History of Fairbury city dumps

Since the Romans, more than 2,000 years ago, towns have struggled with how to dispose of residential waste.

Fairbury faced the same struggles after it was founded in 1857, when the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad laid tracks from Peoria to the Indiana border. The fascinating story of the Fairbury city dumps includes abandoned coal mines, the discovery of a dead infant's body, a boy who saved a dog's life, and the conversion of a former city dump into the beautiful Timber Ridge subdivision.

The earliest mention of a Fairbury city dump comes from Alma Lewis James' 1967 book on early Fairbury history titled Stuffed Clubs & Antimaccassars. In her book, Alma reported that circa 1870, what we now call Sunken Park was used by the grocery stores on east Locust Street to throw away their rotten vegetables. Fairbury citizens also began to throw their refuse into this early city dump. Alma reported that when Hi Taylor became Street Commissioner, he ended the practice of Sunken Park being a city garbage dump.

Unfortunately, we do not know what year Sunken Park stopped being the city dump. In the 1885 Sanborn Insurance Company map of Fairbury, Sunken Park was no longer the city dump, and the first wood-frame grain storage buildings were constructed in that area. Later dated photographs show Sunken Park filled with wood-frame grain storage buildings.

Until the widespread introduction of the tin can, most houses in Fairbury could burn much of their garbage at home. By the 1890s, commercially canned products were becoming increasingly common, creating a new type of household waste that could not simply be burned. From then on, tin cans became a normal part of residential waste.

In 1941, the Co-Operative Coal Company, Fairbury's last operating coal mine, closed. It was located where the Timber Ridge Subdivision entrance now stands. In 1964, J. C. Ebach, Harvey Traub, and Carl Borngasser bought the 80-acre tract and developed it into one of Fairbury's nicest subdivisions. The first home to be advertised for sale in Timber Ridge was in 1967.

Sometime between 1941 and 1964, the abandoned coal mine site served as a Fairbury city dump. The exact years the site was used as a city dump are unknown.

In May of 1941, the Blade reported the City was using a site owned by G. Y. McDowell to dump trash. Mr. McDowell wanted to raise his price from 25 cents per load. The Fairbury City Council stated they would begin searching for a new site for the city dump.

This site was likely where the Thuro-Bilt factory was later built. Later it became a lumber yard owned by Fred Wing. This site is just south of the railroad tracks and is about four blocks west of First Street. This site was also an abandoned coal mine. In October 1953, when the Thuro-Bilt factory was built, slag from the old coal mine was used as fill material beneath the concrete floor.

In 1944, the City of Fairbury began leasing a site owned by Mrs. Marguerite Keck on the south edge of Fairbury for $10 a month. She owned an 80-acre tract on South 7th Street, just south of what is now the Timber Ridge subdivision. The City used the site as a dump for 13 years until Mrs. Keck ended the lease in 1957.

Mrs. Keck told The Blade that, after considerable thought, she had decided not to extend the lease for two reasons. "The dump is unsightly, and its position makes it an eyesore to the community," Mrs. Keck said. "In addition," she continued, "the dumping privileges as stated in the lease have been abused by individuals during the past few years." The lease, which the City has held on the property since 1944, stipulated that the area was to be used only for dumping tin cans and ashes. For years, some individuals disposed of garbage and other rubbish at the dump. Because of the promiscuous dumping habits of some individuals, the trash has overflowed into adjoining property.

In May of 1948, the Blade published a story about an infant's body being found at the city dump located by the old coal mine at what is now Timber Ridge. Willis (Tump) Harris found a basket with the lid fastened down by a rope tied around the basket. He opened the basket and found an infant's body in the basket. The body was examined and determined to be a child who was born five months prematurely. Livingston County officials then took custody of the body.

In December 1955, a man dumped a dog on north First Street by the home of Emma Stoller. She cared for the dog for two weeks and tried to get neighbors to adopt it, with no success. She asked the City of Fairbury to dispose of the dog. Officer Charles Baker took the dog to the city dump and planned to shoot and then bury the dog. John Reakes and his nine-year-old son Larry then arrived at the city dump. Larry adopted the dog, took it home, and named it Lucky.

When the lease with Mrs. Marguerite Keck ended in 1957, the City purchased 10 acres from Floyd & Emma Estep to use as a city dump. This site was on Indian Creek, northwest of the Kilgus Farmstead & Country Store. The City of Fairbury still owns this land in 2026.

The City of Fairbury then purchased a new 1-and-a-½-ton Ford garbage truck in August 1957. The City used it immediately for garbage collection, dumping the garbage into a pit at the new city dump.

In January of 1961, the Blade published a lengthy story about Ira French being in charge of the city dump. He was a retired well driller, and he had a shack at the city dump with a garden. Many Fairbury women visited the city dump to find items to decorate their homes. Ira often gave away the free produce he raised in the garden. Ira played a key role in the Francis Townsend movement, which led to the adoption of our present Social Security system.

In 1970, the Illinois Environmental Protection Act became effective July 1, 1970, creating the Illinois EPA. The Illinois EPA began strictly regulating small-town city dumps. In the early 1970s, the EPA forced the last Fairbury city dump to close. Residential garbage had to be trucked to an approved large landfill.

For more than a century, Fairbury managed residential waste disposal by using local landfills at various sites around the City. The introduction of Illinois EPA laws spelled the end of small-town local management of residential waste.

Dale Maley's weekly history feature on Fairbury News is sponsored by Dr. Charlene Aaron.