Beecher City, Illinois was about 44 years old as an incorporated village, when I was born in October 1939.
For the next 18 years, I lived in Beecher City, Ill.
The Village of Beecher City is still "home", even though I have not lived there since the end of Summer 1961, when I worked in my parents' general store as I did most summers during my high school and university years.
For purpose of reference, I have linked these notes to the village on a map. I am considering that it is divided into four areas which are based on Route 33 or Poplar Street which runs east-west and Charles Street which runs north-south. Their intersection is known by any one who has lived in the village as The Bank Corner, attributed to the fact that the First State Bank of Beecher City has occupied the south west corner of that intersection since the early 1900s.
I have included some street addresses which are the current ones, at the time of this writing, i.e. 2013 addresses. In the 1940s, I do not recall any street names or addresses being used. There were no street signs, thus terms such as The Bank Corner or End of the Mile and other landmarks were used as common points of reference when one gave directions.
According to Ethel Lorton in the chapter she wrote about Beecher City: "The oldest house in town in the 1970s was the home of John Turner on George Street.
It was built by Henry L. Beecher who was sent to Beecher City as the depot and express agent for the railroad. Henry L. Beecher was married to Emma L. Hancock. Initially when they moved to the village, they lived in the depot until the house was finished in 1872, shortly before the first baby, Florence Mae Beecher (Close) was born in the new town on June 18, 1872.
A picture of Florence Beecher hangs in the present First State Bank. When this baby was born, a sheet was to be hung in an upstairs window as a signal for Polly Sweazy to come as a midwife. But Polly did not see the signal sheet. Sarah Allsop Tennery did see the signal and she came to the new house to take care of the first baby born in Beecher City.
Florence was a good friend of other early residents including Kate Burgoon (Barr) and her sister Allie Burgoon (Clow) all of her life.
Henry Beecher was also a merchant as well as being the post master and attending to his duties for the railroad. His brother-in-law, Winfield Scott Hancock was one of his early employees. Later on Winfield S. Hancock would become the owner of a general store built by Noah Jennings about 1880, on the corner of North Charles and West Vine Streets, directly west of the depot. That store would remain in the Hancock family until October 1932 when it was sold to Jacob W. Musser.
The second oldest house in town as of 1974 records was the Miller TV and Radio Sales and Service, owned by Roland Miller in the 1950-70s; it was at the corner of Poplar and Sweazy Streets."
This house was latter moved west of the village and now sits on the north side of Route 33 near the junction with Route 128. It is reported that this house was also the early home of Clarence Richard Cook and his wife, Nora Jennings Cook.
At the time of this writing, I am sharing what I recall about the first homes starting with one at the north boundary of the present village on the east side of Charles Street, at 406 North Charles. William Hayden Jennings built that home in the 1880s. William Jennings was a brother of Noah Jennings and partner with him in the general store.
Subsequently, The Allsop families owned the home. Cleveland Allsop was probably the second member of that family and then John Thomas and Bernadine Wood Alsop sometime later.
My personal memories have been expanded thanks to the following a 1974 publication by: Ethel Cathryn Allsop Lorton, who was born on the Allsop homestead about one mile north of Beecher City (Effingham County) on April 10, 1908. Her parents were Cleveland Samuel Allsop and Zoa Hunt Allsop. For a brief period, Charles and Joan Beaumont Holmes owned the home and during that period they elected to remove much of the ornate, 1880 detail of the home because it was in need of repair.
During my youth, across the street on the west side of Charles Street , at 407 North Charles, was the home of George I. and Mary E. Conner Davis and their family. This property also included a barn and barn yard to the north. I believe after George's death in 1958, Mary continued to live there until her death in 1963.
Next door to the Davis home, was the home of George H. and Lydia Evans Parmenter and their family at 401 N. Charles. Dr. Parmenter was the last physician to live and practice in Beecher City; he came there in the 1920s and practiced until he retired in 1961.
From the Parmenter residence south all the way to Vine Street, there were no residential dwellings. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran on the back side of those properties and intersected Charles Street just north of Vine, thus creating another point of reference.
The first east-west street on the north side of the village, East Sheridan Street ended at Charles Street. I do not recall the other houses in the 1940s adjacent to the Alsop place. The house of the north east corner of Charles and East Sheridan Streets, faced Sheridan.
In the block between East Sheridan and East Gurney Streets, along the east side of Charles Street, were 3 or 4 house. The northern most of them at 308 N Charles was occupied by the Stanley Family [ and later by Nollis Alsop family. Dr. Parmenter had his office in a small frame house in this block. The house at the corner of East Gurney and Charles Street was the home of Charles R. and Edna Sparks at 300 N. Charles.
The only house on the south east corner of East Gurney and Charles Streets was the home of H.D. Jack and Fanny Smith and their family. They are the only family that I recalling living there up to 1957.
The next section, a work in progress, describes the commercial, retail business on North Charles Street, i.e. the north end of the "business district."
Ethel Lorton wrote: "After the railroad went through the countryside in 1871, there was only a
fringe of buildings along the tracks. It was several years before people ventured to build farther from the rails and settle the remainder of the town.
This process was still going on as witness the Jennings Addition in the last
few years. In 1875, the railroad was bought by the Ohio and Mississippi,
which later became a part of the Baltimore and Ohio."
She wrote that in 1883, the businesses of Beecher City were three general stores operated by William H. Jennings, Henry L. Beecher, and William Sweazy.
There was one grocery store owned by Albert Talley,
a drugstore of John Allsop M.D, who was also a physician,
one butcher shop,
a shoe shop,
hoop-pole factory,
and a brick kiln.
George Brown bought grain for Brownback Brothers in Altamont, IL and shipped large quantities from Beecher City in every month."
The general store that Ethel Lorton attributes as being operated by William H. Jennings is reportedly built by his brother, Noah Jennings, about 1880, and subsequently jointly owned by the brothers. In the Fall of 1871, William H. Jennings came to Liberty Township and worked in the merchantile business with J.D. Jennings and Brother. J.D. was Jesse Dodson Jennings, the eldest of the Jennings brothers. Royal Rial Jennings was the next eldest of the brothers, and who is listed as a grocer in 1880.
Jesse Dodson Jennings 1831-1899
Royal “Rial” Jennings 1833-1923
William Hayden Jennings 1838-1922
Noah Jennings 1841-1889
It is not clear at this writing where the general store operated by Henry L. Beecher was located; it was reported in 1883, that he had purchased property from the Jennings brothers in the fall of 1876.
I also do not know the location of the general store operated by William Henry Sweazy.
Some links to US Census records allows one to examine others people listed on the same page. If one assumes the census enumerators went from one house to the next door neighbors, it appears that many early residents were close neighbors.
*********to be continued*******
