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Community of Shirley History
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

Shirley and Covell are the two incorporated towns in the [Dale] township, both supplied with stores, churches and elevators. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk] Founded more than a hundred years ago, the small village of Shirley today has a population of 129. It is located southwest of Bloomington on US 66 and the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. On the outskirts of the village are placed numerous grain storage bins of the Commodity Credit Corporation. Shirley began as a railroad station in 1854; it was platted as a town in 1859 by John Foster. Today, this village is the largest community of Dale Township, which has a total population of 778. Earliest settlers of the township were Stephen Webb and William McCord, both of whom came from Tennessee in 1827. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk]

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