Gilman, Illinois Iroquois County's locale in Illinois Iroquois County's locale in Illinois Gilman is positioned in Iroquois County, Illinois Gilman - Gilman Gilman's locale in Iroquois County County Iroquois Gilman is a town/city in Douglas Township, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States.

2.1 Founding of Gilman 2.2 Original design of Gilman Map of Gilman Gilman is positioned in the part of the county at the intersection of three primary highways: Interstate 57, U.S.

Amtrak, the nationwide passenger rail service, provides service at the Gilman Amtrak station.

According to the 2010 census, Gilman has a total region of 2.25 square miles (5.83 km2), of which 2.23 square miles (5.78 km2) (or 99.11%) is territory and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km2) (or 0.89%) is water. Gilman Illinois was laid out in the fall of 1857 on territory belonging to E.D.

Chamberlain had served in the New York Legislature and had moved to Iroquois County in 1853.

The town of Gilman was established at the point where the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad would soon cross the Illinois Central Railroad.

In return for establishing a station at Gilman Octave Chanute, the Chief Engineer of the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad, asked for and was given one half of all the lots in the initial town of Gilman.

This was standard practice for the barns and was done at El Paso, Fairbury and probably other new suburbs established along the route of the barns .

Town framers were aware that the lots were not personally for Chanute, but for the barns company; Today Octave Chanute is best known for his publications on aviation and for his assistance to the Wright brothers.

Chanute was involved in the foundation of many suburbs along the barns , usually in association with small-town individuals.

Railroad companies in Illinois were forbidden to found suburbs themselves. Iroquois Democrats had wanted to name the town Douglas, after the Illinois senator, but Cruger Secor and Company given the right to name the town and they decided to honor Samuel Gilman, a director of that company. The design of Gilman in general followed the standard plan used by the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad.

This was based on a Depot Ground, a wider region of barns owned territory where the tracks pass through a town.

In the initial town of Gilman, east-west streets were given numbers, 6th to 2nd with Front Street where 1st Street would have been expected.

The east-west streets, often given standard tree names in other Peoria and Oquawka towns, were here assigned distinct ive small-town names including Chamberlain, Thomas and Douglas.

The Gilman plat was exceptionally large with 73 blocks, most having sixteen lots. Unlike most suburbs of the era, Gilman never advanced a single commercial focus.

This was evident early in its history when Beckwith remarked, "The town is the most diffusely settled, probably, of any of like populace in the state.

When the survey of Gilman was done in September 1857, Gardner assembled the first home in Gilman.

The first recorded event in Gilman's history was a ball held on 22 February 1858 at the hotel to jubilate George Washington's birthday.

The first train through Gilman appeared on 21 September 1857 and was to take small-town people to the State Fair in Peoria.

In 1860 the first school was built; by 1865, the town had thirty-one buildings. Gilman was officially organized as a town in 1867. By the late 1860s, Gilman had two barns s.

Gilman prospered as the place where citizens and goods were transferred from one barns to the other.

The 1870 Federal Enumeration found Gilman had 761 citizens .

In September 1871, a third barns , originally called the Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad, opened for business.

Unlike many small-town towns, Gilman continued to expanded in the twentieth century.

In 1923 and 1924, the state of Illinois began building a new "hard road" alongsideing the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad, which was at first called the Corn Belt Trail, but soon became U.S.

A second new road, alongsideing the Illinois Central Railroad through Iroquois County, initially known as the Egyptian Trail, evolved into Interstate 57 in the 1970s.

In the last decade, a second water fortress was assembled along interstate 57 on the side of Gilman.

The Gilman Star is a weekly journal established in 1869 with general circulation in Western Iroquois County.

Iroquois County Illinois (Chicago: George A.

History of Iroquois County.

Iroquois County Board of Supervisors.

Past and present of Iroquois County, Illinois.

History of Iroquois County, Together with Historic Notes on the Northwest.

Municipalities and communities of Iroquois County, Illinois, United States This populated place also has portions in an adjoining county or counties

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Cities in Illinois - Cities in Iroquois County, Illinois - Populated places established in 1857 - Gilman, Illinois - 1857 establishments in Illinois