THE CITY OF MACON. This place was incorporated as a city on the 19th of April, 1869. The first house built was commenced by Esquire A. J. Harris, one Sunday Morning in the spring of 1860. The first store-house was built by Charles Williams and James Seamens, in the year 1859. The first hotel was kept by the station agent, Mr. Ruby. After the incorporation of the town, the first officers were J. H. Matthews, Mayor; T. C. Drinkall, Clerk; and C. A. Turner, M. Dunlap, Charles Van Horn and Jacob Frick, Aldermen. Its present officers are C. A. Turner, Mayor; J. W. Harrah, Clerk; and James L. Hight, Daniel Kalips, J. D. Peters and William Whitaker, Aldermen. In 1865, the present school house was erected at a cost of about $4,000. It has a capacity for about 350 pupils. Macon Lodge, No. 467, A. F. A. M., was organized in 1865, and is in a flourishing condition. There is also a Lodge of the I. O. G. T., No. 884, that has been in existence several years. There are two large grain elevators in the town ; one owned by W. Harbert & Co., and the other by N. Failing. The former was erected in 1874, and has a storage capacity of about thirty thousand bushels, and with its facilities can shell and load two thousand bushels of grain per day, and in the shipping season employs four or five men. The firm owning this elevator are W. Harbert and C. Dunkel; the former has been a resident of Illinois since 1874, and the latter since 1876. The "Macon" elevator was erected in 1867, by John Hatfield, Fletcher Miller, N. Failing and D. C. Webb, and is at present owned by Mr. Failing. This elevator has a storage capacity of twenty thousand bushels, and can shell and load five thousand bushels per day. This elevator and machinery cost in the neighborhood of twelve thousand dollars, and furnishes employment for four men. Mr. Failing came to Macon from Rock Island in 1863, and has represented his town in the board of supervisors for several years. He is a thorough and safe businessman, and has done a great deal for the advancement of the interests of his town. Macon formerly was one of the best shipping points for grain on the I. C. Railroad, but the building of the town of Blue Mound, on the St. Louis branch of the T. W. & W., has taken from it one third at least of its original shipping interest. The population at present is in the neighborhood of 650. The business men of Macon compare favorably with those of all our inland towns. It has four churches, viz: Methodist-Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Lutheran — all of which are well sustained. The church edifice of the former was erected in 1865; the Presbyterian and Catholic in 1867, and the Lutheran in 1871. [Smith, J. W. (1876). History of Macon County, Illinois, from its organization to 1876. Springfield, Ill: Rokker's Printing House. P. 229] Macon. Macon was platted in 1856 on land owned by the Illinois Central Railroad; it was incorporated April 19, 1869. The first store room was built in 1859 by Charles Williams and Charles Seamens. The first dwelling house was erected by A. J. Harris in 1859, he beginning the work on Sunday. There are at present two general stores, two hardware stores, one furniture store, one drug store, two shoe stores, one millinery store, two banks, two implement houses, one lumber yard, two elevators, two barber shops, one meat market, three restaurants, one bakery, two blacksmith shops, two livery stables, one sale stable, two hotels, two veterinary surgeons, two doctors, one insurance office, one newspaper, “The Macon Record,” a Catholic church, a Presbyterian church and a Methodist church. In lodges they have: A Masonic, an Odd Fellows, and a Supreme Court of Honor. It also has a six-room school, one of the best frame houses in the county, which occupies a central location. The population is 800. It is about nine miles south of Decatur in South Macon township in a fine farming community. It has a system of public water works, the water coming from a deep well. [Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois. 1903. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. p. 69. Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards.] HOME ©2008 Genealogy Trails