History of Hamel, Illinois
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
The area around what is presently Hamel
Township remained unsettled until the early 1800s. The settlers
found fertile land with abundant water, as well as virgin stands
of timber. The first white man known to settle in the Hamel area
was a man named Ferguson. He built a log cabin on Cahokia Creek
in 1811, but abandoned it at the beginning of the War of 1812.
The first permanent settlers in about 1817 were a Robert and
Anson Aldrich, George and Henry Keley, Mrs. Henry Keley, Mrs.
Ann Young, and Henry T. and Harriet Bartling – all from
Massachusetts. Henry Keley, aided by the Aldrich’s, selected a
home site and built a log cabin. He was joined by his family in
1818, and the Aldrich’s boarded with them.
Shortly after,
settlers from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Carolinas began
to settle in the area. The early economy was strictly
agriculture. The first wheat crop was harvested in Hamel
Township in 1818. In 1819, Henry Keley and Anson Aldrich bought
some apple grafts from a nursery in St. Charles County,
Missouri, and planted the first orchards in the area.
The
first industry in Hamel Township was a band mill, erected by
Henry Keley in 1820. The mill was operated with rawhide bands
instead of cogs. It was not successful, however, and soon closed
down. The next attempt to establish businesses was made by two
men named Estabrook and Livermore. In 1829, they built a saw and
grist mill on Cahokia Creek, which remained in operation until
1852.
In the 1830s, a large number of German immigrants
began to arrive in America. Many of these immigrants settled in
the Hamel area, and in 1861 they erected a Lutheran Church.
Hamel’s Corner
Hamel’s Corner was founded by Frederick
Wolf in 1865. He built a general store and feed stable at the
Edwardsville-Staunton and Alton-Greenville
crossroads.
Travelers stopped to eat, rest, and feed their horses. It was
named Hamel’s Corner after Andrew Jackson “Jack” Hamel [also
spelled Hammel], a farmer who owned all the land on the north
side of the Alton-Greenville Road, near the crossroads. Hamel
was born in Ohio in 1822, and immigrated to Indiana where he
married Mary Mattocks or Mattlock. They had three sons – Squire,
Joseph, and George. His wife, Mary, and two sons – Squire and
Joseph – died in Indiana. Hamel remarried to Mary Wilson in
1853. He purchased two land grants in Madison County from
veterans who served in the military with his older brother,
Nelson Hamel, and moved to Madison County with wife, Mary (with
whom he would have nine children), and his son, George. He
became a land speculator and made many purchases and sales of
land in the area. His original 160 acres of land was located
where two old trails used to cross – the Kaskaskia and Peoria
trace trail, and the Ranger trail. The Kaskaskia and Peoria was
a trail cleared by buffalo and Indians long before the days of
recorded history. Before 1800, it had been widened by
two-wheeled ox carts of the French when they owned the
territory. It became the Edwardsville-Staunton Road (Hwy. 157).
The Ranger trail dated back to 1812, when Rangers cleared a
trail from the Wood River [creek] to the Sangamon River, to
facilitate their march to the Indian towns. This trail became
the Alton-Greenville Road, and today is known as Rt. 140.
Hamel opened a general store at the crossroads in 1868,
which provided travelers with food. This was in the days when
droves of cattle, horses, and hogs were driven overland and
ferried across the river to St. Louis. Near the northwest corner
of the intersection, Jack Hamel, with John Handshy & Mr. Sparks,
established a steam flour mill in 1869. This was wheat country,
but the mill went out of business after four years – possibly
because of the mills at Edwardsville gave too much competition.
Jack Hamel sold his remaining land of 255 acres to Casper
Gaertner and left Madison County. He died in 1876, but it is
unknown where.
In 1867, Christian Traub opened a
blacksmith shop, and soon after, C. A. Engelmann erected a wagon
shop. In 1871, Jack Hamel sold his general store to George H.
Engelmann, and moved out of the township. The name, Hamel’s
corner, lingered on even after the Illinois Traction (now
Illinois Terminal Railroad) came through. The extension of the
Wabash Railroad came through the township in the 1870s, and was
a stimulant for the local economy. Farmers began to ship their
produce to distant markets. In 1877, the railroad built a
station and installed a switch northeast of the village. This
station was named Carpenter by the railroad company.
Two
churches were built in the township during the 1870s – the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church (1872), and the Evangelical
Church (1873).
By 1880, the population of the township
had risen to 1,222, and the village of Hamel’s Corner included a
general store, two blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, and a
shoemaker’s shop.
On February 24, 1955, Hamel was
officially incorporated as a village. The village population at
this time was 331. Wilbur Meyer was elected the first village
president. In 1956, postal service was established in the
village, and a new post office building was erected in 1959. A
bank was established in 1957. Construction of the new Hamel
Elementary School was completed in 1969, on Rt. 140 in the
western section of the community.
Early Schools in Hamel
A school was built on the Robert Aldrich farm in 1825, but was
used for only a short time. A more permanent log structure was
built some time later and was used for church services as well
as classes.