Town 4 north, range 3 east, is known in civil law as Kinmundy. Its north line
is also the dividing line between Marion and Fayette counties. The watershed
between the Kaskaskia and Wabash rivers extends from Alma through this township,
the west side being drained by the East Fork, and the east side by the Skillet
Fork. The prairie of Alma extends through this township, while heavy timber was
originally along the above streams, making the township about half timber and
half prairie.
The first settler was John W. Nichols, who settled on
Howell's branch in 1823, but went north in 1827, but soon returned and died.
Henry Howell came in 1826 and settled near the Nichols claim, where he died
after several years' residence. He raised a large family, one of whom is still
living. Abner Stewart came to the township in the latter part of 1828, and in
1829 entered the first land entered in this township. His cabin stood in what is
now the corporate limits of Kinmundy city. He built a horse mill, and after
three years moved to Missouri. In 1828 three brothers by the name of Gray,
James, Joseph and William, came to Kinmundy. (These settlers were all from
Tennessee.) James Gray settled on section 10, but died in 1835, leaving a widow
and eight children. The widow entered eighty acres of land in section 10,
February 13, 1837, and in the fall forty acres more. She lived until 1844. Her
son, the late James H. Gray, lived until about 1899, and died one of the
wealthiest citizens of the county. He lived and died on the old homestead.
Joseph Gray settled three or four places in the township, but died in 1844.
William Gray built a home on section 21, but sold out and went to Missouri in
1833. Isaac Eagan, a single man, came to the township with James Gray in 1828.
He drove stage for several years, but married and bought the William Gray place
of Abner Stewart, who had bought it of John Eagan, who had bought it of Gray,
two sales before any one had title but Uncle Sam. Abner Stewart entered the land
in 1837, the same day that the widow Gray entered her eighty. Hugh Eagan came in
1829, but afterward bought the Ross Jones claim north of Salem, where he died.
Harrison Eagan, a noted Cumberland Presbyterian minister, was his son. John
Beardin came in 1838 and located in Kinmundy. All these settlers came originally
from Tennessee.
The first school-house was built in 1837, and Samuel
Whiteside was the first to teach in it. Although schools had been taught in
cabins before this date. The Baptists built the first church. It was of hewed
logs and was in the Howell neighborhood. The Cumberland Presbyterians, however,
held meetings frequently in private houses.
CITY OF KINMUNDY.
Kinmundy, a city of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, is situated on the
Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. It was laid out in April, 1857,
on section 22, which brings it near the center of the township. W. T. Sprouse
laid out the city. Isaac Eagan laid out an addition in 1858. Other additions
have been laid out from time to time. In 1895 the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
Railroad, then the Chicago, Peoria & Memphis, was built through the township,
and passed through the western part of the city. The city and township are said
to be named after a Scotchman, who was a stockholder in the Central when it was
built, and visited this part of the county. W. B. Eagan built the first house in
1857, in which he kept a general store and was the first postmaster. The house
was two stories and Eagan lived above the store. Eagan had kept a country store
two or three years at the old homestead before Kinmundy was laid out. The
Illinois depot was built in 1856, and like most Illinois Central depots of that
day, was a big barn-like structure. Later a neat little depot was built and the
old one used as a freight room. Kinmundy, like nearly all towns along the
Illinois Central, is built on both sides of the railroad, and the crossing is
dangerous, and deaths from being struck by trains are too often the result of
this building of the towns. Several deaths at Kinmundy have resulted, among them
that of Miss Cammerer, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Cammerer, about twelve years
ago. Miss Cammerer was walking with her mother, and stepping around the end of a
car standing on the track, was struck by a fast train, the mother barely
escaping the same fate. About the same time an entire family, except one child,
were killed at the crossing at Alma. At the south side of the town Willis
Wilburn built a small store room and sold goods for a time, in 1855. He built a
hotel south of the present depot, about the same time. Doctor Skilling kept the
first drug store, and Dr. W. W. Elliott was the first medical practitioner.
Henry Eagan was the first "village blacksmith". In 1858 Sprouse built a saw and
grist mill, but it was moved away in a short time, but he built another in 1864,
and in 1868 Songer Brothers built the present brick mill. It too, was moved
away. Another mill was built in 1877 and passed into the hands of C. Rohrbough,
but it has long since gone out of business.
The first bank was the W. T.
Haymond & Company's bank, organized in 1870. The capital stock fully paid in was
forty-five thousand dollars. This bank was a good business proposition, and was
a stable institution. On the death of Mr. Haymond in 1899 a National bank was
organized and is at present one of the safe banks of the county. There is a
private bank called The Warren Bank, doing a good business.
The building
of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad gave an impetus to business of
Kinmundy, and several good brick business houses were built, but an extensive
fire in 1904 destroyed about one-half of the business part of the town. It has,
however, been rebuilt. A short time later another fire destroyed a large part of
the remainder of the town. It too, has been rebuilt.
Kinmundy has six
churches, the Methodist Episcopal, and Christian churches are fine, modern
structures; the others are old style frame buildings, and are used by the
Cumberland Presbyterians, Presbyterians, Methodist Episcopal, South, and
Catholic.
The schools of Kinmundy are good, with energetic teachers, and
a high school course of three years, but the building is old and unsuited for
modern school purposes.
Extracted 27 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1909 Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, pages 201-203.