Roger's  Reflections

Prairie  Home Chronology

 

 

This chronology is based on and adapted from a similar writing by my father in 1950 in connection with the celebration of the ninetieth anniversary of the Prairie Home Church. Several items of particular interest to the Baird family have been added.

 

 

1492 - Columbus discovered America

 

1620 - Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock

 

1779 - “County of Illinois” was established by the Virginia legislature

 

1784 - Virginia surrendered all claims to this territory to federal govt.

 

1794 - William Baird was the first Baird to come to America

 

1811 - Great earthquake in the Mississippi valley

 

1818 - Illinois admitted to the union

 

• - First house built by Armstrongs in what is now Penn Township

 

• - First log courthouse built in Shelbyville for $110

 

• - Decatur community established

 

• - First general store in Decatur

 

• - A panther killed four miles southwest of Prairie Home

 

• - A black bear killed four miles southwest of Prairie Home

 

1839 - The city of Decatur was incorporated

 

• - First school building built in Decatur

 

• - The first newspaper in Decatur--The Family Gazette

 

• - The first railroad and telegraph system came to Decatur

 

1859 - John Baird’s sister, Eliza Baird Thompson, moved from

Pennsylvania to central Illinois--the first Baird at Prairie Home

 

• - Prairie Home Church organized. Millikin Bank established

 

• - Civil War started

 

• - First high school in Decatur

 

• - A post office was established at Prairie Home

 

• - John Baird bought 360 acres of prairie land. Civil War ended

 

• - The John Baird family moved from Pennsylvania to Illinois

 

• - First public library in Decatur

 

1868 - The Baird farmhouse was built and the Baird family moved in

 

• - Prairie Home Church built and dedicated

 

• - The Prairie Home General Store and Hall was built

 

• - Horse drawn streetcars began operating in Decatur

 

• - The Prairie Home Literary Society was organized. The first telephones in Decatur

 

• - John Garman bought 160 acres just north of the Baird farm

 

• - John Harris Baird married his cousin Henrietta Baird

 

• - DeForest Baird born. Coca Cola first sold

 

• - The Bethany Echo, the first local newspaper, was published

 

• - The Baird farmhouse was remodeled and enlarged

 

• - First electric streetcars in Decatur

 

• - Grace Garman was born

 

• - First car in Decatur--a Benz Motor Wagon imported from Germany

 

• - Church Ladies Aid Society organized. Staley Company started

 

• - The fly swatter was invented in Decatur

 

• - James Millikin University dedicated. P.H. post office discontinued

 

• - First movie house in Decatur, “The Nickelodean”

 

• - First airplane flight in Decatur, a Curtiss biplane

 

• - First oiled road in the area--passed the hat and got $500

 

• - DeForest Baird married Grace Garman and took over the Baird farm

 

1919 - Great flu epidemic--DeForest Baird almost died

 

• - First soybeans processed in U. S. at Staleys

 

• - P. H. store and hall burned. Moweaqua coal mine disaster on 12/24

 

• - Rural electrification arrives--electric lights at last!

 

1941 - World War II starts with Pearl Harbor raid on 12/7

 

• - Word War II ends.

 

1946 - Baird farmhouse remodeled

 

• - DeForest Baird died on March second

 

1958 - Harry Bennett moved into the Baird farmhouse