Happy anniversary, Spring Valley!
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| The city of Spring Valley will celebrate its 125th anniversary, beginning on Saturday. Festivities have been planned to bring together family and friends for fun and fellowship. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt) |
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SPRING VALLEY — It was 125 years ago that Spring Valley was officially incorporated, the “Magic City” founded in the heart of the coal fields of northern Illinois for the express purpose of mining coal.
Beginning Saturday, the city will celebrate those 125 years with more than a week’s worth of activities, ranging from quilt shows and queen pageants to music and food, and ending with a parade and the flash of fireworks.
The planning for the celebration has been more a long time in the making.
“Two years ago, the Spring Valley Boosters got together and decided to start planning, in earnest, what they would like to see happen,” said Debb Ladgenski, Spring Valley’s economic development director. “We talked about things that have happened in the past that people enjoyed and we would like to repeat, and we talked about things our current residents would like to see happen.”
The schedule of events evolved from that point.
“It started with maybe one or two activities, and it grew,” Ladgenski said. “It grew out of a particular person or group of people who were interested in promoting one activity. If they were willing to chair that and move that activity forward, we added that activity to the calendar.”
The goal was to involve as many people as possible and to provide activities that would appeal to everyone.
So when Kathy Cullinan, Elaine Templeton and Louise Leoni proposed a quilt show, it was added to the schedule. When brother and sister, Kim and Jeff Templeton, suggested a pageant, that was added, as well.
The Templetons have worked hard to make sure the pageant is done well.
“They actually spent the whole year before working with the Marshall-Putnam County Fair to learn how their queen pageant took place,” Ladgenski said. “They attended it; they went to the rehearsals; and they even judged for it this year. They’ve done a great job with bringing this to the community.”
From the original core group of 12, the list of volunteers has grown as people have come forward with their ideas and suggestions, or to simply volunteer to help.
Take the Home Town Pride parade that will wind through Spring Valley on July 24. Ladgenski said she has 24 Walmart volunteers who have offered to help organize the 90 entries.
And Ladgenski was thrilled with those 90 entries.
“It’s a nice cross-section,” she said. “There’s some professional floats, and a lot of people making their own floats. Some are just cars and things representing organizations and businesses, but it’s the hometown pride — that’s what it’s for. We’re proud of our businesses; we’re proud of our organizations and of our people.”
Besides being the city’s economic development director, Ladgenski is also involved in many different community activities. All of these factors are combined in her role as chairperson of the celebration.
“It’s very difficult for me to separate because I wear many hats. I’m on the library board; I’m involved with the museum starting; I’m on the Boosters ... so where does one end and the other begin when the outcome is promoting and enhancing the quality of your community?” she said. “It’s certainly part of my job, but it’s there because it’s important to me, and that’s why I’m in this job in the first place.”
Check out Saturday’s edition of the BCR for more coverage of Spring Valley’s 125th anniversary celebration.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
Editor’s note: The Bureau County Republican is proud to honor Spring Valley as an important member of the Bureau County family. This is the first in a five-part series of articles on Spring Valley’s 125th anniversary, which will be celebrated July 16-24.
Where it all started in Spring Valley ...
The history of the town’s inception is found in coal. The first mine shaft was bored in 1884, and the town of Spring Valley was officially incorporated in 1886. One mine grew into three, drawing workers and their families from near and far. Almost every nationality of Europe was represented here, along with a large Lebanese population. The diverse cultural heritage brought to the community by the mine workers and those who provided support goods and services to Spring Valley, has enriched the 125-year history of the town.
Spring Valley was founded in 1884 in the heart of the coal fields of Northern Illinois for the express purpose of mining of coal.
The building of Spring Valley was the enterprise of Henry J. Miller, one of the first settlers of this area, and his son-in-law, Charles J. Devlin. They conceived the idea of establishing a coal metropolis in the Valley and on the slopes of the bluffs bordering Spring Creek, in the southeastern corner of Bureau County.
They acquired the mineral rights of 5,000 acres and purchased 500 acres on which to build the town. They secured the financial aid and cooperation of coal and railroad capitalists, E.N. Saunders of St. Paul, Minn., a director of the Chicago and North Western railroad, Mr. Taylor of “What Cheer,” Iowa, and W.L. Scott of Erie, Pa. Scott was a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania during the administration of President Cleveland. Most of these men are remembered in the names of the streets of the town.
Two companies were formed, the Spring Valley Coal Co. and the Spring Valley Townsite Co. Backed by the almost unlimited resources of the coal barons, these two companies spent more than $2.5 million in less than four years in the building of the town.
The boring of the mine commenced in 1884 and the town surveyed and platted. Spring Valley did not grow from a crossroads country store or framehouse; it was planned with the hope it would grow to be a large city. Space was set aside for churches, schools and public buildings, and broad streets were laid out. St. Paul Street became one of the widest streets in the state and in 1984 made even wider. In the residential section of the city property line, lies 25 feet from curb and ample room for expansion.
Spring Valley was a boom town; its growth was so rapid that it was called the “Magic City.” In less than four years, by 1888, the Chicago and North Western railroad had laid a line from DeKalb, Ill.; four mines had been sunk; and the town had 3,000 people. It was a brawling, boisterous place and was to remain so, more or less, until competition from the Southern Illinois coal fields forced the mine to close in late 1927. The town had gained a hard name but had a cultural side too.
By 1888, two years after the incorporation of the town, Feb. 8, 1886, there were two churches, the Congregational and the Immaculate Conception, had been built, two schools erected, the Immaculate Conception Parochial and the Lincoln Public School, which included a two-year high school course, a newspaper, the Spring Valley Gazette, and a public library.
This library, an institution for which all towns wait many years, was established by the “Knights of Labor,” the Coal Miner’s Union in 1885 before the town was a year old, before even a city government was formed. This early interest in education culminated in the establishment of two schools believed to be the first of their kind in the state.
The Hall Township High and Vocational School offered training in shop, carpentry, printing, drafting, cooking, sewing, typing, shorthand, bookkeeping and banking. This school was constructed in 1914.
Spring Valley, like every other coal town, came to know almost every nationality in Europe. These people came from LaSalle, Peru, Braidwood, Braceville and all mining camps of Northern Illinois. The English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh and Cornish from the coal fields of Great Britain, from northern France and Belgium. Polish and Germans, Swedes and Lithuanians came from opposite shores of the Baltic Sea, Slavish peasants from Central Europe and immigrants from sunny Italy. Many arriving here attired in their native dress were tagged and ticketed from their port of entry. The town also developed a colored section known as the “Location.” In 1905, the Bureau County Republican newspaper stated there were 32 distinct nationalities or groups in Spring Valley.
Source: www.spring-valley.il.us/.
