ILLIOPOLIS
INDUSTRIES
The Old Tile Factory (Click here for larger photo)
As in all small towns
situated in a farming community, the grain elevators were chief among the early
industries. The largest was one of
many owned by E. R. Ulrich and sons of Springfield, which was later sold to the
Mansfield Ford Company. At the east
end of town was the storage house of Mr. Aaron C. Ford.
As a side line to the grain business Mr. Ulrich sold a fuel product
consisting of a mixture of cobs and rosin which was packed into boxes of uniform
size to be marketed.
East of the Ulrich
elevator were the stockyards. Cattle,
hogs, and sheep were herded into town through the streets to be penned in until
loaded upon freight cars bound for the city markets.
A good grade of clay
being found at the eastern edge of town, H. M. Baldridge excavated a pit and
founded a brick and tile yard in 1877, which continued as a thriving business
for many years. In times past the
pond at this location froze deep enough for safe skating and is now one of the
town's most scenic spots.
In
addition to these industries were the Dake lumber yard, D. B. Scully's Saddle
and Harness Shop, B. H. Kendall and Sons' livery stable, two sorghum
factories, the H. P.
Hampton Shoe Repair Shop and a broom factory.
Of these
industries, only the grain elevators and lumberyard have continued to operate
and expand the scope of their business. However,
as we begin the making of a new century of history the importance of the town as
an industrial as well as an agricultural center is evident and seems assured for
the future. The several industries
within the town and the five large plants, now well established on the land
released by the United 'States government after World War II, manufacture
products which illustrate the progress that has been made by modern science.
