Visit the National Genealogy Trails Site

McLean County Home

Visit the Illinois Genealogy Trails Site

Community of Gridley History
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

The village of Gridley was platted by Thomas Carlyle and George W. Kent on land they bought from Asahel Gridley. The T. P. & W. railroad ran through the town in 1858. The first school was built in 1859, and the village was incorporated in 1869. Many of the farmers in the vicinity of Gridley are Mennonites, one of the churches in the town being of that denomination; others being Methodist and Congregational. Drum brothers, residents of Gridley, were noted hunters. The town of Gridley's population is 709. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" - by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk] Home of the Gridley Telephone Museum The Gridley Telephone Museum, in Gridley, Illinois, contains an amazing display of memorabilia that reflects the evolution of communication services in rural Illinois. http://www.telephonemuseumofgridley.org (Transcriber Note: I remember having the rural party-line when we moved to Gridley from Lexington in March of 1972. Our code was two longs and one short. Shortly thereafter, around July 1972, we went directly to touch tone phones completely bypassing the "old" rotary dials that areas like Lexington had until the 1980's.)

HOME