Editing Fairbury, Illinois (section)

===Founding===
Fairbury was laid out on November 10, 1857, by [[Caleb L. Patton]] and [[Octave Chanute]].<ref>History of Livingston County, Illinois (Chicago: LeBaron 1878) p. 336.</ref> Like most Illinois towns of the 1850s, the original town of Fairbury was centered on a depot ground. It consisted of twenty-six blocks, each divided into fourteen to sixteen lots. There was no central public square, but one was later included in Marsh's addition. The plan used was virtually identical to that at [[Chatsworth, Illinois]], including the street names, and the plan was similar to that at [[Gridley, Illinois|Gridley]] and [[El Paso, Illinois|El Paso]] on the same railroad.<ref>Standard Atlas of Livingston County Illinois (Chicago: George A. Ogle, 1911) pp 18-19.</ref>

[[Image:Fairbury City Hall2.JPG|thumb|left|[[Fairbury City Hall]] is listed on the U.S. [[National Register of Historic Places]]]]

[[Octave Chanute]] was a civil engineer employed by the new Peoria and Oquawka Railroad, which is now the [[Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad]]. [[Caleb L. Patton]] was an early settler on the land where the town was built. Chanute, a French native, was later famed for publishing ''Progress in Flying Machines'', which helped pioneer [[aviation]] (the [[Wright brothers]] even mentioned Chanute as a mentor to them). Chanute built the railroad that made Fairbury possible, but did so against the will of Patton, Fairbury's first citizen.

Caleb Patton owned the land that the original town was built on and advertised lots for sale, attracting other people to live there. When Patton heard that Chanute wanted to build a railroad in the area's 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.
[[Image:Fairbury, IL Library2.JPG|thumb|right|Dominy Memorial Library]]
Patton and Chanute 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. They had even received an injunction from [[Pontiac, Illinois]] forbidding Chanute from building a railroad through the town. Alma Lewis-James, author of ''Stuffed Clubs and Antimacassars: Account and Tales of Early Fairbury'', best describes what Chanute did next:

{{cquote|"...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 {{convert|80|acre|m2}} 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. In 1866, the Livingston Hotel was built. It was renowned for being the only hotel in Illinois with running water.
[[Image:Fairbury, IL Waltons2.JPG|thumb|left|The Walton Brothers Department Store building in downtown Fairbury now houses the Walton Centre event venue and Fairbury Furniture.]]
Marsh did not like the east side of Fairbury and developed his west side vigorously, creating a feud. After a devastating fire{{specify|date=March 2025}}, 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 passed through only the west side of Fairbury and not through the east.