Editing Towanda, Illinois (section)

===Early views===
A series of photographs taken in the 1870s give a striking view of early Towanda town. They show a town crisscrossed with fences and looking rather like the set for a western movie. Cattle and hogs were driven into town at night and penned before shipping on the railroad. Houses are carefully fenced to protect gardens from stray livestock. The majority of the homes are wooden I-cottages: single story, or story-and-a-half, wood frame dwellings with a symmetrical façade. There are some modest two-story structures. Along the railroad, long rail corn crib may be seen. The simple [[board-and-batten]] railroad station is clearly visible. Perhaps the most striking structure is a stone tank house topped with a windmill.<ref>Greg Koos, "Views of Towanda: The Material Culture of an Early Illinois Tank Town," ''Material Culture'' 31:3 (Fall 1999)pp. 1-20.</ref>