CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

WASHINGTON COUNTY

P. 552  COUNTY SEAT CONTENTIONS—

NASHVILLE FINALLY SELECTED—

COURT HOUSES—

CITY OF NASHVILLE—

MINOR TOWNS

      This is an agricultural county lying north of Perry, west of Jefferson, south of Clinton, and east of St. Clair. It has no mines of any kind, is not a timbered county and has few manufacturing interests. The Kaskaskia washes the northwestern side of the county and there are some streams in that quarter of fair size. More or less timber abounds along the Kaskaskia and its tributaries. The county, apart from the territory adjacent to the Kaskaskia, is largely prairie rather poorly drained, and with a soil similar to that of most of the counties in Southern Illinois. The Value per acre of farm lands including buildings is $34.02. Out of 4,285 farms reporting, 2,752 are of less area than 100 acres.

       The county was organized in 1818, January 2. The territory was, prior to its organization, a portion of St. Clair county. There were few people in the new county at the time of its organization, for in 1820 there were only 1,517 inhabitants in the entire county.

COUNTY SEAT CONTENTIONS

       The story of the location of the county seat is an interesting one. Jacob Thurman, Reuben Middleton, Leaven Maddux were authorized to locate the county seat. They met March 2, 1818, in the home of James Bankson, who lived on Ashley creek. Mr. Bankson’s home was near what is now Clinton county. They deliberated and finally located it on the Kaskaskia ten miles north and west of the present city of Nashville. There was no town there but the town to be was to be called Covington. The custom at that time was to ask of the owner of the land where a county seat was to be established, twenty acres of land for the benefit of the county. This was done in this case and on July 13, 1818, the county court met at Bankson‘s home and accepted the gift of twenty acres to the county. On July 15, 1818, the county seat was moved from Mr. Bankson‘s home to Covington. Here it remained till 1831, when it was removed to Georgetown. In 1827 Clinton county was cut off of the north of Washington, leaving Covington at the extreme north edge of the county. The three commissioners appointed to locate the new county seat reported that the spot selected was on sections 19 and 20, township 2 south, range 3, west “near the center of said sections at a pole put up about 45 yards east of two wells on section 19.” P 553 Tilghman H. West would not donate the twenty acres and the seat was moved to the lands of John Hutchins on section 17 of the same township.

NASHVILLE FINALLY SELECTED

       When Judge Theophilus Smith of the supreme bench came to hold court in Georgetown in the fall of 1829 all he found was the wells and the high pole to mark the capital of the county. He repaired to Covington, where he held the court. No circuit court was held at Georgetown though it was laid off and lots were sold. This site was about four miles west of Nashville. In 1831, after a great amount of dissatisfaction about Georgetown, the county seat was ordered moved. Many people had selected the present site of Nashville as a suitable place for the permanent seat of justice. The land belonged to the government and no one had the money to enter it. At last Robert Middleton and Wm. G. Brown of St. Clair county bought the land and gave the required twenty acres and the town was laid off by A. W. Casad, a surveyor. The town was named Nashville, after the capital of Tennessee.

       There were no houses in the new town and the owners agreed to give a lot to the wife of the man who would build the first house. The race for the lot took place between one Orcenith Fisher and Sam K. Anderson. Anderson bought an old log house and moved it and got it done first, but the judges decided in favor of Fisher, who had built a two-story frame house. From this time on houses began to be built, and the town grew.

COURT HOUSES

       On June 25, 1831, the county commissioners contracted for a court house with Thomas L. Moore. He built a very substantial building in the new town which served as the court house for ten years. In 1840 the second building was erected as a court house in Nashville. This building also stood in the public square. In 1855 a third court house and in 1884 the fourth one was built.

       The people of this county probably never wrestled with the problems of frontier life as did the people in some counties, In the earliest days horse mills were plentiful. Tread mills were found here and there, and water mills were not unknown. The first steam mill was built in 1831 or ‘32 on Mud creek. Roads were early established. The Kaskaskia and Detroit trail passed through the county from southwest to northeast. A mail route from Kaskaskia to Carlyle passed through the county as early as 1810. The road from St. Louis to Equality, and George Rogers Clark‘s route to Vincennes crossed the southeast corner of the county.

CITY OF NASHVILLE

       The city of Nashville is the center of business interests for the county. It is in the midst of a very prosperous agricultural region. It is on the highest ground in the county, the drainage running in all directions from the town. Its schools are considered up to the standard and are widely known. Not only the city, but the county contains a goodly P 554 number of Germans and this may account for the general condition of thrift. The city of Nashville has a very noted hotel and spring, known as the Carlsbad hotel and spring. The waters are considered health-giving and the hotel is up-to-date and the capacity of the hostelry is always occupied. At Okawville some ten miles northwest of Nashville are springs that have quite a reputation for their health-giving properties. Quite a few people resort there in search of health and rest.

MINOR TOWNS

       There are a number of small towns in the county with local importance. On the Illinois Central which runs through the east part of the county there are the towns of Dubois, Radom, Ashley, Richview and Irvington. In another part of this work will be found a description of the “Illinois Agricultural College” situated at Irvington forty odd years ago. In the south and west part of the county are, Oakdale, Elkhorn, Lively Grove and Okawville. Hoylton is northeast of Nashville some seven or eight miles.

       Washington county has eight banks. Two at Nashville, one each Richview, Okawville, Irvington, Hoyleton, Dubois and Ashley.

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