Fulton County ghost towns part 2.
Kerton Township:
"West Point": In 1847 Joel Onion platted West Point two years after the first school of that name was erected in section 30. It never became nothing more than a landing and a shipping point on the Illinois River. The coming of the Railroad in other areas was the end of the landing.
Lee Township:
"Virgil": Virgil was an unplanned community which had a blacksmith shop, store,school,church and was in existence as early as 1840. It never made no pretense of being an official town. The methodist Church of Virgil was established in 1866 and has a cemetery with stones as early as the 1940's era. The cemetery is the only thing remains and is near a farm and can be seen from Ellisville Blacktop.
"Sixteen" was a small rural community that had a school and a church. The school was in existence in 1850, as the town meetings were held here from 1850-1893 when the town hall was built.
"Oak Grove": Oak Grove was another community that ceased to exist. It once had a church, school house and a cemetery. The cemetery has been destroyed and the location is unknown. It may have been around Manley or Manley may have been known as Oak Grove as the church was in the vicinity.
"Manley": Manley was a small village located on route 9. There was a blacksmith shop, store and a post office and the Oak Grove Baptist Church and a service station ( other words gas station). In the early 1900's the service station opened with gas pumps for automobiles and lasted a while. The post office was in existence atleast by 1887. Today nothing but a few farms around the area remain. There is a road of it's name however.
Lewistown Township:
"Milton": (Section 8). Milton was platted by a Jonathan M. Cozad in 1837. There was about 73 lots laid out surrounding a grist mill on Big Creek. Just why the project never blossomed is beyond me. It may have been all the development constructed in Lewistown. This town never grew and faded from existence.
Liverpool township:
"Salem": Salem was a thriving community in the early days. As early as 1830 the Salem Church was organized. The first school building in the township was the Salem school. The only thing that remains is the Salem/Wilcoxen cemetery in section five. Also in Buckheart township lies the "Old Salem" cemetery in section 33 where Cholera victims were buried after a serios cholera epidemic broke out in the area.
" Pritchard": Pritchard was another community like Salem that never grew much and went out of existence. A man that lived in this community was Esq. Robert Summers who caught Cholera from a friend and soon died in 1848. Liverpool Township was almost wiped out from a serious cholera epidemic which was a dreaded disease at the time but can be cured now. Mr. Pritchard died of that disease also the same month. Mrs. Summers died a few days later. Mrs. Nehemiah Northrup sheltered some of the Pritchard children in her home after the cholera epidemic. The community had a school house and maybe a church.
Orion Township:
"Rawalts": Rawalts Station (Rawalts) was the first settlement and Jonas Rawalt was the founder. It was and still is located on the TP&W line ( now Keokuk Junction Railway). It had a train depot and a store and no doubt homes around it in the area. Today KJRY has side track there where they use it for storing cars for companies so from time to time they stop to either retrieve some cars or put more on the siding. Jonas Rawalt and wife are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Canton.
"Breeds Station": was a small settlement near the current village of Breeds. It probably had a depot off the railroad line. There is a Breed's station cemetery on the old Ernest Reed Farm in section 2.
"Hopegraff": It was a settlement south of Bird's Corner. It had a store and a post office here ran by the Brons family. For many years it was a small center for trading. It has since vanished from maps.
"Bird's Corner": It was a tiny settlement north of Canton in Orion township. It was named for the Bird's family who came to this county from Virginia. Some of the family mostly children were buried in the Old Brunswick cemetery. The family moved to Iowa in the 1870's.
Pleasant Township:
"Bloomfield": (Section 8) was a paper town date unknown whichwas platted by Ephiram Roberts.
It was probably prior to 1846. It was sometimes called "Byron". There is no evidence of it becoming anything more that a paper town.
"Pleasantville": (Sec 6) John Easley Settled north of Ipava June 6, 1832. He platted the town of Pleasantville on September 18, 1846. The first building in this area was built in 1836 as we was engaged in a number of businesses. The name was changed to Ipava around 1853. This ending the name of pleasantville wiping it off the maps. It still exists but as Ipava. Today Ipava is a small town off Route 136.
Putman Township:
"Civer": Civer was a small community three miles outside of Canton. It had a small depot here and a store. But being so close to Canton it never grew and now is history. The post office was established here in 1869 and was discontinued in 1906. It was on the TP&W Railroad ( now KJRY line). Today only a sign exists marking the site which i put up two pictures of it. There was also a cemetery here but a mining company wanted to mine in that area and moved the bodies of the cemetery to Shield's Chapel Cemetery a few miles away in Buckheart Township.
"Fulton Center": (Section 14) . Fulton Center was founded in 1848 by W.H. Nichols,David Haacke,Hugh Lemaster,HiramSanders, and Henry Bryant. It was a cross road site known as "Independence" and in 1860 was annulled and vacatedas to the public square. A post office was located at " Independence Corner"here. It was established on January 31, 1849 and was discintinued October 11, 1864. This was east of Cuba.
Union Township:
"Old Saint Augustine": It was founded by Smith and Mattingale in 1836. It was laid out in lots in about this time. It contained 60 lots and thrived for a time. The Railroad missed the town so the town moved to Knox county as the new town of St. Augustine.
" Smithfield": (Section 11) not to be confused with the town of the same name existing in Cass township. In 1836 it was established by a Joseph C. Smith. A public square and 120 lots were
platted. It is not known if any of these lots were sold. Nearby Troy was founded basically at the same time and flourished while Smithfield went out of existance and was forgotten about.
"Troy": Troy was founded by Nathaniel B. Childs in 1833 and he laid it off April 29, 1836.
He established the first flour mill on Cedar Creek. It became a chief commercial center of this
area for a time. It's principal activity was from between 1841 to 1848. It has a grist mill, saw mill,
cooper shop, post office, hotel, black smith shop, pork packaging plant, a general store, and a distillery here at one time. It prospered then died out. Today only a road of it's name exists.
Vermont Township:
"Boguetown": Boguetown was a tiny settlement on the Otter Creek. It was two miles east of Vermont. The first saw mill built in the township was here and was built by Job Bogue in 1838 or 1839. The last house here was occupied as late as 1915.
Waterford Township:
"Waterford": Waterford was one of the earliest villages in Fulton County. It was laid out on March 24, 1825 by either James Johnson or John Jackson. It's not sure which one did. At one
time the village had a blacksmith shop, two grocery stores, two saloons, a dairy, wagon shop, a ferry, and a number of homes and log cabins. It even had a post office which was established
March 29,1838 and was discontinued October 27, 1852. The post master was Asa Langford who was an early settler in this townshi. sa Langford died April 17,1862 and is buried in the Waterford Cemetery. Pulaski Scovel ( probably a relation to my Scovel relatives) had a saw mill here. The
mill cut all the lumber that was used in the canal finished in 1850. Scovel's mill saed lumber and delivered it to Havana by an Oxen Team. In about 1875 to 1880 Waterford declined when the town of Sepo became established near the Narrow Gauge Railroad one half mile east. The only thing left is the Waterford Church and cemetery where Asa Langford is buried.
Woodland township:
"McKinleyville": McKinleyville was located at the beginning of Kerton Creek and was known
as "Scab Holler" It had a grocery store, grist mill, ice house,artesian wells, a coal mine and
several houses. Ice Cream was made here as late as 1924 and the ice was purchased here for making of Ice cream. Everything now is long gone.
"Leesburg" was a little settlement founded by a man named Frank Leese in 1880. Mr. Leese
came from pennsylvannia. It once had a blacksmith shop, wood working shop, country store,
Cabinet making shop, church and a school house nearby. It still appears on maps today and some homes and farsm are there today along with a church and cemetery.
"Oberlin": It was laid out in 1857 by James Onion. In 1861 the name was changed to Summun and the name stuck. Today Summun is a small commmunity off Route 24.
Young Hickory Township:
"Midway": There is no dates as to the beginning of this village. At one time there were two
stores, a blacksmith shop, shoe repair shop, two churches, nearby school,post office, and two doctors. It was a lively village for never being well organized. It had forty residents at one time. The East and West Midway cemeteries is the only thing left.
"Speedwell": It was a small settlement that had a school.
"Oak Mound": Oak m\Mound was a settlement south of London Mills. There was a post office here from October8, 1887 until October 31, 1891. It had a school house here. It was on the Narrow Gauge Railroad (later CB&Q).
"Mayton (Ellisville Station)": It was a mining settlement on the border of Young Hickory and Ellisville township. For more information go to Ellisville township.
The pictures and videos I included at the end of this is of the Rawalt's area which was an old Railroad stop on the TP&W at one time with a store. It was founded by Jonas Rawalt. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in the city of Canton which i took a picture of his stone. The rest are of Rawalts area currently. KJRY has a siding there where they use to store cars.
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