Faith in the grove: Abolitionist's ideals tied future Eureka to Lincoln

By Guy C. Fraker Slowly over the next 20 years, additional settlers came to the area. These settlers scattered throughout the Grove. It was common for early settlers to settle in the groves for three reasons. First was shelter from the elements that were harsher out on the prairies. Second was access to the timber, the only source of building materials and fuel. Even later when bricks became a common building material, wood was required to fuel the kilns. Third was that the settlers surmised that the soil was better in the timber because trees grew there and they did not grow out in the prairies. There was no town in the Grove until the town of Eureka was platted in 1855 by John Darst, one of the original members of the Board of Trustees of Eureka College. Like so many other entrepreneurs around Central Illinois during this era, he located the town in anticipation of the coming of the railroad; the railroad being the Peoria and Oquawka. Full Story: http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/022005/opi_20050220003.shtml