Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, September 11, 2020
OGLE COUNTY NEWS
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LOCAL HISTORY
Ogle voted for township organization in 1869 Editor’s note: Otto Dick, Oregon has researched the people, places and events important in the Oregon area’s history for the Ogle County Historical Society. The following is one of a series of the articles he has written.
BY OTTO DICK In 1818 when Illinois became the 21st state in the Union, we were divided into 15 counties with what is now Ogle County, being a part of three counties, Madison, Bond and Crawford counties. Now there are 102 counties in the state of Illinois. Most counties in Illinois were named after early American leaders, especially of the American Revolutionary War era. Township government was America’s oldest form of government. This form of government was created in Illinois by the state constitution in 1848. Each county in Illinois was given the option to choose between the township or the county commission form of government. Nov. 6, 1869 the electorate of Ogle County voted for township organization 1,024 to 50. The county was divided into 20 townships by William Walmsley, Henry Hill and Daniel Pinchney.Today there are 24 Ogle County Townships. Ogle County is one of 85 counties in the state which chose the township form of government. The remaining 17 counties do not have townships. Illinois townships hold annual meetings on the second Tuesday of each April. There have been several changes in township boundaries with new townships formed from our larger townships. Some changed their names. Rockvale Township underwent two name changes. Originally it was called Charlotte, later Brooklyn and finally Rockvale. The most recent change came in 1993 when
This map of Ogle County is from 1900. Image provided by Otto Dick the residents of Oregon and Nashua Townships voted to merge and is now called Oregon-Nashua. Oregon- Nashua Township Officials are Sharon Bowers Supervisor, Cecilia Zimmerman Clerk, Gary Bolthouse assessor and Tim Leary Road Commissioner. There are a total of 96 Township Officials in Ogle County. Marilyn and I are enjoying drives through Ogle County Townships. We locate the cemeteries, churches, schools, towns, depots, bridges, historic homes, creeks, historic signs and roads. We have been amazed at the number of single lane gravel roads. One road on the Carroll and Ogle County border had two names. The east half in Ogle had one name and the west half of the same road in Carroll
County had a different name. So you could be driving down the center of the road with two names. One little town must have cats at every house. I wonder how many people in Oregon have at some time or other driven on roads in each township in Ogle County. I have lived in Oregon 69 years and now we are visiting several townships for the first time. During our evening drives it is interesting talking to the local residents. I explain who we are and why we stopped by. The majority of them are friendly and enjoy telling us the history of their family and interesting happenings in their neighborhood. Recently one gentleman looked at me and said, “You’re Mr. Dick, you were my teacher at Dixon High School”.
Viewing the Ogle Township map, most of the townships contain 36 one mile sections. Six townships that border Lee and Carroll Counties contain approximately 18 square mile sections. Ogle County is divided by the Third Principal Meridian with six townships located on the east side. The six eastern townships were laid out by the Governmental Survey using the 3rd Principal Meridian with the remaining western townships surveyed in the 4th Principal Meridian. This explains why the east-west township lines do not meet at Meridian Road in Ogle County. Finally Oregon Township is located between Pine Creek Township on our west border and Pine Rock Township on our east border (between water and rocks).
year, but those who participated navigated it well. It was thanks to our donors that we were able to use that option. We would like to thank the following for their donations that helped our program to be a success: Exelon, Sullivan’s, Spectrum Preferred Meats, Rat Worx, MM Super Wash, Custom Seal & Rubber Products, Kandu LLC, Sterling Federal
Bank, Paul Smith, Reising Insurance, Gesin, Inc., Hough’s Maple Lane Farm, and the Oregon Soap Shoppe. We also have a jar on the counter where people drop change for the summer reading program. This year’s total for those anonymous donations was $113.30. Every penny counts! We are very fortunate to live in a community that cares about the chil-
dren. We are grateful for all the support we receive. Even at this strange time, we will continue to serve the best we can. Thank you!
PUBLIC VOICE Library says thanks Dear Editor,
The Mt. Morris Public Library would like to thank all of the sponsors for this year’s summer reading program. It was a very strange summer for all of us, but the support from the community has made things so much easier. We had to use a virtual format this
Sincerely, Mary Cheatwood
Director, Mt. Morris Public Library Mt. Morris
