Congregational Church History Part 2

THE HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND THE COMMUNITY OF ROBERTS, ILLINOIS

Written in 1953. Unknown author.

Part 2.

The town of Roberts organized and elected its first officers in 1872. Mr. A. M. Haling tried to get the site of the village to locate on his land, two miles northeast of the present village, naming the village "Besset." But the Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Rail Road, a branch then of the Illinois Central Rail Road, erected their depot on the site of the Roberts farm in 1871. The railroad was to have side tracks for loading livestock, hay and whatever you wanted to haul away by rail. There were to be three side tracks in this immediate area. The first side track was built where the present village of Thawville is; the second side track was built at a place which is now known as Beset Grove; and the third side track was built about a mile southeast of the present village of Roberts near what is today Mr. Ernest Wright's farm. These side tracks were to be named A set, B set, and C set. A few buildings were erected at the place called B set. But when the railroad did go through, the town moved southeast of B set two miles. The village was called "Bungton" by many and Mr. A. M. Haling and friends called it "Plugtown," but the name was finally authorized as "Roberts." Besides a depot being erected on the Roberts farm another reason the village moved to its present site was that Dr. M. Cassingham was living on the Roberts farm. He was a valuable asset to this farm community and he doctored in Roberts and the surrounding area for nearly 30 years.

The town hall was erected in 1875 by the Roberts Dramatic Club. The hall was used for church, school, elections, political meetings, social gatherings, wrestling matches, and once and a while a "fistie bout took place within its walls."

In 1894 the whole south side of the main street burned down. Since the fire fighting equipment was very limited there was no way to stop the blaze after the frame building once caught fire. The only fire fighting equipment they had was the old bucket brigade. They had a hard time in keeping the stores on the north side of the street from burning. The fire was so hot on the south side of the street that several of the buildings on the north side caught fire but they were put out before much damage could be done. After the stores and business district of the town was formed again the rest of the village started to grow.

--to be continued.