Dry Grove Township

The following data is extracted from Dry Grove Township, McLean County, Illinois.

Dry Grove Township was so named from a grove in the southwestern part. This grove was long known as Dry Grove. Who first gave it the name, we do not know. All the groves in the county were named early. The reason for calling this Dry Grove may probably be found in the fact that it is on high ground, without. any stream of water running through it. The township bears the same name that was given it at the first organization in 1857. It lies in the northwestern part of the county, and includes one Congressional town. It is bounded on the north by White Oak, on the east by Normal, on the south by Dale, and on the west by Danvers Township. It is known as Town 24 north, Range 1 east of the Third Principal Meridian. As will be seen by this the Third Principal Meridian forms its western boundary, separating it from Danvers Township.

Besides the grove mentioned above, there is another in the southeastern part of the township, called Twin Grove. These skirt the southern border, forming almost an unbroken line of timber nearly across the southern side. On the north there is no native forest; but the many clusters of forest-trees planted by the industrious farmer, together with the orchards, give the country the appearance of a woodland. This is upland prairie. It lies in very GOOD shape for farming and pasturing. A few flat places where the water might stand, have been drained at a small cost. Corn and oats are raised to a considerable extent ; hay and meadows are abundant ; stock is raised largely. On the south side, along the timber, the products are the same with some wheat; but wheat is not extensively cultivated. The old settlers tell us of the wheat raised forty and fifty years ago, but the country has undergone a change since that time in regard to the adaptability to wheat-growing. This seems to be the history of all new settlements. The black rich soil that one sees in passing through this township, is enough to make an old farmer feel like stopping and going to work. There certainly can be no discount on the fertility of the soil. One branch of Sugar Creek takes its rise in this township. There are numerous branches of this stream from the center, east and northeast. They unite in one and leave on the south side near the center of Section 33. There is also a small stream flowing northwest from the northern part, and one on the west rises near the railroad, and flows in a zigzag course to near the northwest corner. The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad enters the township one-fourth mile west of the southeast corner of Section 35. It passes diagonally north and west through the township, leaving from the middle of the west side of Section 19.

There is not now, nor has there ever been, so far as we know, any post office or village within the limits of Dry Grove Township. The nearest was the old post village of Wilkesborough, just across the line, in Danvers Township. There has been no call for any such thing, its proximity to Bloomington being of more advantage than the building of half a score of villages. The trains on the I.B. & W.R.R. do stop at Twin Grove, when they have a passenger to that point, and there is a switch there where farmers may load grain, but there is no station-house nor regular station.

Source: Dry Grove Township, McLean County, Illinois

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