Marshall
The city of Marshall was founded on September 20, 1835. When the National Road was being built through Marshall in 1827, many people came looking for construction jobs. The site on which the town is located, was purchased by Colonel William B. Archer and Joseph Duncan in 1833 from the federal government. Archer and Duncan laid out the town and named it after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Abraham Lincoln visited the city on several occasions. Lincoln’s last recorded visit was in 1850 when he acted as a defense lawyer in a local case. He is said to have stayed in the Archer House. Marshall is located in Clark County.
A former motto of Marshall was: "Where the highways cross, and the porch lights burn all night." Illinois Highway 1 and U.S. Route 40 cross near the center of town. The Marshall town council used to pay a portion of residents' electric bills for them leaving on their porch lights all night. This was probably for security reasons.
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Images courtesy of Phil Lewis and the Historical Collectors' Association for the Effingham County and National Road Museum Association.
Effingham County and National Road community histories by Phil Lewis
Martinsville
Joseph Martin came to Clark County in 1832. He purchased a portion of the land on which the town of Martinsville was platted in 1833.Travel along the National Road necessitated the building of hotels. Martin built the first hotel near the Vandalia Railroad. In 1840 Willis Daughette built the Rocky Mountain House. Martinsville had the usual array of early businesses and houses along the Road.
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Robert Ferguson laid out the town of Livingston. It had the usual early businesses like a stagecoach stop, hotel, grocery store, post office, etc. When the railroad changed its course to the north due to land donations, the town was dealt its first major blow. It was hit by a devastating tornado during the Civil War. However, the final blow was another tornado, which struck the town on May 26, 1917. Most of the town’s businesses and seventeen homes were destroyed. The covered bridge at the Big Creek crossing was damaged and impassable until repairs could be done to it. When the new Route 40 came through the southern edge of Livingston, five more homes were razed to make way for the road. There are no postcard images of Livingston at present.
Livingston
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