1840
On May 11, 1840, city leaders ordered that a well be dug in the public square with a pump, so people could access city water.
Asahel Gridley, one of McLean County's most important settlers, ran for State Representative in 1840 and gave a political stump speech in Washington.
In an 1840 case, Washington resident Horace Blair had given Jonathan Babb three promissory notes totaling $3,450, owed Babb an additional $1,294.35, and secured the notes with a mortgage to 240 acres. Blair died before paying the notes, and Babb retained Abraham Lincoln and sued Blair's heirs to foreclose the mortgage. Blair's heirs failed to appear, and the court ruled for Babb and awarded $2,223. Blair's heirs did not pay the judgment, and the court foreclosed the mortgage.
With populations rising in Illinois (the 1840 census put Illinois around 500,000 people), original county boundaries being so large, and travel being difficult at best, the splintering of the larger counties into smaller ones with closer county seats became a very common practice. Washington, feeling very distant from the county seat, started to put together a proposal for a new county, called Vernon County, putting our city in the spotlight as the county seat. The map below shows how the division of Tazewell County would have shaken out...if Washington's plan had been successful.
The problem was, the people over in Walnut Grove (now Eureka), led by Thomas Bullock, were wanting to break off and form a new county of their own, and were a few months ahead of Washington. They got their bill to the legislature first, giving it precedence, leaving Washington in the weak position of only being able to oppose the formation of Woodford County. The Bullock proposal passed and in early 1841 Woodford County was born out of Tazewell County. In the same session, Mason County was separated as well. A comparision of the 1827 and post-1841 maps of Tazewell County maps can be seen below.
1827
Post-1841
Advertisement from 1840
