1864

The James Smith sash & blind factory burned to the ground.

A description of Washington from the 1864 Illinois State Gazetteer Business Directory:

A thriving and beautiful post town in Washington Township, Tazewell County, on the Logansport, Peoria, & Burlington Railroad, about 15 miles east of Peoria and 22 miles west of El Paso, the crossing lines of the Illinois Central and L.P. & B. Railroads.  From Chicago it is 150, and from St. Louis 175 miles.

Washington contains five churches, viz.: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, German Methodist and Christian, a lodge each of Masons, Odd Fellows, Druids and Good Templars.  It contains, in addition to the above, several well conducted schools and academics, manufactories, business houses and stores of every description.  Being situated in the midst of a highly cultivated and rich farming district, with ample facilities to find the best markets in the west, the day cannot be far distant that Washington will become one of the finest inland towns in Illinois.  Population: 2,000; in township: 4,000.  Postmaster, Thomas Fish.

Daniel Hain, sergeant of Company G 86th infantry, was killed accidentally near Loudon Tennessee.  A fellow soldier threw his gun down as they stopped to rest, and it discharged, Hain being killed instantly.  Fellow Washington soldier L.S. North took charge of the remains and buried Hain near Loudon.

Washington businesses from the 1864 Illinois State Gazetteer Business Directory:

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