1827
1827 saw the first manufacturing being done in our area when William Holland built a grist mill for flour on his property. It was driven by horse-power, and the customers had to provide their own horses. Those customers came from all around, as the nearest mill was sixty miles away in a town called Elkhart Grove.
1827 also saw the organization of Tazewell County in April. The boundaries of Tazewell County upon its inception were much different than they are today. The map below shows the original boundaries of Tazewell County superimposed on a map of current-day cities.
A county seat was needed. The county commissioners headed out into the wilderness and drove a stake into the ground on the banks of the Mackinaw River "nine paces in a northeast direction from a large white oak." in Section 24. They sold lots surrounding the stake to raise funds for the construction of a courthouse, and the town of Mackinaw was born.
On August 7, 1827 William Holland was selected to the first Tazewell County grand jury to convene October 2, 1827 at Mackinaw.
New arrivals to the area in 1827 included Ira Crosby, George Burrow, William Birkett, and James Holland, William's brother. Burrow settled on the southern end of the Township in the prairie, Crosby closer to the other settlements in the current area of Oakland Avenue, while Birkett built his farm just west of Farm Creek near Holland. The map below shows the seven family plots that existed at the close of 1827, showing that two and a half years after William Holland first landed in Washington, there were still only eight families living here. It is unknown if James Holland stayed with his brother or had his own land.
The first schooling in the area started serendipitously in 1827. As told in the "History of Washington, Illinois:"
The first school taught in Washington was a subscription school. It was taught by George H. Shaw, now of Shaw's Grove, who was traveling through the country prospecting and stopped for the night with William Holland, Sr., where, owing to the severity of the weather—it being winter—he remained till spring. Holland soon discovered Shaw's fitness to teach, and engaged him to teach, and gave him, as compensation, his board, washing, and horse feed. Rather slender compensation, as it made no provision for clothing. After engaging the teacher, the next thing was a school house, which was built by Holland and his few neighbors in a day or two. It was a log house, such as was called in those days a single cabin, 16x18 feet. They seated it with split logs, the writing desks being constructed of similar material, and lighted it by sawing out part of one log at each end and pasting greased paper over the aperture or opening. This greased paper, while not highly transparent, admitted some light, and kept the wind out. This school was taught in the winter of 1827 and 1828.