Teheran. In 1874, D. G. Cunningham built an elevator on the site of that formerly occupied by Hicks. This he at present operates. E. W. Nelson, of Natrona, is also engaged in grain-buying at this point. The amount of grain shipped from this point ranges from 200,000 to 250,000 bushels annually. Before the building of the P., D. & L. road a much greater amount was handled. During the summer of 1868, two very important additions were made to the town in the way of buildings. Moses C. Hicks erected a large and commodious hotel, at a cost of not less than $6,000. At one time, he had as high as forty-two regular boarders, in addition to a large transient custom. The same year, C. B. Vanhorn moved the machinery of his grist-mill from Atlanta, Logan County, to San Jose, erected a mill-house, and began the manufacture of flour. It has two run of stone and can turn off twenty barrels per day. The machinery was originally put in use at Waynesville, De Witt County, by C. Livingston. In 1857, Vanhorn purchased and moved it to Atlanta and from there to San Jose, as before mentioned. This is the first and only gristmill that has ever been erected in Allen's Grove Township. In 1869, A. Jacobs & Co. removed their wagon and general blacksmithing shops from Pekin to this point. They manufacture from thirty to forty wagons annually and do a large amount of general blacksmithing. They have also a branch establishment in Mason City. Zenas B. Kidder was, perhaps, the first blacksmith in the village. The post office was established as early as 1858, and Moses C. Hicks was appointed first Postmaster. Albert McCollister at present occupies the position and is also a Justice of the Peace. Among the early practitioners of the village, we find the names of Drs. Parker, Voke, Rider and Fain. Just which was the first to locate we are at a loss to determine. Dr. Charles W. Knapp, now of Chicago, was formerly a merchant and practicing physician of the place. Dr. Fain is still a resident of the place, but the accumulated weight of years has largely disqualified him for the active pursuit of his profession for some years past. Drs. Wathan, Holmes and E. P. Crispell are the present resident physicians.

CHURCHES, LODGES, ETC.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was built about 1862 or 1863, at a cost of $2,000. Rev. W. M. B. Colt, from Delavan, labored for the society before their house of worship was erected. The first meetings of the organization were held at Simon Goodale's Schoolhouse, about one mile north of the village. Under the administration of Rev. Colt, the subscription for the present house in the town was started. Isaac C. Brown, wife and daughter, Dr. Voke, Zenas B. Kidder and wife, R. B. Summers and wife, Edward Lyons and wife, Nicholas Lehey and others, to the number of fourteen, comprised the original organization. Rev. George W. Wolfe was the first regular Pastor. Rev. Hamill at present officiates. Services are held regularly, and a Sunday school, with an average attendance of 100 pupils, is presided over by Miss Hamill, daughter of the Pastor.

The German M. E. Church was built in 1870, at a cost of $4,000. A parsonage, erected at a cost of $2,000, is also the property of the Church. The house was dedicated January 22, 1871, Rev. Dr. Leibhardt, of Cincinnati, officiating. The society was organized in 1866, and held its first services at a schoolhouse some distance in the country. After the building of the M. E. Church, they leased it for a portion of the time for a term of five years, but only occupied it between two and three years. Rev. Christian Bruegger was the first Pastor. In 1868, Rev. C. F. Schlinger became Pastor in charge, and remained till 1871. Under his labors the house was built. Rev. Wilhelm Winter succeeded him, remaining two years. Rev. David Hume next became minister in charge for three years, and was succeeded by Rev. Frederick Stoffregan, the present Pastor. The society numbers at present about 167. A Sunday school was organized at the same time the Church was organized. It has an average attendance of thirty officers and teachers, and from 125 to 150 pupils. The first Superintendent was George Suits; the position is now held. by Rev. C. F. Schlinger. In 1876, forty-six members withdrew from the congregation, and were added to the organizations at Emden and Hartsburg. Among the early communicants of the Church, we find the names of Fred Smith and family, John Rapp and family, Mrs. Wiemer, Henry Schweizer and family, John Neef, and others. Regular services are held each Sunday.

The Society of Regular Baptists was organized in 1868 by members from the Church at Delavan. They have as yet no church building. Rev. William H. Briggs was the first Pastor, and labored for the congregation four or five years. The early meetings of the society were held in the hall over the storeroom now occupied by Newman & Knapp. In October, 1877, the Church fitted up a hall in the hotel, which is its present place of meeting. The Church has enjoyed the services of Rev. J. A. Brown one year, Rev. S. S. Martin three years. Rev. J. M. Horney is now Pastor, and holds services twice per month. The Sunday school meets every Lord's Day, and has an attendance of seventy-five pupils. T. S. Knapp is Superintendent.

San Jose Lodge, No. 645, A., F. & A. M., was organized under charter from the Grand Lodge, bearing date October 4, A. L. 5870, A. D. 1870. H. G. Reynolds was Grand Master, and Orlin H. Miner Grand Secretary. Edmund Rodgers, William J. Cunningham, Willis Crabb, Andrew T. Linbarger, R. B. Williams, William D. Oswald, Daniel W. Dillon, Rufus B. Summers, Edward Lyons, Timothy Sullivan, H. C. McDowell, Samuel Dement, Edwin Cutler, James J. Kern, Charles Forsythe and Watkin Watkins were charter members. The first officers of the Lodge were: Edmund Rodgers, W. M.; William J. Cunningham, S. W.; Willis Crabb, J. W. Regular communications are held the first and third Thursdays of each month, in their hall over Chestnut & Thomas' store. Membership, thirty-three. Present officers: D. G. Cunningham, W. M.; H. C. McDowell, S. W.; Willis Crabb, J. W.; R. B. Williams, Treasurer; J. J. Newman, Secretary. Messrs. Crabb and

Williams have held their respective offices ever since the organization of the Lodge.

San Jose Lodge, No. 380, I. O. O. F., was instituted under dispensation December 23, 1868. A charter was issued from the Grand Lodge October 12, 1869, bearing the signatures of J. Ward Ellis, G. M., and Samuel Willard, G. S. The charter members were: Jonathan Cory, P. G.; John S. Buck, P. G.; William M. Duffy, Charles N. Hull, John W. Morrison, Samuel Biggs and William Kent. First officers: Jonathan Cory, N. G.; J. W. Morrison, V. G.; Samuel Biggs, Treasurer, and J. S. Buck, Secretary. Valley Encampment, No. 120, was organized under dispensation in May, 1871. A charter was granted October 10, 1871, over the signatures of D. W. Jacoby, Grand Patriarch, and N. C. Nason, Grand Scribe. The following persons were named in the charter John S. Buck, John W. Morrison, Jonathan Cory, Robert M. Buck, Fred W. Paas, J. W. Hight, A. M. Summers. William Kent, J. Alefs, L. Nieukirk, T. S. Knapp, A. R. Chestnut, C. B. Vanhorn and A. Jacobs. These two societies meet in their well-furnished and well-appointed hall in the second story of the hotel building. The first officers of the Encampment were: J. S. Buck, C. P.; R. M. Buck, H. P.; J. W. Morrison, S. W.; A. R. Chestnut, J. W.; John Alefs, Treasurer; C. B. Vanhorn, Scribe.

Santa Maria Chapter, Order Eastern Star, No. 70, was organized March 22, 1872. Charter members: E. Rodgers, E. Cutler, C. Forsythe, R. B. Williams, H. C. McDowell, W. J. Cunningham, E. Lyons, Willis Crabb and H. Thorne. Its meetings were held in the hall of San Jose Lodge, No. 645, and the Chapter prospered indifferently well till July, 1876, when it surrendered its charter.

In May, 1873, W. H. Postlewait opened the San Jose Job Printing Office, which, after a brief term of existence, succumbed to financial embarrassment. October 18, 1878, the San Jose Gazette was established by J. J. Smith, and closed a brilliant career at the end of six months, leaving an aching void in the pockets of some of the citizens who had contributed to the starting of the enterprise.

VILLAGE INCORPORATED.

On the 13th day of April, 1870, pursuant to notice, the citizens assembled at the schoolhouse and organized by electing Rev. T. J. N. Simmons, President, and Samuel Dement, Clerk. The vote stood 31 for and 9 against incorporating. On the 21st of the same month, the following Board of Trustees was chosen : Edmund Rodgers, Jonathan Cory, Andrew Jacobs, Zenas B. Kidder, Samuel Dement and Dr. Charles D. Knapp. The following officers were chosen at a subsequent meeting of the Board; Jonathan Cory, President; Thomas S. Knapp, Clerk; Zenas B. Kidder was chosen Street Commissioner, and C. C. Ragan, Police Constable. June 12, 1876, the town was incorporated as a village, under the general law of 1872, by a vote of 29 for to 0 against. The

following are the present Board of officers: Thomas S. Knapp, J. Parmentier, T. Bennett, E. P. Crispell, N. Woll, Sr., W. Steffan. L. J. Dillon holds the office of Police Magistrate, and R. W. Fleming that of Clerk. The village has a population of from three hundred and fifty to four hundred, and has three general merchandise stores, one hardware and tin store, one drug store, one saddle and harness shop, one meat market, two millinery establishments, one boot and shoe shop, one wagon-shop and one first-class smith-shop. In 1874, A. R. Chestnut and I. Thomas established an exchange bank in connection with their general merchandise trade. This has proved a source of great convenience to both grain-buyers and merchants. The firm does a general banking and exchange business. The prospects are flattering that, before the cycle of many moons, San Jose will have secured to herself an additional means of entrance and exit. Her full quota of stock toward the construction of the Havana, Rantoul & Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railroad has already been subscribed. Should the road be brought to completion, it will give her an eastern. outlet and bring her in direct communication with Havana; but whether the building of the road will materially enhance her best interests is yet a mooted question in the minds of some of her best citizens. The completion and successful operation of seventy-six miles of the route augurs the speedy construction of the line to San Jose, and from thence to some point on the Illinois River. The village was named by Alexander W. Morgan, from the city of the same orthography, but differently pronounced, in the Golden State. Situated, as it is, in the midst of a fine agricultural region, but for its proximity to Delavan on the north and Mason City on the south, San Jose might, at no distant future, exceed in size and importance the most sanguine expectations of its original founders.

NATRONA VILLAGE.

The village of Natrona was surveyed and platted by E. Z. Hunt, County Surveyor, for James C. Conkling, of Springfield, Ill., and George S. Thompson, of Wheeling, W. Va., in 1857. The original plat contained sixty blocks, 320 feet square, subdivided into 912 lots, 40x152 feet. The streets were 80 feet in width, alleys, 16 feet. Soon after the laying-out of the town, Daniel Crabb purchased the site, and is at present proprietor of a large portion of it. Nothing was done in the way of building up the village prior to the building of the railroad. In 1866 and 1867, Daniel Crabb built a few small houses east of the railroad. Samuel Ayers, Lear and McDonald, each erected a building about the same time. Crabb erected a warehouse also, in 1867. This was converted into a horse-power elevator in 1871, by Henry A. Baily, his son-in-law. Lear was the first merchant in the village of whom we have any account. He kept a grocery and saloon in a small building just east of the railroad track, still standing, and now used by John B. Abbott as a grain bin. In 1868, E. W. Nelson came from Wisconsin, and, in connection with Samuel Ayers, engaged in buying grain. They were the first to handle grain in the place.

During that and the year previous, a number of buildings were put up west of the track. George Heckel and John N. Cathcart each built a large store building on the west side, and E. W. Nelson a small business house on the east side. Heckel occupied his building with a full stock of furniture, James Hampson that of Cathcart with a stock of general merchandise. Nelson opened up a general stock in his building. The first school kept in the village was presided over by Miss Emma Bently. The school was kept in the second story of Crabb's warehouse. A neat frame building for school purposes was built in 1873, at a cost of $1,800. George W. Murphy, from Ohio, taught the first school in the new building. The post office was established in 1868, and J. E. Reynolds was first Postmaster. E. W. Nelson is present Postmaster and station agent, though the duties are discharged by R. Williams, at whose store the offices are kept. In 1871, E. W. Nelson built a steam elevator, and this, as well as the one built by Baily, is now operated by John B. Abbott-the only grain merchant in the village. The amount of grain shipped from this point ranges from three hundred thousand to three hundred and fifty thousand bushels per annum. R. Williams has the only store in town, and carries a general stock. The Protestant Methodist Church was built in 1877. It is a neat frame building and cost $1,600. Rev. Starling Turner was first Pastor. Rev. Hamill, of San Jose, at present supplies the pulpit. Among the early communicants we find the names of Jeremiah Corson, William Preston and wife, George Langley and wife, Richard Langley and wife, Robert Preston, Mrs. Larimore, Reuben Dowell and wife, and H. S. Jackson and wife. individual has contributed to the building-up of the village more than E. W. Nelson, who has built several of the more substantial buildings on the east side. Natrona was erst known as Altoona, and is so recorded. And since the greatest creative genius that ever lived has said, "There is nothing in a name," we doubt not that Natrona would have attained its present importance among the villages of the county had its name remained unchanged. The change was, doubtless, suggested by the fact that the village of Altona, of prior existence in Knox County, from the similarity of name, often led to annoyances in the transmission of mail and express matter intended for this point. We do not give this as positive knowledge, but simply as a reasonable explanation of why the change was made.

KILBOURNE TOWNSHIP.

When Mason County was first laid off into townships or election precincts, what is now Kilbourne was included in the present townships of Bath and Crane Creek, and was not created until 1873, about the time of the building of the Springfield & North-Western Railroad. In its formation, three tiers of sections were taken from Crane Creek and a like number from Bath. It is described as Town 20 north, Range 8 west of the Third Principal Meridian, and contains a few sections in the south west part over and above