Fairbury was a booming town

In 1878, William Le Baron published his book titled The History of Livingston County. This publication was the first history book written about Livingston County, recounting the early history of Fairbury.

Fairbury was founded in 1857 when the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad ran its tracks from Peoria to the Indiana border. Several farmers competed to have the new railroad run through their farms. If they could get the railroad through their land, they could make a substantial amount of money by converting their farmland into city building lots. Caleb L. Patton won the competition by offering the railroad half of his new city lots in exchange for their choice of his farm. Octave Chanute, the engineer for the railroad, accepted Patton's offer. A space of 200 by 870 feet was reserved by the railroad in the center of the original village for depot buildings. Even today, the TP&W still owns some property in Fairbury.

The first thing a new town needs is a U.S. Post Office. Somehow, the paperwork to the federal government got messed up, and the city name came back as Fairburgh. It took about six years to get the name fixed back to the intended Fairbury. H. H. McKee was the first Postmaster of Fairbury.

John Coomer built the first house in the village of Fairbury. He moved to Fairbury from Vermont in 1857. The first store was opened in 1858. This store was owned by a partnership of A. L. Pogue, David Thomas, and R. B. Amsbury.

George W. Morris built the first tavern in the village in 1958. O. S. Mason and Michael Gately owned the first blacksmith shop in Fairbury. In 1859, a large flour mill was built. The developers of the mill borrowed the money from Judge McDowell. When the developers abandoned the project, Judge McDowell completed the building.

The first schoolhouse in Fairbury was a little frame building on the south side of the railroad tracks. Alonzo Straight was the first teacher. A new wood-frame building was built in 1860 on the site that later became Isaac Walton school. In 1868, another wood-frame building was constructed on the site that would later become Edison Grade School.

The first churches were built in the same year as the first taverns that appeared in 1858. The Methodists built a 32-by-55-foot church in 1858. Their first minister was Reverend J. W. Flowers. The Presbyterians also constructed their first church in 1858. It was a 25-by-40-foot church, and the first minister was Reverend A. Eddy.

In 1862, five years after Fairbury was founded, John Marsh and his son Henry Marsh discovered coal on their mine one mile west of Fairbury. This discovery quickly led to the establishment of five coal mines in Fairbury. People traveled from Europe to take coal mining jobs in Fairbury.

The first bank was established in Fairbury by Judge McDowell and Nathan E. Lyman in 1864. Bartlett, Beach, and Dominy started their bank in 1874.

A woolen mill was built in 1867 by brothers from New York named Barnard. Their idea was that sheep raising would become a profitable business, and a mill would be needed. Several Fairbury-area farmers attempted to raise sheep, but the endeavor was unsuccessful. The swampy land around Fairbury caused the sheep to contract a "foot rot" disease. The machinery in the Fairbury mill was removed and shipped to Los Angeles, where sheep could be raised.

In 1868, Isaac and John Wesley Walton started their first retail store on the west end of Locust Street. It would eventually become the largest retail store in Fairbury, and it remained in operation for over 100 years.

Fairbury started with one railroad serving the town. The railroad enabled local farmers to sell their grain and brought in necessary farm supplies. In 1872, Fairbury received a second railroad. This line was the Chicago & Paducah railroad running from Streator to Strawn. This second railroad helped to increase the growth rate of Fairbury.

Fairbury social clubs started almost as soon as the village was founded. The first club was the Masons in 1860. Other early social groups were the Odd Fellows and the Knights Templar.

It took Fairbury nine years to establish a newspaper. In 1866, H. S. Decker began publishing a paper called The Journal. In 1871, Mr. Dimmick started The Independent to represent the east side of Fairbury. In 1876, C. B. Holmes created The Blade to represent the west side of Fairbury. J.S. Scibird then combined the two newspapers into The Independent-Blade.

John Virgin formed a horse importation company in 1870. He imported large Percheron draft horses from France and sold them to farmers in the Fairbury area. He later built his Horse Palace north of Walton's to act as his horse stable.

Except for farming and coal mining, Fairbury in its early years did not have many manufacturing companies. In 1866, George W. Kring started manufacturing field cultivators. He later produced check-row corn planters as well.

Fairbury got its first cemetery in 1855. Initially, it was a tiny cemetery of just six acres located on South Seventh Street. The first burial in that cemetery was that of Mrs. Hughes, the wife of David Hughes. She was buried soon after the cemetery was surveyed.

In this early era, Fairbury was plagued by many massive fires. The town was split into two factions, the West Enders and the East Enders. Many of these fires were blamed on this rivalry. Due to their fire history, insurance companies increased the price of fire insurance to such an extent that most businesses could no longer afford it. There were so many fires that people kept a change of clothes by their back door. They kept these clothes in case a fire started in the middle of the night, and they had to flee their homes.

Fairbury was a boomtown when it first began. The village went from zero residents in 1857 to a population of 2,140 just 23 years later. The town evolved from farmland to a small village, featuring two railroads, taverns, churches, coal mines, a business district, a Post Office, a cemetery, and a local government.

(Dale Maley's weekly history feature on Fairbury News is sponsored by Dr. Charlene Aaron & Antiques & Uniques of Fairbury)