Jesse Rhoads came from KY in 1829 and settled south of
Macoupin Creek near the present day Medora. In 1830, Jesse's brothers Jacob,
John, Henry, Josiah, and William came to the area. Henry was a doctor. Thus the
area became known as Rhoads Point.
Before 1850, mail came to Summerville
and people from Rhoads Point would ride out and bring the mail back. The Post
Office of Rhoads Point was first located at Judge Rice's home. Mail came once a
week. The postmaster, Wm R Summers would call out the names and each person
would step forward and get his mail. After 1870, the railroad station brought
mail daily.
In 1859, the Village of Medora was laid out by T R McKee and
Thomas B Rice. But it wasn't until the plat map was filed in 1870 by Judge
Thomas Rice that the name was changed to Medora. In 1870, the population of
Medora was 700.
In 1870, Judge Rice gave ten acres to the Rockford and
Rock Island Railroad for a depot and yard and when the railroad was surveyed and
graded he filed the plat of Medora.
It was written that a young man named
Rice and called "Uncle Wash" in his later years had a fancy for the romantic
verse of Lord Byron and upon the incorporation of Medora, the young man took up
his copy of the "Corsair" and turned to the third Canto, 19th verse and read,
"The Lights are high on beacon and from bower, And midst them Conrad seeks
Medora's tower.
Early settlers of the Medora area were Lewis Elliott
(1831), W H Carson, G B Carson, Gideon Blackburn, John Carson, and James Carson
(all 1832); Dr Coward (1839); Thomas B Rice (1835): Dr Joseph Hunter (1858).
Other early names include Dr Woods, Dr Ray, John a Payne, Andrew Steed, Prof
George Walker, Stroud Keller.
A choral society list of 1885 includes many
more names from the Medora area: Prof J A Carson (director), Mark Keller, Edward
Simpson, Charles Payne, Carey Brewer, George Skeen, George James, N B
Challacombe, Henry Wilson, C E Hunter, Alonzo Rice, C C Carson, W A Challacombe,
Myra Simpson (Mrs Myra Cook), Mollie Simpson (Mrs J E Walton), Cora Jones (Mrs
Fred Baughman), Lucy Kemper (Mrs Lucy Carter), Julie Simpson, Emma Keele (Mrs
Edward Simpson), Adah Hunter (Mrs Adah Tietsort), Amelia Artman (Mrs Harry
Chenoweth), Mable Payne (Mrs Robert Reeves), Kitty Parker (Mrs L O Hayward),
Myrtle Payne (Mrs Stanley Sanders), Maggie Rice (Mrs George Forward), Effie
Hunter, Ella Bush, Anna Ellis, Will James, Ves Snow, Will Squier, George Burns,
Charles Corey, Sabin Loper, Leo Parker, Rose Carson, Mrs Y J Montague, Ethel
Carter (Mrs Thomas Burns), Trude Carson (Mrs Warren F Goff) and Nellie Steed
(Mrs C H Day).
In 1897, Medora lost all of its businesses and a few fine
homes to a fire. Al Robbins discovered the fire early in the morning on his way
to work. Names mentioned in relation to the fire were Robing, Sanders,
Whitfield, A Artman, Dr Erwin, T A Loper, C H Day, Nettie Heintz, C N Ore, T A
Loomis, Dr Walton, French Farrow, W A Price, A R Moore, Mrs Date Stone, Simon
Gruhn, Joseph Drennan, W T Roach, Jos Hill, W F Keller, E E Peebles, C W
Tietsort, A R Moore, W A Price, Wilkerson, A Steed, Dr Ewin, Story, Victor
Heintz, Ronkley.
Contributed by Mary McKenzie, excerpted from the Medora Messenger, 15 Oct 1897.
Carlinville, Ill., Oct. 7. -- A fire yesterday morning nearly wiped out
the business portion of Medora, a thriving town of 1,200 inhabitants in
the southwest portion of Macoupin County. Twenty buildings in all were
consumed.
Contributed by Linda R. F. Arnold, extracted from The Graphic newspaper of Postville, Iowa, 14 Oct 1897, Vol. VI., No. 39, page 2.
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