What’s there to see in Blandinsville, Ill.?
Well, not a heck of a lot, to be honest. But like so many other small towns in Illinois, it’s a little self-contained unit–not quite a ghost town, because there are homes and churches and bars–that has survived for years and years despite not having much to go on.
When you drive down through the heart of town, you can’t help but feel a sense that time has passed in a way that this is a place that once was; that there won’t really be any growth to speak of. Indeed, as the local history book (below) notes, there are more grave stones in town, by far, than living people. But,
(More to read, below these photos)
Blandinsville Masonic Temple
here are some interesting factoids about this tiny town in McDonough County (follow the links to see the old black-and-white historic shots:
- It was started as gathering of log cabins, named Job’s settlement, in 1826, but officially platted in 1842 by Joseph Blandin (a man who apparently did not have eye-rolling teenagers when he decided on the name Blandinsville.)
- The town was developed by, or because of, the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw Railroad, which came through town.
- A farming center, little B’ville once had a RR depot, a seminary, and a hotel featuring a fairly grand veranda.
The Masonic Temple is still there (pictured above), as are some of the other original Main Street structures. One building in the slide show above, the empty shop that’s for sale, appears in the lower left-hand corner in this street view of Blandinsville in the early 1900s.
(Historical facts taken from the book Images of America: McDonough County Historic Sites by John E. Hallwas, WIU English professor emeritus and author of The Bootlegger, [and guy so nice that when I told him I was a fan of his work, he hugged me]).
Just another little slice of the Midwest that seems worth taking a second to notice.
Tags: 1800s, Blandinsville, IL, local_history, McDonoughCounty, railroad, Rural People Read Too, small towns, WIU, writers
I love your pictures and thanks for dedicating a blog site to “back home” I grew up outside of Colusa and spent my early childhood waiting to go to town “Carthage”. I recently was trying to find pictures of the Methodist church in Colusa and was wondering if by chance you had every taken pictures there?
Lorie, thanks for your post! I actually have not ventured out to Colusa to take any pictures, so no, sorry, can’t help you with photos of the church.
That’s funny about wanting to go “to town” to Carthage. It seems that even when you think you are from the smallest town ever, there are always smaller ones.;)
Thanks again for leaving a comment.
Hello, Lorie. I live a few miles south of Colusa, and I will try to remember to take a few shots next time I’m going by and have a camera in the car.