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In 1857 the Man Who Preached “Go West, Young Man” Was the First Famous Lecturer in Kewanee

The 2 families dominated Kewanee’s mercantile scene for 6 decades

Columnist Dean Karau traces Kewanee – In the Beginning . . . DEAN KARAU What was Kewanee like in its first year? Let’s take a look. But first, for a frame of reference, let’s revisit Wethersfield prior to the founding of Kewanee.  Wethersfield’s growth was stunted by the Financial Panic of 1837, which lasted through much of the 1840s. By the early 1850s, Wethersfield had only a dozen or so businesses operating in the village. It’s population hovered around 400, but most lived on farms outside of the village. What later became Kewanee Township had another 400 or so similarly living ...

Columnist Dean Karau revisits Republican Party's 1856 mass convention in Kewanee Star Courier The Founding Fathers distrusted political parties. Nevertheless, political divisions arose and political parties soon developed. First there were Federalists (strong central government) versus Jeffersonian Republicans (limited government). Then the former dissolved and the latter became Democratic-Republicans but evolved into the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson, essentially today’s Democrats. Jackson’s opponents soon formed the Whig Party. In the 1850s, slavery and its expansion into new terri...

Jeremiah Lay: Mover, shaper Dean Karau A successful Wisconsin merchant made his way to Wethersfield in early 1854. He had read with fascination the plans for the Central Military Tract Railroad to connect Iowa with Chicago, cutting across Illinois prairies which would become rich farmland. He saw an opportunity to speculate in land, to turn the profits he made in Wisconsin into even greater profits. The entrepreneur did not shirk from the possibilities before him. As a result, he helped shape the fledgling village of Berrien, soon to be renamed Kewanee. Jeremiah Nelson Lay was born to Jeremia...