] At the eastern edge of McLean County lies the incorporated village of Cropsey, with a population of 200. Through it runs the Illinois Central Railroad. A spacious grain elevator and numerous grain storage bins of the government's Commodity Credit Corporation are located here. The village was laid out in 1858 by Colonel A. J. Cropsey, who received his military title in the Civil War. He was also the first settler of Cropsey Township, which today has a total population of 424. In later years Colonel Cropsey moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and became a prominent political leader of that state. [This is McLean County, Illinois by: John Drury, The Loree Co., Chicago, Illinois (1955)]

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