Editing Towanda, Illinois (section)

===Origin===
The village was named for [[Towanda, Pennsylvania|Towanda]] in [[Bradford County, Pennsylvania]]. The name means "burial ground" in [[Nanticoke language|Nanticoke]], an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] language.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.srbc.net/our-work/reports-library/technical-reports/229-native-american-names/docs/native-american-names.pdf |title=Native American waterbody and place names within the Susquehanna River Basin and surrounding subbasins |last=Runkle |first=Stephen A. |date=September 2003 |website=Susquehanna River Basin Commission |access-date=October 31, 2019}}</ref> The land on which Towanda stands was first entered by Charles Badeau who had graduated from [[Wesleyan University]], [[Middletown, Connecticut]], in 1840, and was employed as the assistant to the chief engineer of what was then the Alton and Springfield Railroad.<ref>Nicholson, Frank Walter, ''Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (New Haven, 1911) p. lxvi.''</ref> Because in Illinois at that time it was illegal for railroads or their officials to establish new towns, much of the land was then transferred to two McLean County real estate developers, [[Jesse W. Fell]] (1808 – 1887) and Charles W. Holder (1819 - 1900). These two men laid out the town of Towanda and filed the plat on December 7, 1854.<ref>''History of McLean County, Illinois'' (Chicago: William LeBaron, 1879) p.596.</ref> Fell, a native of [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]] in southeastern [[Pennsylvania]], was a widely known land dealer in [[central Illinois]] who played a major role in founding many towns in the region, including [[Clinton, Illinois|Clinton]], [[Dwight, Illinois|Dwight]], [[Normal, Illinois|Normal]], and [[Pontiac, Illinois|Pontiac]], and who was the driving force behind the establishment of the school that would become [[Illinois State University]].<ref>Morehouse, Francis Milton, ''The Life of Jesse W. Fell'' (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1916)</ref> Holder was linked with Fell in many of his town founding schemes including Normal, Illinois, and [[Larchwood, Iowa|Larchwood]] in [[Lyon County, Iowa]]; the McLean County town of [[Holder, Illinois|Holder]] is named in his honor. Fell's association with the railroad goes back to the time when it was surveyed. On at least two occasions he was able to alter the path of the railroad to suit his own interests: organizing a bend in the road so it would pass through his town of Normal<ref>Ekberg, Carl, William D. Walters, Jr. and Ann Malone, ''The Legacy: A Survey of the Historical Architecture of the Town of Normal'' (Normal: Town of Normal, 1990) P.7-10.</ref> and making a slight change in the survey so it would pass through the Livingston County town of Pontiac, where he had interests, rather than the rival town of Richmond.<ref>''History of Livingston County, Illinois'' (Dallas: Curtiss Media, 1991) p.5.</ref> Shortly after Towanda was laid out, most of the land was back in the hands of the railroad's land agent, English-born Charles Roadnight (1814-?). Roadnight built the first warehouse in Towanda; he settled in [[Bloomington, Illinois|Bloomington]], had a farm in Dwight, and in 1858 later became treasurer of what was then the Chicago and Alton Railroad.<ref>History of McLean County, 1879, p.596.</ref>