If you take MacArthur Street to Monroe Street and go east towards Second Street, you will be going down a hill, years ago you would have just crossed Spring Creek. The bank of the creek is lined with oak, hickory and maple trees. The water is clean, clear and cool. When you reach the top of the hill, the landscape spreads rapidly in every direction before your eyes and is filled with tall prairie grass and hundreds of varieties of wildflowers.

Elisha Kelly, a hunter from North Carolina crossed this creek in 1818. He was in such awe of the land, wildlife, and beauty of the area he returned home and brought his family back here. His father Henry Kelly, a revolutionary war veteran, and his four brothers, John, George, Elijah and William, along with other families joined them.

These early settlers built three-sided log structures, one side being completely open. They soon built more permanent log homes, with dirt floors and fireplaces. They grew corn, which was a staple at every meal in the form of hoe cakes, mush, fried mush, and hominy. Honey and maple syrup was used to sweeten everything. Their cooking utensils were a bake kettle, stewpot, three-legged skillet, gridiron and a wooden trencher and spoon. Outside tools included a grubbing hoe, hand mill, axe and almost always a gun.

Panthers roamed the timbers and prairie and gave Panther Creek its name. Wolves and rattlesnakes were also numerous. A man by the name of Barnes took a wagon-load of 122 rattlesnakes into Springfield to collect on an advertised bounty of fifty cents for the first snake and twenty-five cents for each additional one (he received $6.00). Before the Black Hawk war the area was also occupied with many Indians which had several large camps west of town.

John Kelly built the first log cabin on the present day northwest corner of Second and Jefferson streets. It was here that the first election of county commissioners was held in 1821. By 1823, about 30 families lived in cabins, most along Jefferson Street. In 1830 there was also a store whose proprietor was Elijah Iles, the Elijah Slater Tavern, Dr. Gershom Jayne's cabin, Pascal Enos' land office, a Presbyterian church and a Methodist church.