Conkey Town, Vermilion County, Illinois
Early History
The history of Conkey Town is intertwined with the history of the Salt Fork River in Vermilion County. The first known settlers in the Conkey Town area arrived in the 1820s-30s and included Stephen Crane, Nathaniel Meade, Richard Cass, Aaron Dalbey, and John Shepherd. In 1826, an unknown pioneer built and operated a water-powered mill made of logs erected across the Salt Fork near what would become Conkey Town.
Dalbey arrived in 1832, and was hired four years later by John Shepherd to build a new mill on the Salt Fork. Shepherd was from Pickaway County, OH and brought stone burrs for the new mill from his home. With Dalbey as the architect and builder, Shepherd spent $3,000 for the new structure, which was situated on the eastern bank of the Salt Fork just south of the first mill (This equates to around $84,000 in 2021 U.S. dollars). The new mill was completed in 1836 and was approximately 30 ft by 42 ½ ft. It was built over a natural cut in the limestone bluff, and the gap was damned up, which created a pond on the eastern side of the mill.
Along with the mill, a log bridge was built across the Salt Fork sometime in the mid-1820s. For Illinoian settlers north and west of the river, the bridge became an essential thoroughfare for dry passage over the water. Settlers from as far away as McLean County came to the mill to get their grinding done. The mill and bridge were also joined by a salt works around 1830-31 that was built about 4-5 miles east. The salt works was used by people as far away as Springfield and was a well-known salt source to local natives prior to arrival of American settlers.
With the mill, bridge, and nearby salt works, Section 20 of Vermilion County was ripe for growth. When merchant and businessman O. M. Conkey arrived, he must have understood the economic benefits of the area as a local crossroads. It was not surprising that he took advantage of this opportunity and opened a grain storage and general store in 1851, which eventually led to the creation of Conkey Town.
The Conkey Family
Otis McCulloch Conkey was born December 8, 1808 in Pelham, Massachusetts to Alexander Conkey Jr. (1789-1859) and Lucy McCulloch Conkey (1789-1859) and was the oldest of four children. His siblings were Hyslop Abercrombie Conkey (1811 - ????), Lusetta S. Conkey (????), and William Alexander Conkey (1820 - 1907). In 1830, Alexander and Lucy moved from Pelham, MA to the growing western frontier in Edgar County, IL. Their youngest son William remembered the journey fondly, particularly making their beds in the wagons, camping at night, and stopping to cook on the wayside. Alexander was a stonecutter by trade, but became a farmer when he arrived in Illinois and remained in that trade until his death.
The youngest, William, is perhaps the most well-known of Alexander and Lucy’s children. William lived with his parents until 1843 when he purchased a small lot of land in Homer, IL for $2.50. At this time, he also decided to become a physician by trade and temporarily moved to Louisville, KY to take medical courses. After finishing his classes, he returned to Homer where he was a local doctor for nine years.
In the early 1850s, William decided to give up his medical practice and turn to farming like his father Alexander and brother Hyslop. William took ownership of cultivated land in section 7 of Homer in 1852 and eventually expanded this farm to 400 acres. In addition to his farm, William also worked with Otis as a merchant and helped operate the general store in Conkey Town in the late 1850s. William was also involved with civic affairs as a ten-year member of the board of supervisors for his township in Homer, Justice of the Peace, and Highway commissioner.
In 1843, he married Elizabeth Wilson and they had two children that died in infancy. Elizabeth died while giving birth to their second child in 1847. Two years later, William married his second wife Sarah V. Saddler and they had nine children together. William is buried in the GAR cemetery in Homer along with his wife Sarah.
Of O. M.’s three siblings, the least is known about Lusetta. She was born sometime between 1812-1819 and died before 1887. She was married to Alanson Baldwin.
Hyslop was born September 12, 1811, but his death date is unknown. He was married three times with his first marriage to Zilpha Sweet, who died three years after their marriage. Next, he married Jane Keyes who also died shortly after wedlock in just five years. His final wife was Esther Bales and they married in 1845. It is with Esther that Hyslop is buried in the Conkey Cemetery in Paris, IL. Hyslop bought 300 acres of farmland in Paris in 1831 and had as much as 330 acres at one point. He had one child with Esther, Albert K. Conkey, who died in the Civil War on April 22, 1863.
The oldest son and founder of Conkey Town, Otis, married his first wife Naomi Morton sometime between 1824-1834 and they had three children together: Morton, Mariah, and Marian. Naomi died sometime shortly after the birth of Marian in 1840-41 and Otis married his second wife Sarah Taylor in Pelham on November 20, 1843. While married to Naomi, Otis acquired various pieces of land in central Illinois and Indiana. In 1834 at the age of twenty-six, he purchased forty acres east of Paris in Edgar County. Four years later, he expanded his land holdings with a purchase of approximately thirty-nine more acres of land east of Paris.
In 1841, O. M. decided to cross over into Indiana and bought thirty-four and half acres in Clinton, Vermillion County, Indiana on August 10th. The distance between Paris and Clinton is around 17 miles, so it was a reasonable travel distance for Otis who seemed to maintain business interests in both states. His son Marian was likely born after he acquired the land in Clinton as he was identified as born in Indiana in the 1850 census. The census showed Otis’s occupation to be “Merchant” in 1850. It was just one year later that O. M. arrived in Vermilion County, IL and opened for business in what became Conkey Town.
The Town
Sources concerning Conkey Town are filled with disputed facts, dates, and names, but all of them agree that a man with the surname Conkey and his son founded or arrived in the future Conkey Town in 1851. It seems they first opened a grain storage for those who used the nearby mill. The storage was located just west of the mill on a bluff overlooking the Salt Fork. Either at the same time, or very shortly thereafter, Conkey & Son opened a general store in the same area. The importance of O. M.’s general store increased considerably on January 19, 1853 when it became the home of the area’s newest U.S. Post Office, with Achilles A. Moore as postman. The following year Otis and his son Morton officially staked their claim to the area when they purchased fifteen acres in Section 20, Township 19, Range 13 in Vermilion County on February 4, founding Conkey Town.
By this time, other businesses opened near the general store and the area began to grow. A Mr. Denman opened a blacksmith shop. Richard Cass’s log home just north of Conkey Town was first used as a Methodist school in 1835 and seemed to continue to operate as Cass School into the 1850s and beyond. The blacksmith shop and school were joined by a doctor’s office, saloon, and dwelling house. The doctor’s office was run by Dr. J.M. Wilkin from 1859-1863. After leaving Conkey Town, Wilkin became a doctor in nearby Fairmount in the 1870s and early 1900s. William Fellows was also a doctor in Conkey Town and his brother George was the school master. A grocer opened a few years later that served beer and other beverages. A small cluster of houses sprung up around the businesses and the population grew to as high as 500 people at one point.
The general store and post office were the center of activity in the community. The mail was brought to Conkey Town every Saturday from Fairmount and people from the town and surrounding villages came to the general store to get their mail and shop at the store. Otis also backed a freight wagon train that ran from Vincennes, Indiana, past Conkey Town, and up to Chicago and back. He had special contacts with Chicago fur warehouses and sent large shipments of local pelts every winter. When the wagons returned from Chicago it was always a popular day at the general store. People visited from all around to purchase the newest goods from the big city marketplaces. Conkey held special sales these days on his goods to further attract people.
Along with local industry, Conkeytown also became a popular place for social events. In the later fifties and early sixties a debate club formed and held meetings at the Cass school house. There were some eloquent and convincing debates, in which William Milton, John Lee, Samuel Rawlins, Hiram Catlett, Alex Catlett, William Davis and Z. C. Payton took part. The mill also became a popular setting inside and out. The mill building was a popular meeting spot for lively discussions, particularly leading up to and during the Civil War. The east side of the mill had the pond that attracted campers and bonfires in the summer and ice skaters in the winter. It was also a popular picnicking spot and remained as such well into the 20th century.
During the war, a few men enlisted from Conkey Town, including John Paschal from Company F of the 26th Infantry and Captain Fellows of the 125th Illinois. The Conkey Town Post Office became even more vital during the war as families and couples received their correspondence at the general store. Those writing to people in Conkey Town and nearby villages simply addressed their letters to the general store.
One of the last new structures associated with the old town to be built was the Conkey Town covered bridge. In 1866, the water rose to flood levels on the Salt Fork and washed away the log bridge that spanned the river since the 1820s. For the next year, passersby were forced to forge the river in an accessible area. The new bridge was completed in 1867 and built by James Davis with construction help from a Mr. Beers. The bridge was 110 ft across and constructed of oak and white pine from virgin forests in Vermilion County and sawed in Fairmount. The sills, floor, and braces were of oak and the siding, crossbeams, and weatherboards of white pine. The bridge’s stone abutments were quarried near Fairmount by Hiram Yerkes and Riley Stallings and then hauled by ox teams to the bridge site. The only steel used in its construction were long rods used as braces. On the western side of the Salt Fork, the path leading up to the covered bridge also had a stone bridge that passed over a small creek. This smaller bridge had a steel cable fence that was connected to the entrance of the covered bridge.
There is nobody listed by the name of “Conkey” in the 1850 or 1860 census of Vermillion County. Conkey and his family seemed to have only lived in the town from 1851 to the late 1850s. By 1860, he is listed as living in nearby Homer, where his brother William lived since 1843. O. M. and Morton sold the general store in Conkey Town to Rowe and Beatty around this time. They owned the store for a short time before selling to Matlocks and Maters Bros. They were the last owners and closed the store for good in May, 1870. O. M. opened a new general store in Homer and lived there until his death on April 22, 1874 at the age of 65.
Conkey Town Fades into Farmland
The I. B. & W Railroad was laid in 1869 nearly two miles north of Conkey Town and effectively doomed the town to disappear. In 1855, nearby Homer voted to move their entire town 1 ½ miles south to be closer to the Great Western Railroad to remain a viable place to live. Conkey Town failed to follow their neighbor’s example and its citizens moved away after 1869 to newly founded Fithian (1870), Ogden (1870), and Muncie (1875) which were much closer to rail lines. By 1875, W.R. Jones expanded his land in Section 20 to 200 acres to create more farmland, which included the former Conkey Town. By this time all of the local businesses moved from Conkey Town and only a few homes remained. In 1878, David Minser bought a 6.54 acre tract of land that included the Conkey Town Bridge and mill and all of the surrounding area that was formerly Conkey Town became farmland.
Throughout the remainder of the 19th century and into the early 20th Conkey Town continued to be cited in local news publications. An 1887 article from Bloomington, Illinois’ Pantagraph offered one amusing highlight from November of that year that involved a Conkey Town citizen. According to the Pantagraph “It is reported that Elwell Jeffers of Conkeytown has challenged “Laughing Ike” of Danville to a laughing match.” In 1896, a dual took place in Conkey Town between two timbermen, J.W. Pearson and Edward Gritton, over Gritton’s wife. Gritton brought an axe, and Pearson a gun and the quarrel ended with Gritton with a bullet wound in his left side and Pearson arrested. In 1904, an article from the Champaign Daily Gazette listed the Lewis and Jones families as residents of Conkey Town and the Champaign Daily News referenced citizens of the “Conkey Town vicinity” as late as 1909.
“Today, the site of the village is remembered and can be found by the older inhabitants. A bit of the old dam, over which the rushing waters of Stony Creek once flowed and propelled the mill can yet be seen. Cattle are browsing on the site of the postoffice and corn grows in long, straight rows over the once busy streets. All is silent and forlorn, only the gurgling waters of Stony Creek remain to appeal mutely to the passer-by, in a futile effort to remind him that a once prosperous hamlet has been lost to mankind and the posterity of a country was changed by the joining of iron bands into a modern kind of travel that completely obliterated the traces of inhabitation of a bygone day.”
The Champaign Daily Gazette
Champaign, Illinois
Friday, 14 Feb 1913 • Page 7
The longest lasting remains of the town were the mill and Conkey Town bridge. From 1836-1873 mill ownership changed hands twice to a Mr. Parris, and then John Hay. In 1873, it was bought by C. M. Berkeley, whose son Herbert operated the mill until about 1900. Herbert Berkeley was the last known owner of the mill until its destruction sometime around 1913.
The bridge lasted longer than the mill, but came to an end shortly after the Turner’s made their 1954 card dedicated to the structure. Like many of the Turner’s prints, there subject became a focus of attention in the time following their woodblock print. Sadly, unlike Fort de Chartres and the Stone Arch Bridge, the Conkey Town Bridge garnered fame as a result of its destruction rather than its rehabilitation.