This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
History of Chester Emerges From Early Illinois Settlement
A review of Chester's origins traces an 1819 Cincinnati company led by Major William Oliver to lands above the present city, the failed Portland site, and Samuel Smith and Thomas Mather founding Chester in Randolph County Illinois. Early neighbors, brick imports, a 1835 incorporation effort, and rapid riverfront growth shaped the town that rose with the era of river trade and county seat shifts from Kaskaskia.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cincnnati
William Oliver
Chester
Ilinois
Kaskaskia
Missinaippi
Benjamin A. Porter
Portland
Ilindle
Randolph County
Allegheny Mountains
Porter
Helena
Ark
Chesters
Illinois
John McFerran
Samuel Smith
Pennsylvania
Thomas Mather
James L. “Lamb
Smith’s Landing
Smith
Mather, Lamb & Co
L Gan
Stacy B. Opdyke
Barnard
Branch Street
Jana Smith
Jane Thomas
England
Thomas Swanwick
Wm. Flynn
Wm. Patterson
Joseph Guthrie
John Strahan
Peter Maxwell
Leonard Stevens
Robert G. Shannon
Francis
Stacy
Robert Gant
Seth Allen
Garret Vangant
Edward Leisure
James
Pittsburgh
Wrettihip
Thomas , Short
Horace Franthe
Francia Swanwick
B. Opdyke
A. Andrews
R. B. Servant
John Paschal
William McGionis
Joseph Swanwick
F. Sheets
J. B. Holmes
New Orleans
Meyers Opdyke
Lyman Trembull
David Goodspeed
Thornton Grimsley
Cole & Erskine’s
H. CG
Milling, Co
Plaff
George W. Stratton
Sparta Street
Epiacopa Church
City Park
Ewanwick
Lonsthipps River
Louis