This little village is situated on the Illinois River, about
ten miles above Peoria. It was surveyed and laid out in 1838 for
Day, Matson & Brush, who owned the land, and had purchased it form one
Jacob Woodcock, an old settler, of whom but
little deffinite information could be obtained.
The first house in
the village of Spring Bay was built by a man named Benjamin Merithew, who, it seems, had once owned the
land or had pre-empted it, or something of that kind, and was built before
the village was laid out. It was a small log cabin, and stood where
Genoways' store house now stands. The first store house put up was
the one now occupied by Lewis Williams and was
built in the early part of 1838, and only weather-boarded and covered when
Genoways came to the neighborhood. When he returned from Ohio to
this place, in 1840, nothing further had been done, nor did the village
begin to improve to any great extent until about the year 1843. A
man named Rice had a little store up in the brush, just within the present
limits of the town, which consisted chiefly of whisky and tobacco -
articles that have remained staple in this section down to the present
day. This was not only the first store in the village, but the first in
what is now Spring Bay Township. In 1843, Ira Y. Munn came to the place and opened a store in
the building above alluded to, as belonging now to Williams, which was
finished up for the purpose Munn, Peter Willard and William Scott had a
store in Fremont, (a village in Tazewell County) which place was rather
overdone in mercantile business. Mr. Genoways chanced to meet Munn and
Scott in Washington, some ten miles distant from Spring Bay, and they told
him they were looking for a good location for a store. He at once set to
work to try to induce them to go to Spring Bay, and, obtaining their
consent, conducted them in a roundabout way to the village, that they
might be favorably impressed with the populous neighborhood. After taking
a look they decided to locate, and engaged Genoways to go immediately to
Fremont for a load of good. Munn & Scott conducted the business at
Spring Bay, while Willard remained at Fremont to close up and settle
affairs there, after which he opened a branch of the Spring Bay house in
Metamora, of which further notice is made in that part of this work. Scott
was soon taken sick and returned to Fremont, where he died, and his
brother, George Scott, came to Spring Bay and took his place in the store. This firm
continued in the mercantile business here and at Metamora, and also handled grain
extensively for a number of years. After amassing quite a fortune, Munn
and Scott went to Chicago, and there embarked in grain; but in attempting
to make "a corner" in wheat, got beyond their depth and sunk disastrously.
Rising again, they went to Denver and started a quartz mill, where, it is
said, they failed again. Peter Willard lives in Chicago. a prosperous and
enterprising merchant.
Just after Munn commenced
business, a. man by the name of Thornton built a residence, which was the
first one erected in Spring Bay Village. C. A. Genoways and Samuel S. Burt
built the first grain warehouse in 1844, and after finishing it sold it to
Munn & Scott for $400. It was a frame building, 30x60 feet, with a
capacity of 8,000 or 10,000 bushels. Richard Dement built a grain
warehouse soon after; also, Lewis and, Jackson Williams, and for many
years did a large business in grain, pork packing and general merchandise,
and in which they made a small fortune. Lewis Williams owns, in addition
to his other property, the old homestead in Worth Township. Hoshor and
Dement built the warehouse now standing on the river bank. The one now
owned by Genoways and used as a storehouse was built by Moses McManus.
None of these warehouses are standing at the present day, except the last
two mentioned; the others have not survived the day of their usefulness.
For about twenty years, beginning at 1844, the grain trade at this place
equaled any point on the Illinois River. In its most prosperous day, Munn
& Scott, Dement, McManus, William Hefelbower, were all. handling
grain, and all doing a heavy business. Nearly the whole county hauled
grain to this place, and a hundred wagons on the streets in one day was a
common occurrence. The amount of grain shipped from this point, before the
era of railraods, was truly wonderful, and more than one handsome little
fortune was made in this uprentending
village.
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