Editing Mount Vernon, Illinois (section)

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2010}}

===19th century===
[[Image:Mount Vernon, Illinois City Hall.JPG|thumb|right|City Hall]]
[[Image:5th District Appellate Court.JPG|thumb|right|5th District Appellate Court]]
Mt. Vernon was founded in 1817 by [[Zadok Casey]], who was elected to the State Senate in 1822 and was elected lieutenant governor in 1833.<ref name="ZadokCaseyCongress">{{cite web |title=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000230 |website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date=June 25, 2018}}</ref> He served in the U.S. Congress between 1833 and 1843.<ref name="ZadokCaseyCongress" /> The town was named for [[George Washington]]'s plantation, [[Mount Vernon]], which was named for [[Edward Vernon]], a British naval hero.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History {{!}} Jefferson County, Illinois |url=http://www.jeffersoncountyillinois.com/history |access-date=June 22, 2023 |website=www.jeffersoncountyillinois.com |archive-date=December 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216123825/http://www.jeffersoncountyillinois.com/history |url-status=dead }}</ref>

When the town was founded, there was no road to it. Travelers had to get there by either following the high ground from the north or crossing the swamps from the south. In the early 19th century the [[Goshen Road]] crossed Illinois in a northwesterly direction from [[Old Shawneetown, Illinois]] to the [[Goshen Settlement]], near what is now [[Edwardsville, Illinois|Edwardsville]]. This road was the main road in Illinois. When Mt. Vernon was first settled, the Goshen Road made a wide arc across [[Jefferson County, Illinois|Jefferson County]], crossing Casey Creek and the [[Big Muddy River|Big Muddy]] north of Mt. Vernon, avoiding the swamps to the south, but bypassing Mt. Vernon. The road entered the county at its southeast corner. It passed through, or near, what are now [[Opdyke, Illinois|Opdyke]], East Salem, Idlewood, [[Dix, Illinois|Dix]] and [[Walnut Hill, Illinois|Walnut Hill]]. However, it was apparent to the early settlers that the town would fail without roads. In 1820–1821, Ben Hood and Carter Wilkey built a bridge over Casey Creek, to the southeast of town.  This bridge was near the present bridge on [[Illinois Route 142]]. A road was built from there northwest, over ground that is now impassable, toward the old cemetery behind the modern Bethel Cemetery. Deep cuts through the old cemetery attest to the location of the road. From there the road probably followed modern [[Illinois Route 37|Route 37]] into town, somewhere shifting from 10th Street on west to 12th Street.

After the state capital was moved to [[Vandalia, Illinois|Vandalia]] in 1819, it became apparent that a road to Vandalia was needed. A party was sent out to the northwest to mark the road. In 1823, Thomas D. Minor and William Maxwell built the "Vandalia Road", now called the "Old Centralia Road." It runs northwest out of Mt. Vernon to [[Walnut Hill, Illinois|Walnut Hill]]. Although legend says that this road is crooked because of the drunken state of the surveyors, the path is probably just the natural path of a pioneer road following the terrain. After the bridge and the Vandalia Road were built, Mt. Vernon was "on the map." The bridge across Casey Creek and the Vandalia Road provided a much shorter path across Jefferson County than the original Goshen Road. The new Goshen Road soon captured most of the traffic, and Mt. Vernon became an important stop on the road west.

In 1836, Joshua Grant came to Mt. Vernon from [[Christian County, Kentucky]] with several of his sons and daughters. His family was a wealthy slave-owning family, most of whom soon moved to [[Arkansas]], probably because slavery was illegal in Illinois. Joshua left behind several daughters and one son, Angus McNeil Grant, who soon became important in the development of the town. "Upon his arrival, there were but four or five houses in the place, and from that time to the present (1883) he has constantly and ably exerted himself in securing to it the full development of its resources." Angus M. Grant's brother, Joshua Jr. taught school in Mt. Vernon in 1838. Some sources cite him as the first schoolteacher in the town.

In 1848, in accordance with the new constitution of Illinois, the Illinois Supreme Court first Grand Division was relocated to Mt. Vernon.<ref>{{cite web |title=Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln |url=http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/reference/reference%20html%20files/court%20structure.html |website=Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln |access-date=June 25, 2018}}</ref> There were three divisions total comprised for the first (southern), second (central) and third (northern) areas of the state.<ref>{{cite web |title=Illinois Supreme Court Historical Timeline |url=http://www.illinoiscourthistory.org/timeline |website=Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission |access-date=June 25, 2018 |archive-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831164601/http://illinoiscourthistory.org/timeline |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[5th District Appellate Court]] was constructed in 1854 and is still in use as the Appellate Court House. When the Supreme Court was in session, the important lawyers in Illinois, including [[Abraham Lincoln]], gathered in Mt. Vernon to argue their cases. The lawyers gathered at the Mt. Vernon Inn, owned by Angus McNeil Grant and his in-laws, the Andersons. This building has been on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] since July 2, 1973.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Register of Historic Places|url=http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/|website=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=United States Government|access-date=October 3, 2014|archive-date=July 25, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725123211/http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1870s, Mt. Vernon for a time prohibited the sale of alcohol. A village called "East Mt. Vernon" was organized in 1877 to allow the sale of alcohol. A court fight eventually held that the village was organized illegally. Mt. Vernon then voted alcohol back in, and the area of East Mt. Vernon was annexed into the city.

On February 19, 1888, a tornado cut a path a half mile wide through Mt. Vernon, killing 37 people and destroying more than 450 houses. The Jefferson County Courthouse was destroyed. This event was one of the first disasters to which the [[American Red Cross]] responded. [[Clara Barton]] herself directed the relief efforts.

The Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Company opened in 1889 after moving from Litchfield, Illinois.  This relocation may have been an outgrowth of the relief efforts following the tornado. The [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] hauled in some 1,900 carloads of supplies for reconstruction of the town. Somehow, this effort translated into a major business building railroad cars, at first building about ten cars per day. By 1909, the car shops were producing 25 cars per day, employing more than 1000 workers, with a payroll of $60,000 per month.

===20th and 21st centuries===
During World War II, portions of the "Car Shops", as they had to come to be known, were converted over to wartime production, including the production of bomb casings.  Around 1939, a portion of the car shops was purchased by Precision Engineering, which originally built components for locomotives. During the 1970s, this company purchased old diesel/electric railroad locomotives, which it scrapped out or refurbished. Today, the plant thrives as a hub for [[National Railway Equipment Company]]<ref>[http://www.nationalrailway.com/nre-mt-vernon Nationalrailway.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141122054250/http://www.nationalrailway.com/nre-mt-vernon |date=November 22, 2014 }}</ref> which rebuilds and services diesel electric locomotives for rail lines across the globe.

In 1954, the car shops closed, causing a temporary jump in unemployment throughout the city and the 108 communities called "home" by its former employees.

The [[Interstate Highway System]] was built in the late 1950s and 1960s. The [[Concurrency (road)|concurrency]] of [[Interstate 57|I-57]] and [[Interstate 64 in Illinois|I-64]] is along the western border of the ridgeline which divides the [[Big Muddy River]] and [[Casey Creek (Illinois)|Casey Creek]]. The [[stack interchange]] on the southwest side of town complements the historic Casey Creek bridges, allowing much shorter travel times through the swamps to the east and south.

In April 2007, Mount Vernon voters elected the first female mayor<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.register-news.com/news/local_news/chesley-wins-mayoral-race/article_6af85a8f-1781-58b3-ace6-b0b5e660f010.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150117163523/http://www.register-news.com/news/local_news/chesley-wins-mayoral-race/article_6af85a8f-1781-58b3-ace6-b0b5e660f010.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2015|access-date=January 9, 2015|title=Chesley Wins Mayoral Race|publisher=[[Mt. Vernon Register-News]]}}</ref> of the city, Mary Jane Chesley. She was sworn into office on May 7, 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.register-news.com/news/king-city-swears-in-first-woman-mayor-three-council-members/article_78a599cd-a40f-53d1-b267-b97798e531fe.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150117163529/http://www.register-news.com/news/king-city-swears-in-first-woman-mayor-three-council-members/article_78a599cd-a40f-53d1-b267-b97798e531fe.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2015|access-date=January 9, 2015|title=King City Swears In First Woman Mayor|publisher=[[Mt. Vernon Register-News]]}}</ref>