Webber Township High School

History

1849- 1900

In 1849 a man named Reese Davis living in Sarah County, North Carolina packed up his family of a wife, 13 boys and two girls. They headed out in covered wagons to homestead land in Illinois. Davis acquired their land charter at Shawnee town and moved on to an open prairie west of present day Bluford near the old Mt. Vernon trail. The Davis's bought 160 acres of land at of a price of $1.25 an acre. During this time and just north of where present day Bluford is located, there was a pioneer trading center. The center consisted of a grist mill operated by Robert Logan, a blacksmith shop operated by Benson Logan and a trading store operated by Logan's son. The "OLE SWIMMIN' HOLE" was also near this area.

BLUFORD IS BORN

Bluford began in 1881 with the arrival of the Air Line Railroad. Mt. Vernon banker, George Evans, developed plans for the 40 acre village which would straddle the tracks of the new railroad. In 1882 Rev. Z.H. Byard was the first to build in the new village. He constructed a combination store and home. Byard also became the first postmaster and air line railroad station agent.

As development continued, new building were constructed, people moved into the area, and in 1925 Bluford became incorporated.

Bluford's first mayor was Mr. Paul Wood. The new town grew on each side of the railroad. The south was called Tilford and the north section was called Bluford, named after the sons of Wiley Green, who was justice of the peace.

Later Tilford died so the town was known as "Bluford"(Bluford Green was Mrs. Howard Pepple's Father) Joe Pepple and Mark Martin were the first country mail carriers. In winter weather they put HOT Bricks under a horse blanket in their carts to keep warm. Early farmers drove turkeys, geese and cattle to Bluford Stock pens for shipment to market. W.A. Nation was the first merchant and was located south of the original railroad depot.

1900-1930

The first banks the Bluford State Bank and the People's Bank. They merged into one bank which closed during the depression of 1929..

In the 1920's the Illinois Central Railroad built a cut-off just east of Bluford. It was the third longest straight stretch of track in the world.

In 1911 a two-story grade school was built. Unfortunately, when the wind came from the wrong direction smoke from the furnace would fill the inside of the school and the students would have to be dismissed.

The first High School was organized in 1920. This was a two year school. Its first graduating class had four students. All four graduates became teachers.

The first four years high class graduated in the year 1938.

1930-1960

Tragedy struck Bluford on March 8, 1932.

In 1935 a new Grade School was built.

In 1940 construction began on the present High School building with WPA labor.
The building was completed and held first class in January of 1943.An addition was built in 1951.

On March 17, 1956 eleven school districts were consolidated into Bluford community Consolidated district. A new school building was built in 1957 a cost of $196,457.12 . The first classes in the new building were held in January 1958.

During this span of time the Illinois Central Railroad made Bluford a division point. The railroad yards grew to 27 tracks, some being 2 miles in length.

There was also a round house and machine shops where a good number of the citizens of Bluford earned a living.

In addition, there was an ice plant that provided ice for north bound fruit cars and for the town of Mt. Vernon.

The growth of the railroad yard promoted real estate investments in the area east of Bluford, known as Markham City.

Two hotels and rooming house were built to accommodate the railroad employees. Soon there were several other businesses opened in the area restaurants, a movie theater, a meat market, a garage and auto dealer were some of the growing enterprises of the time.

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