NIANTIC Is situated on the main line of the Wabash Railroad, west of Decatur, and is an energetic, lively town. It is surrounded by an excellent agricultural country, which was practically donated to Macon county, as elsewhere noticed, because it was thought to be absolutely worthless. Niantic and Niantic township present a marvelous outgrowth of the swampy appearance it presented in early days. It is affirmed by some of our early settlers that the swamp land commissioner could not have disposed of the whole township for ten cents per acre in the first settlement of the county. Now it is one of our best townships, and its town is one of our most thriving and energetic. Niantic is the home of the erratic poetical genius. Captain Joab Wilkinson, who worships at the shrine of the muses, and whose daily conversation bubbles up with poetical gems from Milton and Burns. Smith, J. W. (1876). History of Macon County, Illinois, from its organization to 1876. Springfield, Ill: Rokker's Printing House. P. 232. Niantic. This village was platted about 1853 on land owned by Jesse Lockhart. Originally the inhabitants named the place Long Point, the railroad called it Prairie City and the postal department knew it as Lockhart. Later these three elements united in naming it Niantic in honor of some town in Connecticut bearing the name of some Indian tribe. George Wree built the first house in Niantic, now occupied by Dr. A. Hall as an office. The business is as follows: three general stores, one drug store, five grocery stores, one meat market, one shoe store, two restaurants, two bakeries, three barber shops, two confectioneries, one harness shop, three blacksmith shops, one real estate firm, two hotels, one coal shaft, three grain dealers and implement houses, one lumber yard, one hardware store, one bank, two doctors, a Roman Catholic church, a Christian church, a Methodist church. Lodges: Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen, Ancient Order of United WorkMen, Fraternal Crystal Light, Royal Circle, The Fraternal Army, Yeomen of America; also a modern four-room school house as good as any you will find in a village of its size. [Past and present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois. 1903. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. p. 71. Transcribed by Judy Rosella Edwards.] HOME ©2008 Genealogy Trails