History of Wood River and Benbow City
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
In 1906, Standard Oil engineers from
Whiting, Indiana searched the fertile farmland along the
Mississippi River to select a site for their new
refinery. The site selected was part of the Fred Penning farm in
Wood River Township, just west of the Big Four and the Chicago,
Peoria, and St. Louis Railroad lines. Construction began on the
refinery in 1907. The founding of the refinery meant workers
would need a place to live. In May 1907, Fred Penning platted
his farmland, which included land between Ferguson and Madison
from Fourth Street, past the intersection at First Street. On
August 12, 1907, he added another subdivision, and on September
10, 1907, the Riverview Subdivision was recorded. The following
March 1908, Penning completed the subdivision to Fourth Street,
and on March 4, the first Dulany’s subdivision was recorded. A
petition for incorporation of Wood River into a village was
filed July 3, 1908 and was approved by Judge Hillskotter. The
election was held October 6, 1908. P. E. Ashlock was elected
Village President; M. W. Taylor, Village Clerk; and James T.
Ashlock was elected police magistrate.
Even with this rapid development, as soon as a house was
built, a family moved in. Water, sewers, and electricity were
not yet available. Madison Avenue, constructed by the Standard
Oil Company, was covered with rock and was the only good road in
town. All other roads were loose sand, in which horses had a
terrible time pulling wagons through.
The eastern portion
of the area was growing also. Augustine Head owned a farm
bounded on the east by Thirteenth Street, the west by Sixth
Street, the south by Tydeman in Roxana, and on the north by
Madison. The Head farmhouse stood on the corner of Ninth and
Whittier. Head began to sell some of his farmland to the
Standard Oil Company for workers who needed homes. This eastern
portion and the original western portion of Wood River soon
became rivals. During 1909, it was decided to incorporate, and a
petition was presented to incorporate the eastern section under
the name of East Wood River. The incorporation was approved, and
election of officers was held. It was rumored that Wood River
would annex East Wood River, however it turned out that East
Wood River annexed Wood River in 1910, and then changed their
name to Wood River. In 1917, Benbow City was annexed to Wood
River.
As the refinery grew, the population of the area
increased. Standard Oil purchased for their workers more than
two dozen Sears catalog kit homes in 1919. The close
relationship between the refinery and the city was evidenced by
the fact that the sports teams for the Wood River schools were
named the Oilers, in honor of the industry that gave birth to
their community.
In 1926, Standard Oil donated what was
then the nation’s largest outdoor swimming pool, along with a
community center known as the Roundhouse, and a wooden band
shell. A Standard Oil official was the first person to enter the
pool, located on Whitelaw Avenue.
Early Wood River
Schools
Education began in the future site of Wood River with
the construction of Gillham’s Pasture School on the northeast
corner of what is now 13th Street and Edwardsville Road in Wood
River.
In the early 1860s the Brushy Grove School was erected where the
Gillham Pasture School stood. Brushy Grove was originally in the
Roxana School District. The first schoolhouse was destroyed by
fire and was replaced. A third structure was erected when state
laws regulated systems of ventilation and sanitation, which the
second building lacked. This schoolhouse was sold to Joseph
Havelka, Wood River Township Road Supervisor, for $425. The
fourth Brushy Grove School was completed November 1929, and was
a modern, four-classroom building. The fourth schoolhouse was
torn down in 1971. Today, a marker stands at the U. S. Bank
(formerly the Wood River Savings and Loan) where the Brushy
Grove church and school were located. This marker was dedicated
in November 1984. The cornerstone of the fourth schoolhouse and
the stone nameplate were incorporated into the marker.
In
1911, Standard Oil erected the first school in the city of Wood
River. It was located on North Old St. Louis Road, just north of
West Ferguson Avenue.
BENBOW CITY
Benbow City in
Wood River Township was founded in December 1907 by Amos Benbow,
a 60-year-old former school teacher and realtor, who inherited
land near the future Standard Oil Refinery in Wood River
Township. He was the son of Richard M. Benbow, and was born in
Wood River Township on February 20, 1850.
Benbow City
was located north and south of present-day Hwy. 143 in Wood
River, just east of the railroad tracks near Rt. 3. The property
had previously been farmland. Just to the west of Benbow City
was an area called Little Italy, which was occupied by mostly
foreigners. Benbow City was developed for refinery workers, who
turned it into a lawless town with mostly saloons and
prostitution. It had a peak population of about 300 people, with
one saloon for each thirteen people. In addition to the
twenty-three saloons, there were seven brewery agencies, and
each dram shop and agency paid $500 a year for a license.
After founding Benbow City, Amos Benbow was elected mayor.
As head of that town, he made his famous fight against the
encroachment of the city of Wood River, insisting his place was
Benbow City, not part of Wood River. Several destructive fires
led to the downfall of Benbow City. Several years later Benbow
disposed of some of his land to the Standard Oil Company, and in
1917 Benbow City ceased to exist and was annexed into Wood
River.
Other public offices Benbow held included two
terms as mayor of Upper Alton, constable, justice of the peace,
assessor, collector and deputy sheriff. He represented his
district in the Forty-fourth Illinois General Assembly. During
President Cleveland's first administration, he was Deputy United
States Marshal, for the Southern Illinois district, which
included 69 counties.
William O’Hearn, a former St. Louis
policeman, was a councilman at Benbow City. He also tended bar
at the Marsh Saloon there. He became ill while tending bar in
August 1913, and was taken by John Brady and Jerome Ford, Benbow
City marshals, to the village hall, where Dr. E. D. Gottshalk
attended him. He died August 27, 1913. O’Hearn was known as the
“handy man” of Benbow City. When the Mayor was absent, O’Hearn
filled in. At various times he served as marshal, village clerk,
election judge, and fire department volunteer.
Mrs. Katie
Waggoner was the first woman to live in Benbow City. She settled
in a box car (where a lot of the foreigners lived before housing
was available) and did cooking for the foreigners who worked at
the nearby refinery. In her spare time, she served as
translator, as she was fluent in five tongues – Polish, Slavish,
Hungarian, German, and English. She was highly regarded,
described as pretty, and dressed neatly. She later moved into a
tent, and then married Michael Waggoner, a foreigner working at
the refinery. They bought a house together. In June 1912, Katie
died at her home of Bright’s disease (inflammation of the
kidneys), and is buried in the Greenwood (St. Patrick’s)
Cemetery in Godfrey.