Octave Chanute, founder of Fairbury

    It is Caleb Patton who should really be credited for the creation of Fairbury. It was he who owned the land that the original town was built on. And it was he who advertised lots for sale and attracted other people to live there. Today, the original town's area starts at the corner of Maple Street and First Street, and stretches to the corner of Oak Street and Seventh Street. When Patton heard that Chanute was wanting to build a railroad in his general direction, he saw it as an opportunity to make use of his otherwise deserted land and struck a deal. If Chanute built his railroad through Fairbury, then Patton would give Chanute half of the town's property.

    Patton and Chanute had reached an agreement, and Chanute kept up his end of the deal. Patton gave a small chunk of the land to the Baptist Church, and set aside an area for the railroad and a depot. However, when Chanute reached Fairbury, he was met by a group of armed citizens. The town had passed an ordinance that no railroad would pass through Fairbury, and they advised Chanute to simply build around the town (preferably where the golf course is currently). They had even received an injunction from Pontiac forbidding Chanute from building a railroad through the town. Alma Lewis-James, author of Account and Tales of Early Fairbury best describes what Chanute did next,

...Chanute was clever. He did not use force, but quietly laid his rails to the eastern edge of town, skipped Fairbury, began again at the western edge, and worked straight on until Saturday night. In the darkness and secretly, he moved his crews back; and the next morning, at first dawn; and reinforced by armed guards of his own, he was ready for business. To the consternation of the dumbfounded and helpless villagers, he rushed the track straight through the town and the courthouse was closed. By Monday morning he was well on his way to Peoria.

    In 1859 John Marsh bought 80 acres of land to the west of Patton's. He donated a section of his property to the town, and it was named Marsh Park. He named another part of his addition to the town Livingston Square. It was to be used for businesses and markets. He built the Arcade Block in another section, which were a series of brick buildings connected to each other. Inside this block were two saddle and harness stores, a gun and sporting goods store, a poultry house, a drug store, Fairbury Marbel Works (they made tomb stones for the cemetery), and a bedspring factory. Many more businesses were located here later on. In 1866, the Livingston Hotel was built. It was renowned for being the only hotel in Illinois with running water.

    Marsh did not like the east side of Fairbury, and developed his west side vigorously. His addition to the town caused it to split; the east side versus the west side. Each side wanted to have the better houses, the better buildings, the better parks, the better everything. However, no one really knows how this feud started, but the town was clearly divided. After that devastating fire, many of the people on the east side went to work in Marsh's west side because of all of the work opportunities over there. A new railroad was being considered, and Marsh used his power to see that it only pass through the west side of Fairbury, and not through the east.

     Patton sold his real estate in Fairbury years prior to this, and Wallace Amsbary was now the most prominent citizen in the east. When the railroad came to the west end of Fairbury, the tracks were laid. Marsh and his friends celebrated that Saturday evening. During the celebration, Amsbary and his friends built the railroad through the east side of Fairbury and then started it southbound towards Strawn. A train passed over the tracks the next day, and they stayed there. Amsbary celebrated his victory by building the Fairbury House, and advertised it as the "Poorest Hotel in Illinois."

Downtown Fairbury circa 1873.

     After the fire caused by the train, three more subsequent fires succeeded in destroying many parts of the town. All of them were around the railroad, and together they destroyed more than twenty buildings and houses. Additionally, every few nights someone would try to start a fire in a residential area, and sometimes succeeded. Fairbury had somehow managed to become a prime location for pyromaniacs.

     Whenever a fire would erupt, the town's fire bell rang. Currently, the bell can be found in front of the fire station on Locust Street. A fire was more of a festival than a tragedy because it seemed like whenever the bell rang, the whole town would show up to watch the fire. Fairbury wasn't necessarily large at the time, so finding the fires were not too difficult. Soon, Fairbury became known as the most flammable town in the Midwest.

     The fire era of Fairbury came to an end after the Livingston Hotel burned. Marsh blamed Amsbary for the fire, and Amsbary blamed Marsh. Both of the men filed suits against each other for arson, and then for slander. Marsh was indicted, but was found not guilty. The power that the two men held in the town quickly died down, as did the feud between the east and west sides of Fairbury. The town ceased its civil quarrel, and agreed to work with each other instead of against each other. With that, Fairbury was to become just another small town along the Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw Railroad.