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McLean County, Illinois

Street maps, historic prints and keepsakes for 9 McLean County towns.

The oldest is Bloomington, established 1831. The largest by population is Bloomington (78,680).

Town	Established	Population
Anchor	–	163
Arrowsmith	–	276
Bellflower	–	346
Bloomington	1831	78,680
Carlock	–	548
Chenoa	–	1,720
Colfax	–	996
Cooksville	–	157
Danvers	–	1,089

About these towns

Anchor: Anchor was laid out on April 28, 1880, by Daniel B. Stewart (1837 – 1920). Stewart was a large landowner in the area.

Arrowsmith: Arrowsmith was laid out on December 7, 1871, by Charles W. Holder (1808–1887) and Owen T. Reeves (1829- ?). The founders kept their identities hidden for two years until the plat was officially recorded.

Bellflower: Bellflower was laid out on August 26, 1871, by George Nelson Black (March 15, 1833 – April 22, 1908) and his wife Louisa J.

Bloomington: The Bloomington area was at the edge of a large grove occupied by the Kickapoo before the first Euro-American settlers arrived in the early 1820s.

Carlock: Carlock was laid out on January 5, 1888, by John Franklin Carlock. Mr. Carlock owned 160 acres (65 ha) of land. One 80-acre (32 ha) tract was used to plat the original village of Carlock.

Chenoa: The Town of Chenoa was laid out on May 13, 1856, by Matthew T. Scott. At this time, the Chicago and Alton Railroad had been running trains for almost two years but the survey for the east-west Toledo, Peoria and Oquawka (soon to be the Toledo, Peoria and Western) had not reached McLean County.

Colfax: Colfax was laid out on March 22, 1880, by James E. Wood (1818 – 1908). Anderson was born in Indiana and had come to McLean County about 1855 as State Missionary for the Christian Church.

Cooksville: Cooksville was laid out under the name "Kochsville" on December 4, 1882, by Frederick Wilhelm Koch (1829 – 1900). Within a year of its founding the name was changed to Cooksville.

Danvers: Danvers was laid out under the name of "Concord" on February 20, 1836, by Israel W. Hall (1799 - 1865) and Matthew Robb (1801 – 1870).