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| The first settler of Fulton County was Ossian Ross, who came
to the site of Lewistown in 1821 to claim his land grant of one-quarter
section in the Military Tract of Illinois. In 1822, the town site
of Lewistown was laid out and named for Lewis, Mr. Ross’s
eldest son. The first Court House of Fulton County was built in
Lewistown from hewn logs in 1823.
The first brick and stone courthouse was later erected in 1838
and served until December of 1894 when it was destroyed by fire.
The current Fulton County Courthouse was built in 1897
to replace the earlier Courthouse destroyed by fire. |
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Camp Ellis was host to a number of training
activities including medical, combat, quartermaster and
engineering units. Shown to the left is a picture of a unit
of the Engineer Corps working on constructing a pontoon
bridge over Spoon River near Bernadotte. |
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| Fulton County was the site of
Camp Ellis, an 17,000 acre U.S. Army training facility,
during World War II. World War II brought forth a great
national effort in the United States. The Fulton County
Villages of Table Grove and Ipava along with the unincorporated
hamlet of Bernadotte were to be significantly impacted by
the national mobilization efforts to wage and win a war.
The Lewistown Project, the early code name for Camp Ellis,
began with the taking and vacating of 17,800 acres of land
stretching eastward and northward of Table Grove to Ipava
on the east and Bernadotte on the northeast. Construction
of the camp commenced on September 17, 1942. On April 15,
1943 Camp Ellis was officially turned over to its first
Commanding Officer, Colonel Basil D. Spalding one month
ahead of schedule. The official dedication of Camp Ellis
was held on July 14, 1943 with over 50,000 visitors in attendance.
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The early railroads of Fulton County played
an important role in the history and development of Fulton
County as railroads did in many parts of the country. |
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Camp Ellis went nearly as quickly as it came to the area.
In November of 1944, the training unit was officially
terminated with remaining training activities being greatly
reduced.
The area occupied by Camp Ellis returned to individual
ownership in the 1950s and few signs of the Camp’s
existence remain. Portions of the rifle range, a couple
POW barracks, water towers and part of the water processing
plant near Bernadotte are all that remain. The impact
of the Camp on the community was great; Table Grove, Ipava
and Bernadotte had made their contribution to the massive
war effort of our nation in the Great War. The area east
and northeast of Table Grove is still referred to by local
folks as--"The Camp." |
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