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History of Lena
The earliest settlers in the area that would become Lena included John Garner and Samuel Dodds. Dodds is generally acknowledged as the founder of the village. Garner settled the area shortly after the end of the Black Hawk War in 1834. Most of the earliest settlers were occupied by farming.
In 1853 the Illinois Central Railroad began surveying the land and grading a railroad route through Stephenson County. The rail line through West Point Township was completed in 1854 and Dodds and Illinois Central set aside 160 acres in southwest corner of the township and named it Lena. Before the arrival of the railroad the population of Lena was limited to 12 families. After the railroad came to town early businesses operating during the 1850s included, a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop, a post office, a grain dealer, two physicians and a dry goods store operated by William Allen which opened around the same time the railroad arrived.
Business continued to develop and in 1855 the 2½ story Lena Steam Mill was built. The brick, Greek Revival structure, built by Shemberhorn and Munns, housed a 35 horsepower steam engine which powered the mill. Other businesses started from the late 1850s to the early 1860s including Shannon Carriage Works, and Lena Foundry. The Lena Foundry made leather rollers, boot crimpers and feed cookers. In 1854 the Lena Hotel was erected.
By 1860 Lena was a prominent shipping point for grain and livestock to St. Louis, Chicago and other cities. The same year Lena's population had reached 600 and on April 16, 1866 Lena was first incorporated as a town. A year later the population had doubled to 1,200. In 1874, at a cost of $500, a one-story frame construction town hall was built.
Fires
As growth continued after the Civil War the town has its first newspaper established, the Lena Star in 1867, with Samuel Dodds as its editor. The same year the newspaper noted the Lena's first recorded fire. In response, the newspaper called for a town water pump as a way to avoid another fire. 1868 saw several fires, two minor ones at the rail depot, which stunned the village because of what the loss of the depot would mean for the fledgling village, and two fires within a week at the blacksmith shop. New Star editor J.M. Shannon called for a town pump multiple times in 1867.
Lena's first water well was established on May 15, 1868. The 44 foot deep well was equipped with a small pump. By 1870 Lena's population had reached 1,295 people and its social and business community continued its growth as well. The Lena Fire Department was one result of the growth, it was established in 1869 and officially met for the first time in 1870. Despite the presence of the fire department and well, fires continued to plague Lena. During the early 1870s structure fires consumed a warehouse, a stable, a rural school and several Lena houses. News of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire did not help the already fire-panicked residents of Lena. In 1874 fire nearly destroyed the old Illinois Central depot and freight houses. |
