Editing Cooksville, Illinois (section)

===Design and growth===
Cooksville was incorporated in December 1901. The population of the village peaked in 1910 with 332 people. The design of the original town of Cooksville was a rectangle north of the tracks with the southern blocks slightly truncated because the railroad did not run exactly east and west. The original town contained about 55 lots. The depot was on the north side of the tracks and the two early elevators on the south side. Soon small additions were laid out south of the tracks and on the east side of the original town.<ref>''Combined Indexed Atlas, 1856–1914, McLean County, Illinois'' (Bloomington: McLean County Historical Society and McLean County Genealogical Society, 2006)  P.59.</ref> In 1883 William G. Darnell established the first [[grain elevator]] in Cooksville.<ref>''Historical Encyclopedia'', 1908, p. 996.</ref> Harvey W. Crumbacker also moved to the town in 1883. He established a hardware store and in 1902 built a two-story brick building in the town.<ref>''Historical Encyclopedia'', 1908, p.990.</ref>