CENTENNIALNOKOMIS-1856 1956HISTORYCENTENNIALOFILLINOISNOKOMIS,-1856 1956%OKOMISMoonthedaughter ofFOREWORDtheMen in America were moving with the sun. In1850's, western lands could still be had for $8 to $12 anbegan the other arts followed. Nokomisacre. Tillage andcame to be.This Centennial History calls up long forgottenremembered sounds.scenes and the peculiar sadness ofIt records those illuminated moments which stand outfresh and vivid after many years.watches the pano-Many a Seth Thomas clock stillrama of the years, remembering a day when the sky wasblue, Nokomis was young and people wished to beremembered.This is not a complete record, but we offer it with afeeling pride and affection for all who have had a part,ofno matter how small, and those who expect to have apart, no matter how far in the distant future.917,CENTENNIALOUR TOWNS-the pastIt is a resurrection ofour eyesbook spread out beforeAn openthat history amassedWith narrativeswe dramatize.For decades which todayprovidehorse and buggy, oil-lamp daysTheskirtsevents, when swishingThe setting for-ruled the day with prideAnd bearded facesasserts.simple life, our story-bookAclaimlife which we naivelyButmetits conflicts; as theseFor those days hadglory cameWith conquest, retrospectiveyet.magnifies itself in our minds,Whichthe pages of this book,As we leaf through-we are thereWe overtake ourselves, forlook,of us - and we find, as weA partlife's thoroughfare.Contemporaries ...
CENTENNIALNOKOMIS
-1856 1956HISTORYCENTENNIAL
OF
ILLINOISNOKOMIS,
-1856 1956
%OKOMIS
Moonthedaughter ofFOREWORD
theMen in America were moving with the sun. In
1850's, western lands could still be had for $8 to $12 an
began the other arts followed. Nokomisacre. Tillage and
came to be.
This Centennial History calls up long forgotten
remembered sounds.scenes and the peculiar sadness of
It records those illuminated moments which stand out
fresh and vivid after many years.
watches the pano-Many a Seth Thomas clock still
rama of the years, remembering a day when the sky was
blue, Nokomis was young and people wished to be
remembered.
This is not a complete record, but we offer it with a
feeling pride and affection for all who have had a part,of
no matter how small, and those who expect to have a
part, no matter how far in the distant future.917,
CENTENNIALOUR TOWNS
-the pastIt is a resurrection of
our eyesbook spread out beforeAn open
that history amassedWith narratives
we dramatize.For decades which today
providehorse and buggy, oil-lamp daysThe
skirtsevents, when swishingThe setting for
-ruled the day with prideAnd bearded faces
asserts.simple life, our story-bookA
claimlife which we naivelyBut
metits conflicts; as theseFor those days had
glory cameWith conquest, retrospective
yet.magnifies itself in our minds,Which
the pages of this book,As we leaf through
-we are thereWe overtake ourselves, for
look,of us - and we find, as weA part
life's thoroughfare.Contemporaries on
to date on friends,These chapters bring us up
-the waylights and shades alongRevealing
endswith their variousContinued stories
edge of yesterday.That happened on the
the sequelnineteen-fifty-six beginsAs
centennial Nokomis story,To this
frontiers could neverWill tempos which
equal
our glory?new dimensions toAdd smarter,
Casler,Meda G. Pennepacker
Minn.Duluth,ChairmenCentennial Committee
FrankLoomis, Monroe Berns, Howard Case, Mildred Barnstable,Jack Sale, Glen
Herzog, Chris Hugener, Melba Johnson.Berns, Alana Dasovich, Wilbur
Stella Yackle.LaRue Hugener, Walter Fricke, Anita Stanley,
Previous EntertainmentCENTENNIAL COMMITTEES
and Sorority.Frank J. Berns - President. Woman's Club
- Vice-president. PageantMonroe
- LaRue Hugener, Chairman, EstherAlana Dasovich Secretary.
- Nantkes, Salena Mack, Dorcus Thornhill,Howard Case Treasurer.
Past Commander Club.Beard And Dress American Legion
Jack Sale, Chairman, Lela Schwartzle, Violet Zueck, Anita Vercellone, Anita Stan-
Ella Sale, ley, Jack Swarbrick.Alene Layel, Gladys Bottomley,
Outside PublicityJoe Kocur, George Pehanich, George Fuller-
ton, Alva Grauer, Steve Milavec, and Ken- C. F. Marley.
neth Singler. Souvenirs
Publicity - Local Rodell Satterfield, Wayne Bagley, and
Walter Fricke, Edward Ovca, Co-chair- George Sale.
men. Street Decorations
QUEEN - PROMOTIONAL Howard Bell.
Melba Johnson, Chairman, Alana Daso- Centennial Book
vich, Rita Miles, Patricia Bixby, Barnstable, Stella Yackle, Co-Georgette Mildred
Benya, Rose Johnson, Lucille Viola, Marie chairmen, Mary Archibald, Ed Vandever,
Kettelkamp, Alene Layel, Nelda Bracken- LaRue Hugener, Esther Nantkes, Walter
hoff, June Obregar, and Pauline Berns. Fricke, Arnold Woltmann, Emory Weakley,
Parade andElmer Eddington, Charlotte Eekhoff,
Violet Moeller, Lee Dawson, Co-chair- Mildred Fearn.
men, George Priddle, Guy H. Wharton, Parking
Ralph Scheller, Leslie Sperry, Ed Gould, Glen Loomis.
Mary Collebrusco, Joy Keller, Dean Electric
Evelynand Johnson. Chris Hugener.
Carnival Grounds
Wilbur Herzog and Clarence Wright. James Guyot.
Eats Tents
Theresa Tosetti and Erma Arkebauer. Fred Kettelkamp and Howard Case.HISTORY OF NOKOMIS
Where a man found himself, he farmed according to soil,
climate and market.
Where the sturdy pioneer family found itself, it carved a
home.
These good neighbors, whether farmers, merchants,
millers, doctors, poets, photographers, ministers, peddlers, to-
gether with their wives, daughters and sweethearts lived here
and loved this community they worked together to build a
town worthy to last a hundred years.
Today we are challenged with the thought "looking back-
ward is futile unless it illuminates the future."was one-sixth m timber of oak, elm, andEARLY HISTORY OF NOKOMIS ship
of maple and hickory.several varietiesnineteenthUp to the beginning of the
first settlerBluford Shaw was the inextend-century little progress was made in
Nokomis Township, who lived here with hisbeyond a small strip on theing the frontier
prior to 1840. In 1843 Hugh High-familyThere were a few ven-eastern seaboard.
and built the firsttower settled in section 33and broughtturesome souls who pushed west
house within the boundaries of the township.ofback glowing accounts of the possibilities
Following Mr. Hightower were R. N. Lee,
lying in the valley of the Missis-the regions
William Bonton, AbsolomJohn Wetmore,Rivers. In 1763 a settle-sippi and Missouri
Van Hoosier, Lee and Andrew-Cahokiament was made by the French at
Coiner. John Whitmore, living just north ofand another at Kaskaskia; these two were the
city limits, was the first Justicethe presentof what was to become Illinois,beginning
wasof the Peace and the first Constablethe Algonquinwhich gots its name from
J. W. Hancock.Indian word Illini which means "perfect and
The first sermon was preached in No-accomplished man." Illinois as a common-
L. Crane, apart of Virginia until 1787 komis township by Rev. J.wealth remained
Northwest Ter- Methodist Episcopal minister. The Baptistwhen it was conceded to the
congregation was organized in 1856, withritory and continued so until 1800. By this
History tells thattime there were enough settlers to make a Rev. Hueston as pastor.
government possible, so the Lutherans were active in this communityseparate territorial
early as 1852 in Audubon Township; theIllinois was admitted to the Union in 1818. as
family, from JeffersonAfter the admission, a county was made Daniel Easterday
Rev.called Bond which included what is now County, Ohio, was the first to come, and
Montgomery looked D. D. Swaney was the first minister. WithinMontgomery County.
years the Lutherans moved to the newto the Legislature to afford them some relief a few
Lutheranfrom the cumbersome machinery engendered town of Nokomis, where St. Mark's
the large forming Bond County. In Church was established.by area
1821 the Legislature approved an act creating denominations established them-Other
Montgomery County. come, andselves in Nokomis in the years to
From the first obtainable information it more detailed information will be found
were the elsewhere.is conceded that the Kickapoos
most numerous tribe in this county. The beenThe first school is said to have
first white settlement was made in this taught by Henry Lower, at his residence in
the settlers coming fromcounty in 1816, 1848. It was a private school supported by
Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, wassubscriptions. The first school house
and Ohio. The soil was remarkably fertile. built in 1853 near the former Jacob Haller
About 1834 the town of Audubon was farm south of the city. It is said that some
The present in thelaid out, lots sold, and stores opened. of the original lumber is at
colonists went so far as to build a court- Oak Grove school still standing near the
house but the people refused to aid their ef- farm.
the investors they were losing The first road through Nokomis wasforts and saw
Nokomis-Hillsboro road andmoney so dissolution was inevitable. Other known as the
towns in more favorable surroundings suc- was laid out in a northeasterly direction.
ceeded and, as the Spirit of Progress is never Today it is our main street and an important
actually crushed, these towns which paved in 1923.the spirit of State Highway was
continued to live and as Hamilton and Wood- The first railroad was the Alton and
side became Hillsboro, so Audubon became Terre Haute and the first train rolled over
Nokomis. in 1855. Since that time the rail-its tracks
There is no better township in the county road property has changed hands several
in productivity than Nokomis. Here are the times and is now the property of the New
best stockraising and marketing in the York Central. The tracks of the New York
county. In its natural state, Nokomis Town- Chicago andCentral are also used by thePresidents oi the board of trustees or
mayors down through the years follow:
C. 11. Schaper, G. H. Upstone.*Thomas Trif-
fet, H. M. Randle, John Hukill, John Noli
mann, J. H. Weinstein, Nick Singer, W.Dr. C.
Hovey, A. O. Kettelkamp. V. C. Singler,
Kroeger,F. A. J. Eekhoff, S. B. Brow i
Jenkins. Frank Yackle, A. E. Vandeve
Virgil Adams, Kenneth Kellerman, and th<
present mayor, Homer Stanley. Currenl
commissioners are Gerald G. Cain. Alvin
Hagemeier, Primo Tosetti and Clarence
Hard.
Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Schaper The appointed officers include T. H.
First President of Board of Trustees Harrison, city clerk; Lee Dawson, city treas-
urer; Andrew Cibulka. supt. of water; Robert
Illinois railroad passing throughEastern
Bowes, chief of police and John Price, supt.
Nokomis and directly into St. Louis.
of streets.
A station was established in Nokomis in
March 27, 1869, the charter was amend-
which the beginning of1856, was ed by a special act of the legislature. At this
as a place of importance, and now one of the
time the city had a population of 700 people,
most beautiful small cities of South Central
three churches, ten stores and such indus-
Illinois. It was platted and surveyed by P. C.
tries usually found in places of comparable
Huggins of Bunker Hill, and Captain Samuel
size.
Ryder of Alton, in the fall of 1856.
In 1927 Nokomis adopted a commission
The first mercantile establishment was form of government which is in force today.
opened by Oliver Boutwell the year the rail- * * * •
road was completed. In 1857 the first black- THE NAMING OF NOKOMIS
smith shop was put in operation by A. Swords
As to the naming of Nokomis several
of Audubon, who also operated a wayside
different le