Dwight, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Dwight is a village in located mainly in Livingston County
Livingston County, Illinois
Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 38,950, which is a decrease of 1.8% from 39,678 in 2000. Its county seat is Pontiac....

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, with a small portion in Grundy County, Illinois. The population was 4,260 at the 2010 census. Dwight contains an original stretch of the famous U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...

, and uses a railroad station
Dwight (Amtrak station)
The Dwight railroad depot was built in Dwight, Illinois, United States by the Chicago and Alton Railroad in 1891 to a design by architect Henry Ives Cobb. Built in the Richardson Romanesque style of rusticated masonry, the structure has been on the National Register of Historic Places since...

 designed in 1891 by Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb
Henry Ives Cobb , born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Albert Adams and Mary Russell Candler Cobb, was a Chicago-based architect in the last decades of the 19th century, known for his designs in the Romanesque and Victorian Gothic styles...

. It is about 80 miles (129 km) southwest of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. I-55 bypasses the village to the north and west. In June 2010, a tornado hit the town causing extensive damage. Businesses, schools, and a trailer park were destroyed. It is the birthplace of current Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 rookie Clay Harbor
Clay Harbor
Clay Harbor is an American football tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Missouri State....

.

Geography

Dwight is located at 41°5′35"N 88°25′38"W (41.092975, -88.427273).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), of which, 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²) of it is land and 0.39% is water.

Dwight is mostly located in Livingston County, but a small portion extends northward into Grundy County to include the commercial area near the northern I-55 interstate exit.

Founding Dwight

Dwight was laid out on 30 January 1854 by Richard Price Morgan, Jr. (17 September 1828- 20 May 1910), James C. Spencer (29 July 1828 – after 1990), and John Lathrop (6 March 1909 – May 1870), each of these three men took a quarter of the land. All were working as engineers for the railroad. The final quarter jointly owned by two Bloomington
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...

 brothers, Jesse W. Fell
Jesse W. Fell
Jesse W. Fell was a Bloomington, Illinois businessman and land owner instrumental in the establishment of communities throughout Central Illinois and for the founding of Illinois State University. A close friend of Abraham Lincoln it was Fell who urged him to challenge his opponent, Stephen A...

 (10 November 1808 – 25 February 1878) and Kersey H. Fell (1 May 1815 – 1 May 1893) The five were a distinguished group of men and all had links to the Chicago and Mississippi Railroad. Spencer was born ion the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

 valley south of Albany; his ancestors included a United States Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

 Chief Justice and two governors of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.; he was later to have an important career in Wisconsin railroads. Lathrop was a civil engineer with a long history of working with canals and railroads in New York; he would soon return to Buffalo. Morgan was the son of a noted civil engineer and he later became nationally known for his work on electric railroads in New York. The Fell brothers were well-connected Bloomington land developers who had been active in helping found many central Illinois towns including Clinton
Clinton, Illinois
Clinton is the largest city in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,225 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of DeWitt County.The city and the county are named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, 1817-1823...

, Normal
Normal, Illinois
Normal is an incorporated town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It had a population of 52,497 as of the 2010 census. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...

, Pontiac
Pontiac, Illinois
Pontiac is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,931 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Livingston County...

, and Towanda
Towanda, Illinois
Towanda is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area....

. They were employed by the railroad as land agents; the Fells are perhaps best known today for their role in persuading Abraham Lincoln to write his autobiography. The plan of the founders was to purchase a block of land along the route of the railroad and to divide it into four equal parts. Morgan would then take charge of the operation. He would draw up a plat of the new town, sell the lots, and divide the proceeds among the others. The station was to be placed at the point where the four quarters met. Any unsold lots would be divided among the partners. The other men seemed to believe that Morgan was acting in the interest of the railroad. The town was named for Henry Dwight, who had funded most of the building of this part of the railroad. The Chicago and Mississippi soon became the Chicago and Alton Railroad. Attempts in 1858 to rename it Jersey, Beckman, or Dogtown failed.

Early Dwight

Unfortunately for the partners, their plan did not go quite as expected. When the surveyors, working for the railroad’s chief engineer, Oliver H. Lee, reached the proposed location of the town in 1853 the speculators found that the tracks would pass slightly east of the planned central point and would go through lands in Morgan’s part of the land. This would have made Morgan’s lots more valuable than the others. The men reconsidered their plan. In the revised version, everyone would convey their lots to Morgan, who would then sell the lots, and split the total profits. This was done. In 1855 the partnership was dissolved and all unsold lots were divided among the five men. To announce to the public that a town would be located here, a tin pan was placed on top of a telegraph pole. Railroad workers flooded into the townsite. Morgan became afraid that they would cover valuable lots with “Irish shanties” and make the lots unsellable. Therefore he had John Campbell erect a boarding house. This was the first building in Dwight. The first house in town was built by Augustus West in June 1854. The first passenger train reached Dwight on 4 July 1854 and regular traffic on the railroad began in August of that year. The first store was a two story building put up by David McWilliams in 1855 and painted white to attract customers. The first item sold was a pattern for a “lawn dress” that one of the workmen purchased for the wife of the station master. In 1857 John Spencer began buying grain and erected a grain warehouse. A grain elevator soon followed and a large stone mill was built in 1859.

Original Design of Dwight

Like most new towns founded in Illinois in the 1850s, Dwight was designed without a town square. It was centered instead on a depot ground. This was a widened area of railroad property, about 1,000 feet long and 200 feet wide, where the tracks passed through the town. Such depot grounds were common in towns of the 1850s and may still be found at Gridley
Gridley, Illinois
Gridley is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,432 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, Chatsworth
Chatsworth, Illinois
Chatsworth is an incorporated town in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,265 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chatsworth is located at ....

, Odell
Odell, Illinois
Odell is a village in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,014 at the 2000 census.-Media:In October 2006, Odell was featured on the USA Food Network's "Riding Old Route 66", which visited the Standard Oil station-Geography:...

, Towanda
Towanda, Illinois
Towanda is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, McLean
McLean, Illinois
McLean is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 830 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:McLean is located at ....

 and many other central Illinois places. By the 1870s depot grounds had begun to fall out of favor. Unfortunately, while Morgan had deeded the central 100 foot band to the Chicago and Mississippi, he never got around to turning over the remainder of the depot grounds to the railroad. This led to a tangled lawsuit, which eventually had to be settled by the United States Supreme Court. The suit provides excellent information on the early history of Dwight. Dwight’s Original Town was quite large, consisting of twenty-four blocks each of which contained twenty-eight lots. Unlike Odell
Odell, Illinois
Odell is a village in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,014 at the 2000 census.-Media:In October 2006, Odell was featured on the USA Food Network's "Riding Old Route 66", which visited the Standard Oil station-Geography:...

, where the entire Original Town was aligned with the railroad, only the small central part of the Original Town of Dwight paralled the tracks, with West street running diagonally on the northwest side of the railroad and East street on the south side. In the remainder Original Town, streets ran true north-south or east-west. This created two odd triangles of land where these streets met the diagonal streets at the center of town. The southeastern triangle became the site of Dwight’s waterworks. The early depot was on the northwest side of the tracks.

The Prince Comes to Town

The best remembered event in the early history of Dwight was the time England’s Prince Albert, son of Queen Victoria and heir to the British throne came to town. The visit was important enough that local people recorded the exact time the prince arrived: twenty-seven minutes after six on the afternoon on Saturday 22 September 1860. He was to stay with Charles C. Spencer, one of Dwight’s founders, at Spencer’s farm south of town. Local couches and chairs were deemed insufficient for His Royal Highness, so Spencer’s furniture was stored, and the prince’s own furniture, which had been shipped ahead, was placed in the house. Soon after the Crown Prince arrived the shooting began; the first bird shot by the royal visitor was a little screech owl, which can not have provided much in the way or either sport or food. In the following days the hunting improved. The royal party eventually killed over 200 prairie chickens and quail. Prince Albert attended Sunday services at the local Presbyterian Church. On Wednesday, 26 September, he departed but not before planting an elm on Spencer’s farm. Prince Albert went on to become King Edward VII and the people of Dwight have never tired of talking about the visit. In 1878 the grounds of the house where the prince stayed were improved by the famed American landscape architect Ossian Cole Simonds
Ossian Cole Simonds
Ossian Cole Simonds , often known as O. C. Simonds, was an American landscape designer. He preferred the term 'landscape gardener' to that of 'landscape architect'.-Career:...

 and in the present century were given to the town and have become Renfrew Park.

Growth of Dwight

In 1869 the prospects of Dwight were improved when a second railroad was constructed linking Dwight with Streator, Illinois. In the same year the Chicago and Alton Railroad was double tracked from Odell to Gardner. The first brick house in Dwight was built in 1872. H By 1891 it became clear that the growing town needed a new railroad station and the railroad hired Henry Ives Cobb to design the building. The result was a splendid Richardson Romanesque building, which in 1982, was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 as the Dwight Railroad Station. Another new downtown building now on the National Register was Frank L. Smith Bank
Frank L. Smith Bank
The Frank L. Smith Bank, also known as the First National Bank of Dwight, is a bank building in Dwight, Illinois, United States that was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright's earliest designs for the building date to 1904, but it was constructed in 1905 and opened in 1906...

 opened in 1906, which was designed by Flank Lloyd Wright In 1879 Dwight physician, Dr. Leslie Keeley, working with Richard Oughton, announced that he had found a cure for alcoholism based on gold chloride. The Keeley Institute
Keeley Institute
The Keeley Institute, known for its Keeley Cure, was a commercial medical operation that offered treatment to alcoholics from 1879 to 1965. Though at one time there were more than 200 branches in the United States and Europe, the original institute was founded by Leslie Keeley in Dwight, Illinois,...

 soon became world famous treating hundreds of thousands of patents including Elliott Roosevelt, the brother of President Theodore Roosevelt. The John R. Oughton House
John R. Oughton House
The John R. Oughton House commonly known as The Lodge or the Keeley Estate, is a Victorian mansion located in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The grounds remain mostly unchanged since the house was moved from its original site in 1894 and remodeled a year later. John R...

, on the south side of Dwight, was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1980. In 1930 the state of Illinois established the Oakdale Reformatory for Women in Dwight, which has since become the [Dwight Correctional Center]. In 1921 paving was finished on the Chicago to Springfield road, which in 1926 was designated as Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...

. In 1964 the first phase of Interstate 55 was completed and Dwight became an increasingly a highway oriented town.

Monuments

Dwight is home to one of only three banks designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

, the First National Bank of Dwight, as well as an historic U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...

 Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....

 gas station, Ambler's Texaco Gas Station
Ambler's Texaco Gas Station
Ambler's Texaco Gas Station, also known as Becker's Marathon Gas Station, is a historic filling station located at the intersection of Old U.S. Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The station has been identified as the longest operating gas station...

, and a 1891 railway station
Dwight (Amtrak station)
The Dwight railroad depot was built in Dwight, Illinois, United States by the Chicago and Alton Railroad in 1891 to a design by architect Henry Ives Cobb. Built in the Richardson Romanesque style of rusticated masonry, the structure has been on the National Register of Historic Places since...

. Two of the buildings, the gas station and the train station, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. See also John R. Oughton House
John R. Oughton House
The John R. Oughton House commonly known as The Lodge or the Keeley Estate, is a Victorian mansion located in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The grounds remain mostly unchanged since the house was moved from its original site in 1894 and remodeled a year later. John R...

. The 1857 Dwight Pioneer Gothic Church
Pioneer Gothic Church
The Pioneer Gothic Church is located in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The building is a rare example of an extant wood framed Carpenter Gothic church in the state of Illinois. The building was added to the U.S...

 is a rare example of wooden Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic, and Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures built by house-carpenters...

 church building.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 4,363 people, 1,667 households, and 1,096 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,694.8 people per square mile (655.5/km²). There were 1,803 housing units at an average density of 700.4 per square mile (270.9/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.72% White, 0.92% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 1.17% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.80% of the population.

There were 1,667 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $40,071, and the median income for a family was $44,813. Males had a median income of $37,429 versus $27,813 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $20,928. About 5.0% of families and 10.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.8% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The Illinois Department of Corrections Dwight Correctional Center
Dwight Correctional Center
Dwight Correctional Center is an Illinois Department of Corrections maximum security prison for adult females. It is located at 23813 E. 3200 North Road in Nevada Township, unincorporated Livingston County, Illinois, near Dwight...

 is within Nevada Township in an unincorporated area
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Livingston County
Livingston County, Illinois
Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 38,950, which is a decrease of 1.8% from 39,678 in 2000. Its county seat is Pontiac....

, near Dwight. Dwight Correctional Center houses the State of Illinois female death row.

Other Sites

Dwight is also home of the first Keeley Institute
Keeley Institute
The Keeley Institute, known for its Keeley Cure, was a commercial medical operation that offered treatment to alcoholics from 1879 to 1965. Though at one time there were more than 200 branches in the United States and Europe, the original institute was founded by Leslie Keeley in Dwight, Illinois,...

, the John R. Oughton House
John R. Oughton House
The John R. Oughton House commonly known as The Lodge or the Keeley Estate, is a Victorian mansion located in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The grounds remain mostly unchanged since the house was moved from its original site in 1894 and remodeled a year later. John R...

, the Ambler's Texaco Gas Station
Ambler's Texaco Gas Station
Ambler's Texaco Gas Station, also known as Becker's Marathon Gas Station, is a historic filling station located at the intersection of Old U.S. Route 66 and Illinois Route 17 in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The station has been identified as the longest operating gas station...

, Frank L. Smith Bank
Frank L. Smith Bank
The Frank L. Smith Bank, also known as the First National Bank of Dwight, is a bank building in Dwight, Illinois, United States that was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright's earliest designs for the building date to 1904, but it was constructed in 1905 and opened in 1906...

, and the Pioneer Gothic Church
Pioneer Gothic Church
The Pioneer Gothic Church is located in the village of Dwight, Illinois, United States. The building is a rare example of an extant wood framed Carpenter Gothic church in the state of Illinois. The building was added to the U.S...

.

Dwight (Amtrak station)
Dwight (Amtrak station)
The Dwight railroad depot was built in Dwight, Illinois, United States by the Chicago and Alton Railroad in 1891 to a design by architect Henry Ives Cobb. Built in the Richardson Romanesque style of rusticated masonry, the structure has been on the National Register of Historic Places since...

 is also located in Dwight.

Sadie planned a trip to Dwight in the "Sadie's Trip To Dwight" episode of the radio serial Vic and Sade
Vic and Sade
Vic and Sade was an American radio program created and written by Paul Rhymer. It was regularly broadcast on radio from 1932 to 1944, then intermittently until 1946, and was briefly adapted to television in 1949 and again in 1957....

, originally aired on June 4, 1937. The series, set in a vaguely fictionalized Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...

, often used towns near Bloomington in its scripts.

2010 Tornado

On June 5, 2010, an EF-3 tornado ripped Streator and later Dwight. As described by one AP reporter who covered the disaster, the tornado "literally rearranged these towns of Dwight and Streator, with the worst damage in mobile home parks and downtown Streator. The residents of Dwight are thankful for the fact that the tornado largely spared their town." The rebulilding (and cleanup) effort continues as of July 22, 2010.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK