BlairAndCernyFamilie..

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after her carne John and Janes Hunter, Sanuel and Chesley
Diekerson, Jarnes Hannton, Josiah Kent and many others.
Most of the early settlers eame flon the hill countrT of
Kentuclcy and Tennessee and chose sites near streams for
their homes, instead of the very rich virgin soil of
the prairie. A1so, the Sanganon river offered
transportation to Mechanicsburg, the only settlement
in the area at that ti-me.
The railroad probably did more toward the establishment
of the town than any other activity. Tlains frorn
the east operated as far as Deeatur on lvlay 9, IB{h, and
the following spring the Sansarnon river was bridged at
B.iverton allowing the extension of the line to SprinrfieId.
The Great Northern, opened up a way for livestoek
and grains to reaeh the market and paved the wa1; for the
utilization of the rich orairie farrn 1and. The line
beeame kno'nm as the Wabash i-n 18t9.
I1l-iooolis, loeated on the eastern edge of Sansamon
eounty, about 1lr miles frcm Deeatur and 2lr miles eaut of
Springfield on IT. S. eoute J5, prirnarily has been a
farmine eonrnunity throushcut the years.
Land prants, to eneourage ernisration frorn Treland
and Enrland, attracted mary Dersons frcrn l'lew York anC
Pennsvlvania and alsc sorne southern states.
Few, if any, drearned that foreisn dietatcrs would
i-n 19h2 turn Tlliopolis and nearby Lanesville into the
site of a siant war industry. lfar planners in Washington
put the fineer on I1]-iopolis on February 17 , I9lr2,
desisnatins it for srnaIl arrns and bonb fuse plants to
cost $10r000r000.
During the war years that followed, Illiopolis
knew its share of trouble. Three bandits sluegeC the
assistant eashier of the Farmers State Bank and robbeci
hlm of $201000 in cash intended for payday exchange
with war workers. Then a school merger dr:e to the war
plant eaused much bad feeling. Tax resources of both
flliopolis and Lanesville dwindled sharply as farners
were forced to se1I to the goverDftent,. Then the arns
plant sucked so much r^rater out of the grcund that the
v1lIage we1ls dried up. The sprawling war defense
olant knornm as the Sangamcn Ordnance olant took in