Settlement of Kickapoo Township

Settlement of Kickapoo Township (Township 9 North, Range 7 East; formerly known as
Orange Township), immediately south of Radnor Township, had a considerable role to play in
the early development of Radnor Township. Not only did this drainage afford an opportunity to
make use of waterpower, but the larger valley provided a natural conduit for the movement of
goods and people out of the Illinois valley (and Peoria) to the west. Mills were an important
early industry along the Kickapoo drainage. Hale’s mill, located on Kickapoo Creek in the
southeast corner of Kickapoo Township (NE¼ of Section 35), seems, from all accounts, to have
served an important role in providing the late 1830s settlers of east-central Peoria County with
sawn lumber that was used in the construction of frame dwellings. In 1835 William Hale, who
had recently arrived from New York, laid the groundwork for a water-powered sawmill which,
with the arrival of machinery from the east in 1836, was up and running by the spring of 1837.
This mill provided lumber for customers more than thirty miles away. Initially, Hale’s mill was
water-powered, but when the supply thereof began to fail, the mill was converted to steam power
in about 1848. The sawmill was converted into a distillery sometime after 1859, following
Hale’s death, and in 1867 was destroyed by fire (Bateman and Selby 1902:293).

By the early 1840s another sawmill, owned by Robert Bette and William Bruzee, seems
to have been present on the upper reaches of Kickapoo Creek in Section 23 of central Radnor
Township. By the time the 1902 county history was published, Kickapoo Creek at the mill site
was dry (McCulloch 1902:793-794). When the mill stopped production, and whether or not
failure of the water supply was the cause, is not stated, unfortunately. Sawn lumber seems to
have become available to the settlers of Radnor Township by circa 1837-38. William Gifford is
credited with constructing the first frame house in the township in either 1836 or 1837. In 1838,
the extended Dunlap family moved into a frame house that Alva Dunlap had constructed the
previous summer (1837) from lumber sawed at Hale’s mill (McCulloch 1902:791).12
In anticipation of the draw that Hale’s mill would have on the surrounding populace and
because a number of coal mines were beginning operation on adjacent lands, Norman Purple and
Andrew Hunt laid out a village on the quarter section west of Hale’s mill. They named this
village, comprised of seventeen blocks with Washington Square in the center, Hudson. The coal
mining in the vicinity of Hale’s mill also attracted many miners to the southern Kickapoo
Township area. These miners settled in the quarter section to the east of the mill and, eventually,
this concentration of dwellings became known as Pottstown, after one of the principal mine
operators. Pottstown was finally platted by his widow, Ann, on September 30. 1889. Another
important center in Kickapoo Township was the town of Kickapoo, located on the SW¼ of
Section 6. John Coyle laid out the town on an eight-acre tract of land with a centered public
square on July 3, 1836. The town of Kickapoo was a service center for both the local
inhabitants, as well as travelers on the major stage route to the west. Kickapoo with its well￾known hotel was the first stopping place west of Peoria.

Radnor Township, remaining overwhelmingly rural in character throughout the
nineteenth century, was by no means lacking in services and institutions. Beginning at a
relatively early date—potentially initiated by Rufus Burlingame at the Gifford Site—a dispersed
settlement coalesced within a small prairie located near the “Forks of the Kickapoo.” Andreas
(1873) notes that “on the south of the fork of Kickapoo Creek lies Orange Prairie, which was so
named in 1838 by Mr. Amos Stearns, from its round and orange like shape; it is justly celebrated
for its fine farms and intelligent population.” The 1861 map of Peoria County prominently
illustrates the “Orange Prairie P.O.” on a 100-acre plot of ground in the NW¼ of Section 36
owned by S. Huggins. Andreas (1873) also noted that the first post office in Radnor Township
was located in Orange Prairie (on Section 36) and was operated by Enoch Huggins.13 According
to Adams (1968:463), the Orange Prairie post office, which was established in December 1855
and dissolved in March 1868, was originally known as the Orange Post Office. The Orange Post
Office was established in March 1840 and dissolved in March 1842. The Orange Prairie Post
Office was established in December 1855, and again dissolved in March 1868.14 Johnson
(1880:613) notes that “the first schools [in Radnor Township] were taught in the Summer of
1837, and were subscription schools. These schools commenced almost simultaneously. One of
them was taught by Miss Mary Twitchell, in a log building on the Gifford place. The other
school was taught by Miss Phoebe Cline, in a small building on the Wakefield place, on Section
18.” Similarly, the 1861 map of Radnor Township illustrates a “M. E. Church” and a
“School”—both located along a section line road near the intersection of Sections 25, 26, 35, and
36 (approximately ½-mile north/northeast of the Gifford Site. Andreas (1873) indicates that a
church was built, presumably at that location, inn 1850, and that a Methodist minister “used to
preach here as early as 1835.” Blacksmiths also provided a necessary service to rural dispersed
farming communities such as Orange Prairie during the nineteenth century. William Fox
established a blacksmith shop and residence on a one-acre parcel located on the southwest corner of the NE¼ of Section 35 between 1855 and 1860.15 Fox was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and arrived in Peoria in 1851. Business was brisk enough in 1860 for Fox to have another blacksmith working with him at his shop and also residing with him and his family. His shop was still operating in 1880 (Johnson and Company 1880:824). Blacksmith shops similar to that of Fox

With the completion of the Peoria and Rock Island Railroad in circa 1871, the landscape
in and around Orange Prairie changed dramatically. In 1871, the community of Dunlap was laid
out along the route of the railroad (in Sections 10 and 11). A permanent post office was
established in that town following completion of the railroad. By 1902, Dunlap was described as
a “thriving village” with 300 inhabitants, six stores, two grain elevators, three churches, an Odd
Fellows Hall, and a grade school (Bateman and Selby 1902:794). This was the only formal town
that was ever established within the boundaries of Radnor Township.

Source: 
RESULTS OF PHASE III ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE GIFFORD SITE (11P571),
A LATE 1830s FARMSTEAD IN RADNOR TOWNSHIP, PEORIA COUNTY, ILLINOIS (2006)