Gypsy Heart
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BLOOMINGTON -- From 1885 to 1915, self-described “old settlers” of eastern McLean County held an annual picnic celebrating the bygone pioneer era. At its height, these gatherings attracted upwards of 10,000 area residents for a day of patriotic speeches, music and fried chicken. | From Our Past page
The Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County staged its first reunion picnic on August 27, 1885, at Christina Park, located about two miles south of Ellsworth in Padua (now Dawson) Township. The association paid $8.50 to Matthew Richardson, Sr., who owned the heavily wooded, ten-acre “park” named for his wife. Today, this land is part of the northeast corner of Moraine View State Park.
These settlers were not alone in wanting to commemorate the rich pioneer past. In the decades after the Civil War, there were old settler associations from Ohio to Minnesota and beyond. Locally, there were successful reunions held at Miller Park in Bloomington and Atlanta in Logan County.
Gilded Age nostalgia for a supposedly simpler time helped create a fertile environment for these gatherings. There was also a recognition that the frontier, a distinct and dramatic era in American history, was coming to a close east of the Mississippi River. As aging settlers reached their seventies and eighties, a movement arose to recognize pioneer achievements. The historic parallel today is our newfound attention to World War II veterans, another “Greatest Generation” in its twilight years.
The stated purpose of the eastern McLean County association was no more complicated than “renewing old time acquaintances and friendships.” For its picnics, the group prohibited “games of chance” and “intoxicating liquors,” in spite of the fact that both vices played important roles in the settlement of Illinois. A couple of years later, the association put the kibosh on displays of “party politics” or “sectarian questions.”
Although attendance rarely dipped below 5,000 for the eastern McLean County event, there were no more than 300 actual old settlers who were members of this particular association. Most reunion attendees were immediate and extended family members and newcomers to the area interested in neighbor togetherness and a good time during the dog days of summer.
A typical program included an opening prayer, speeches, music, a “basket dinner” and reminiscences by the settlers. The family singers, Sousa-like municipal bands and other music acts came from places like Colfax, Saybrook and Gibson City. The association also leased space to vendors who set up stalls or wagons to sell everything from ice cream to bananas.
The nineteenth century was the golden age of American oratory, and the reunions usually featured several hours or more of “speech making,” much of it flowery, nostalgic and patriotic. At the 1889 reunion, to cite one representative example, John M. Scott of Bloomington delivered a speech that lasted one-and-a-quarter hours, a length unimaginable in today’s attention-addled, sound bite era. And to think that Scott was just one of several long-winded speakers that day!
Though these picnics may seem a little stodgy today, there’s no doubting the power of memory and historical imagination. “The pleasant grove near Ellsworth was a scene of enthusiasm, and old men and women who know the history of central Illinois better than the books do were on the grounds feeling young again,” The Pantagraph noted of the 1890 reunion. The stories recounted by the pioneers, the newspaper added, “have become now about traditional, and many of them are covered with dust, but it was all shaken off them yesterday.”
In 1896, after eleven reunions at Christina Park, the association moved the picnic to Betzer Park, located immediately to the north. The annual event returned to Christina in 1904, and thereafter periodically shifted back and forth between the two venues.
By the late 1800s, membership was declining, given that the early settlers were moving into their eighties and even nineties. In August 1899, the association adjusted its bylaws to accept as an old settler anyone who came to Illinois prior to 1866, a six-year extension from the previous cutoff of 1860. At that year’s picnic, The Pantagraph reported that “one could not help from noticing that the ranks of the venerable pioneers were gradually growing thinner and thinner.” In 1906, depleted membership rolls led to another adjustment. This time, anyone who had lived in Illinois for 30 years could qualify as an “old settler.”
The last Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County reunion was held September 16, 1915. It was overcast and rainy for the 31st annual gathering, with attendance reported at 800 (according to the association) or “upwards of 2,000” (according to The Pantagraph). Regardless, the poor attendance was blamed on the inability of “motor cars” to navigate the muddy, unpaved country roads.
On August 19, 1979, the LeRoy Historical Society dedicated a stone marker commemorating the reunions. The marker sits at the site of old Betzer Park.
..............Taken from the The Pantagraph News
The Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County staged its first reunion picnic on August 27, 1885, at Christina Park, located about two miles south of Ellsworth in Padua (now Dawson) Township. The association paid $8.50 to Matthew Richardson, Sr., who owned the heavily wooded, ten-acre “park” named for his wife. Today, this land is part of the northeast corner of Moraine View State Park.
These settlers were not alone in wanting to commemorate the rich pioneer past. In the decades after the Civil War, there were old settler associations from Ohio to Minnesota and beyond. Locally, there were successful reunions held at Miller Park in Bloomington and Atlanta in Logan County.
Gilded Age nostalgia for a supposedly simpler time helped create a fertile environment for these gatherings. There was also a recognition that the frontier, a distinct and dramatic era in American history, was coming to a close east of the Mississippi River. As aging settlers reached their seventies and eighties, a movement arose to recognize pioneer achievements. The historic parallel today is our newfound attention to World War II veterans, another “Greatest Generation” in its twilight years.
The stated purpose of the eastern McLean County association was no more complicated than “renewing old time acquaintances and friendships.” For its picnics, the group prohibited “games of chance” and “intoxicating liquors,” in spite of the fact that both vices played important roles in the settlement of Illinois. A couple of years later, the association put the kibosh on displays of “party politics” or “sectarian questions.”
Although attendance rarely dipped below 5,000 for the eastern McLean County event, there were no more than 300 actual old settlers who were members of this particular association. Most reunion attendees were immediate and extended family members and newcomers to the area interested in neighbor togetherness and a good time during the dog days of summer.
A typical program included an opening prayer, speeches, music, a “basket dinner” and reminiscences by the settlers. The family singers, Sousa-like municipal bands and other music acts came from places like Colfax, Saybrook and Gibson City. The association also leased space to vendors who set up stalls or wagons to sell everything from ice cream to bananas.
The nineteenth century was the golden age of American oratory, and the reunions usually featured several hours or more of “speech making,” much of it flowery, nostalgic and patriotic. At the 1889 reunion, to cite one representative example, John M. Scott of Bloomington delivered a speech that lasted one-and-a-quarter hours, a length unimaginable in today’s attention-addled, sound bite era. And to think that Scott was just one of several long-winded speakers that day!
Though these picnics may seem a little stodgy today, there’s no doubting the power of memory and historical imagination. “The pleasant grove near Ellsworth was a scene of enthusiasm, and old men and women who know the history of central Illinois better than the books do were on the grounds feeling young again,” The Pantagraph noted of the 1890 reunion. The stories recounted by the pioneers, the newspaper added, “have become now about traditional, and many of them are covered with dust, but it was all shaken off them yesterday.”
In 1896, after eleven reunions at Christina Park, the association moved the picnic to Betzer Park, located immediately to the north. The annual event returned to Christina in 1904, and thereafter periodically shifted back and forth between the two venues.
By the late 1800s, membership was declining, given that the early settlers were moving into their eighties and even nineties. In August 1899, the association adjusted its bylaws to accept as an old settler anyone who came to Illinois prior to 1866, a six-year extension from the previous cutoff of 1860. At that year’s picnic, The Pantagraph reported that “one could not help from noticing that the ranks of the venerable pioneers were gradually growing thinner and thinner.” In 1906, depleted membership rolls led to another adjustment. This time, anyone who had lived in Illinois for 30 years could qualify as an “old settler.”
The last Old Settlers Association of Eastern McLean County reunion was held September 16, 1915. It was overcast and rainy for the 31st annual gathering, with attendance reported at 800 (according to the association) or “upwards of 2,000” (according to The Pantagraph). Regardless, the poor attendance was blamed on the inability of “motor cars” to navigate the muddy, unpaved country roads.
On August 19, 1979, the LeRoy Historical Society dedicated a stone marker commemorating the reunions. The marker sits at the site of old Betzer Park.
..............Taken from the The Pantagraph News
