History Stories 

  1. Early Settler Stories
    1. Salt was Gold to the early settlers.
    2. Tucker's Ford. Before bridges were built across the Vermilion River, early settlers crossed the river northwest of Fairbury.
    3. Life Before the Railroads. A speech by Dale C. Maley made in August of 2025.
    4. Human Geography presentation by Dale C. Maley. Explains why early settlers chose to live on either a creek or river.
    5. Corn Harvesting in the 1840s by pioneer settlers.
    6. Local Historian Publishes New Book On McDowell Family.
    7. Local Historian Publishes New Book On The Kring Family.
    8. Local Historian Publishes New Book on the Founding of
      Fairbury. Includes the rural pioneer settler history.
    9. Early Fairbury Settlers Challenged by Many Health Issues.
    10. First Fairbury Area Family Arrived 190 Years Ago.
    11. Judge McDowell one of Franklin Oliver's Lawyers. Includes information about pioneer settlers Franklin Oliver and Judge McDowell.
    12. Fairbury Pioneer Farmers Faced Many Difficulties
    13. First Three Years Challenging for Early Settlers.
    14. The Terrible Winter of 1830. How the Darnall family had to cope with the worst blizzard in Fairbury's history.
    15. Father of Fairbury pioneer Had a Unique Life. The story of Rachel Darnall's father.
    16. Tucker's Ford Across the Vermilion River.
    17. Wiley Sparks Experienced Many Changes in the Fairbury Area.
    18. DeMoss Family were early Pioneers.
    19. Popejoy Family were Pioneer Settlers of Livingston County.
    20. Fascinating Family Life of Judge Woodford G. McDowell.
    21. First Surveys of Fairbury Area Townships. 
  2.  Schools
    1. Fairbury Area Country Schools
    2. Names and locations of all 299 Country Schools in Livingston County. 
    3. Typical Design of Fairbury area Country Schools
    4. Recollections of Mary Frances Rigsby of being at Student at the Pearson Country School.
    5. Recollections of Mary Frances Rigsby of being a Teacher at the Avoca Country School.
    6. 2022 Presentation on Country Schools by Dale C. Maley
    7. Articles explaining how country schools were funded.
    8. Fairbury School History
    9. Illinois State Boy's Reformatory at Pontiac
    10. Edison School Meteorite Mystery
    11. Fairbury-Cropsey School Consolidation
    12. Prairie Central School Consolidation
    13. How Fairbury-Cropsey got the nickname of Tartars
    14. History of Bright's Corner country school northwest of Fairbury.
  3. Native American or Indigenous People Related Stories
    1. The History of the Kickapoo
    2. Interesting Ways History was Preserved. Includes Kickapoo information from the 1830s.
    3. Early Settlers and the Black Hawk War
    4. First Fairbury area family arrived 190 years ago.
    5. First three years very challenging to early settlers. Includes interactions with the Kickapoo.
    6. Application to add the Strevell House in Pontiac, Illinois, to the National Register of Historic Places. Includes section on Native American history in Livingston County.
    7. Fairbury's Connection to the Florida Seminole Wars. Part of the west side of Fairbury was originally owned by members of the Creek tribe from Florida.
    8. Year 2000 calendar with information about the Kickapoo and many photos of Kickapoo people.
    9. Narrative of the captivity of William Biggs among the Kickapoo Indians in Illinois in 1788. One of the few written accounts of what Kickapoo life was in 1788.
    10. Native American history in the Fairbury area. A presentation given by Dale C. Maley at the Fairbury Dominy Library on June 21, 2025.
  4. City of Fairbury Items
    1. History of the public water supply system.
    2. Electricity History (future link)
  5.  Parks
    1. History of Two Oldest parks (Marsh Park and The Commons)
    2. Livingston Square. Fairbury's smallest park.
    3. Historic Murals in Veteran's Memorial Park [formerly Central Park]
    4. History Of Fairbury's Sunken Park And Veteran's Memorial Parks
    5. Researching the history of Marsh Park with References. This was done in 2018 to prepare for a speech at the Park re-dedication ceremony.
    6. Speech given by Dale C. Maley on July 29, 20216, to dedicate 5 new historic murals at Central Park [now Veteran's Memorial Park].
    7. Speech given by Dale C. Maley on July 28, 2018 at the re-dedication of Marsh Park after it was refurbished in 2017.
    8. History of Three of Fairbury's Larger parks. Includes Sunken Park, Veteran's Memorial Park, and North Park.
  6. Fairbury Fair started in 1876
    1. The Start of the Fairbury Fair.
    2. The brother of outlaw Jesse James started the horse races at the Fairbury Fair in 1901.
    3. Fairbury Fair has survived World's Fairs, the Great Depression, World War II and Covid Pandemic.
  7.  Businesses
    1. Bon Ton drug store and their Bon Ton Limits men's basketball team.
    2. Dave's Supermarket
    3. Fairbury's Underground or Basement Businesses
    4. Tastee-Freez restaurant later renamed to RD's on Route 24.
    5. The Mapel Brothers
      1. Their harness shop.
      2. The Mapel Brothers Horse
    6. Zimmerman's Hardware Store
    7. Fairbury Saloonkeepers (1993 College paper by Kathy Strickland)
    8. Impact of Glaciers including the 1955 automobile tour by the State Geological Society.
    9. Honegger's
    10. Bill's Dairy.
      1. History of his dairy business written by him before he died.
      2. Fairbury History Story about the dairy including Bill Piercy and partner Howard Davis.
    11. Claudons
      1. Family and all their businesses.
      2. Biggest business scandal in Fairbury's history [Claudon Bank failure]
      3. Claudon House at 209 E. Elm Street in Fairbury. Later owned by Nimrod Mapel.
      4. Virginia Claudon Countered Tokyo Rose radio broadcasts in World War II.
    12. David versus Goliath. The story of the McDonalds fast food company opening a restaurant in Fairbury, but we already had a restaurant named McDonalds.
    13. Fairbury Carriage Company. It failed to make the transition from selling horse drawn buggies to automobiles.
    14. Bach Lumberyard
    15. Milne Greenhouse. The 2nd largest greenhouse in Fairbury after the Kring Greenhouse. Later the Kaisner Greenhouse.
    16. Record Printing Company
      1. Company Brochure with History.
      2. Future story about the company.
  8. Fairbury & Sibley Related Stories
    1. Largest Farm in the United States
    2. Largest Corn-Crib in the World
    3. Miraculous Improvement in Corn Yields
  9.  Churches
    1. Apostolic Christian Church
      1. 1909 Post card showing back of AC Church when it was on Walnut Street.
      2. 1973 Ben Nussbaum South Side Apostolic Christian history.
      3. 1975 Ben Nussbaum North Side Apostolic Christian history.
      4. Fairbury and Forrest Chapters of Marching to Zion Book on Apostolic Christian church history.
      5. History of the Fairbury Apostolic Christian Church.
    2. Fairbury Apostolic Christian Men in World War I.
  10. Coal Mining
    1. Blade article on Dale Maley's book about Coal Mining in Fairbury.
    2. Debunking the Myth that Bat Masterson worked in a Fairbury Coal Mine.
    3. Coal mining was a dangerous occupation.
    4. The Sullivan family. Irish immigrants who came to Fairbury because of coal mining jobs.
    5. 1887 William T. Stackpole Blade article about coal mining.
    6. Coal mine tunnel map showing old tunnel map overlaid on modern Google map of Timber Ridge Subdivision.
  11. African American Related Stories
    1. Fairbury's African American History 1857-1922
    2. Fairbury's African American History 1923-2021
    3. Interesting Civil War Veteran John Posey
    4. Tales from Graceland Cemetery
    5. Two Fairbury Citizens Reaching 117 Years of Age Created National News
    6. Underground Railroad in Livingston County by Dale C. Maley
    7. Comets of Conscious: Freedom Seekers, Abolitionists, and Leaders of the Underground Railroad in Central Illinois. Unpublished manuscript by J. William Goold, Fairbury Native.
  12. Cropsey Related Stories
    1. Colorful Founder of Cropsey [A. J. Cropsey]
    2. The Origins of the Brucker Family in Cropsey
    3. President Reagan Courted Cropsey School Teacher
    4. Cropsey Farmer Manages Technological Change [Christian Samuel Gerber]
    5. Cropsey Played an Important Role in the World War II Effort
    6. Cropsey Native Was Rhodes Scholar and World-Class Historian [Gene A. Brucker]
    7. Fairbury's First Consolidation with Cropsey
    8. Missing Cropsey Couple in 1923.
  13. Indian Creek Golf Course
    1. Miscellaneous golf course historical information including photos and newspaper articles.
  14.  Hospital
    1. 1953 Open House Brochure
    2. History of the Fairbury Hospitals
    3. History of the Taylor House Used as a Fairbury Hospital on South 5th Street
    4. Hospital proposed by Dr. Langstaff that was never built.
  15. Medical Doctors
    1. Doctor Dan Brewer
    2. The Langstaff family of Doctors.
    3. Colorful early Doctor C. B. Ostrander.
    4. Early Doctor E. F. Law
    5. Dr. Lorenzo Beach, Fairbury's shrewdest land speculator. 
  16.  Organizations
    1. Bon Ton Limits.    A drug store that sponsored a men's basketball team.
    2. Knoll Lodge.
      1. History written circa 1986 and the Constitution of this social club northeast of Fairbury.
      2. Article written by Dale C. Maley about the history of Knoll Lodge.
      3. Copy of Commemorative Book published in 2019 at the 100th anniversary of the lodge. Book has front cover, back cover, and 25 pages. Book is in PDF file format.
      4. Individual pages from the 100th Anniversary book.
  17. People
    1. Francis Townsend - Fairbury's Most Nationally Famous Native.
    2. Harriet Fogle, pioneer female movie producer in California.
      1. Her very interesting life story.
      2. Mysteries still to be solved.
    3. Debunking the Myth of Bat Masterson Working in a Fairbury Coal Mine.
    4. Fairbury Photographer Dudley Fultz
    5. Fairbury Photographer Family De Long.
    6. Fairbury Photographer E. M. Phillips
    7. Fairbury Photographer W. E. Hummel
    8. Fairbury Photographer Walter Ferguson
    9. Fairbury Photographer A. J. Swap
    10. Fairbury Photographer Watt Nakamaru
    11. Stephen Young
    12. Dr. Pendergast. He collected Native American artifacts and was a nationally known expert on Cigar Store Indians.
    13. The Harrington Family
      1. Two Irish Brothers Made Fairbury Their Home
      2. Ford & Harrington Horse Importing Firm
      3. Early Businessman And Opera House Manager J. E. Eddy. He was married to a Harrington woman.
      4. Research done by Dale C. Maley about the Harrington Family.
    14. The Veatch Family
    15. John Virgin
      1. Biography story by Dale C. Maley in 2019
      2. John Virgin's Obit from the 1890 Fairbury Blade. One of the longest obit's ever published in the Blade.
      3. John Virgin information excerpted from the book Fairbury, Illinois, in the Civil War by Dale C. Maley.
      4. Historic Murals in Fairbury including John Virgin mural.
      5. Fascinating story of how a box of John Virgin family related items survived traveling to 6 states over 115 years.
      6. Blog written by Betsy Howell about finding and returning a box of John Virgin family material to Fairbury in 2025.
      7. Presentation illustrating the rare John Virgin family artifacts returned to Fairbury in 2025.
      8. John Virgin related excerpts from 1967 First Edition of Stuffed Clubs book.
      9. Link to YouTube video which shows many of the rare items found in the box of John Virgin family materials.
      10. Story about all the rare items found in the rare box of John Virgin family related materials.
    16. Joseph Slagel. He made the Midget hit-n-miss engines and at least one automobile.
      1. Joseph Slagel - Early Fairbury Inventor
      2. Extremely Rare Fairbury Engine Returns Home after More than 100 years.
      3. At Least One Automobile Manufactured in Fairbury.
    17. The McDowell Brothers, the orniest boys in Fairbury's history.
  18. Places (Buildings & Landmarks)
    1. Repainting of 3 old building advertising signs on Main Street.
      1. Link to WJEZ radio interview about Occident Flour Sign repainting.
      2. Link to WJEZ radio interview about Swing & Steidinger sign repainting.
      3. Link to WJEZ radio interview about Archer House sign repainting.
      4. Blade article in 2020 about all 3 signs.
      5. Plan of Fairbury Improvement Group including repainting of all 3 old building signs.
      6. 2017 information about repainting 1891 Swing & Steidinger sign.
      7. Research for repainting the Archer House.
      8. 2019 research on repainting the Swing & Steidinger sign.
    2. What Happened to the Deer on Route 24?
    3. History of Seth Thomas 1912 clock on old City Hall.
    4. Round Barns
      1. Round Barns never really became popular by Dale C. Maley
      2. Copy of 1982 Application to add 7 Round Barns to the Registry of Historic Places.
      3. Cropsey Farmer Managed Technological Change by Dale C. Maley
      4. 1910 University of Illinois bulletin on the Economy of Round Dairy Barns.
    5. Little Castle house at 608 E. Ash Street. There is some evidence that T. D. George was the builder of the Historic Beach House and the Little Castle house
      1. Research and general info about the Little Castle House.
      2. Civil War Veteran and Early Fairbury Businessman. Bert Slaughter's father, Stephen Slaughter.
      3. Fairbury Businessman and Township Official [Bert Slaughter].
      4. Bert Slaughter's 100 year predictions.
  19. Railroad Related Stories
    1. Impact of First Railroads. Explains what life was like before the railroads arrived in the Fairbury area.
    2. Fairbury's Lost Railroad. These tracks ran from Fairbury south to Strawn.
    3. Lodemia History. Lodemia is a ghost town that was created on the Chicago & Paducah Railroad from McDowell to Fairbury.
    4. The Railroads and Fairbury by Carolyn Yoder. She wrote this paper as a student at Fairbury-Cropsey High School in 1983. It includes both railroads that were in Fairbury.
    5. History of the Chicago & Paducah Railroad from LeBaron's 1878 Livingston County history book. Dale C. Maley added some comments after the excerpt.
    6. Hinckley's Railroad Empire. A 1954 biography of Mr. Hinckley, who at one time owned the Chicago & Paducah Railroad. He was a very colorful character.
    7. Dr. Miller and His Role in Founding Fairbury, Illinois. He was involved with the new Peoria & Oquawka Railroad line that founded Fairbury in 1857.
    8. Alma Lewis James recounting of how the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad and the Chicago & Paducah Railroads came to Fairbury.  These lines were later renamed to the TP&W and the Wabash Railroads.
    9. Railroad Scheming and Trickery. Story about how the Peoria & Oquawka (later TP&W) and the Chicago & Paducah (later Wabash) first came to Fairbury, Illinois.
    10. Chicago & Paducah Railroad History. Was later renamed to the Wabash Railroad.
    11. Hobos in Fairbury during the Great Depression.
    12. Life before the Railroads. Taken from a speech Dale C. Maley gave about this topic in 2025.
    13. The Colorful History of the TP&W Railroad.
    14. Link to all known Fairbury railroad depot photos for the TP&W and Chicago & Paducah (later the Wabash).
    15. Story about all the depots that were in Fairbury.
    16. Great Chatsworth Train Wreck of 1887.
      1. Transcription of the most complete newspaper story about the wreck from Piper City newspaper.
      2. Impact of the 1887 Chatsworth train wreck on Fairbury.
  20. Women's Rights Movements. Fairbury woman advocated for the abolishment of alcohol and for a woman's right to vote.
    1. Fairbury Movements.
    2. Margaret Cairns-Munns. National leader of the WCTU and born in Fairbury.
  21. Unsolved Fairbury History Mysteries
    1. Fairbury History Mysteries published in 2020
    2. More History Mysteries published in 2024.
    3. Additional History Mysteries. Published in August 2025.
  22. Other History
    1. Life as a Kid in Fairbury in the 1960s.
    2. The Gypsies.
    3. Paint Technology has Changed with the Times.
    4. House Siding Has Evolved since First Log Cabins.
    5. Making Fairbury History Easily Available. How the Fairbury Blade newspaper got digitized by the Dominy Memorial Library.
    6. Livingston County Poor Farm in Pontiac.
    7. Earthquakes in Central Illinois.
  23. Fairbury's 8 Murder Cases
    1. Murder of Ida Mae Steers
    2. Murder of Earl Hanna
    3. Murder #3
    4. Murder #4
    5. Murder #5
    6. Murder #6
    7. Murder #7
    8. Murder #8
    9. Book by Dale C. Maley with the story of all 8 murders.
  24. Future Items