erected had been first purchased from the government by James C. Spencer and Henry A. Gardner on May 4, 1853. Through a series of quick transactions, Spencer sold his land to William H. Odell who then transferred it to Sydney S. Morgan. Original design The town was surveyed by Thomas F. Norton, deputy surveyor of Livingston County. The railroad had been granted a swath of land extending diagonally through the town. This presented a problem in town design, which was solved at Odell by aligning the entire original town with the tracks. A similar problem was presented by several towns along this railroad. Unlike the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, built through Livingston County at about the same time, a standard plan with shared street names does not seem to have been used along the Chicago and Mississippi. Lots sold from twenty to thirty dollars, with twenty being more common. Where the tracks passed through the town, the land used by the railroad was widened an additional 100 yards on both sides of the tracks, to create railroad grounds, although at Odell they were not labeled as such. This kind of widening of railroad property at townsites was a common feature of railroad towns built in the 1850s and may be seen at places like Dwight, Towanda, McLean, Fairbury and Chatsworth; it became less common with later railroad towns. The depot at Odell was on the north side of the tracks and the two early elevators on the south side. The original town included 24 numbered blocks, each of which contained up to 20 lots. There was no central public square designated on the plat. The original town plan remains substantially unaltered to this day. Early growth The first sign of activity at the site of the new town was the building of a switch and tank. For the first year the only inhabitants of the place were railroad employees who manned the station and kept water in the tank. Daniel Smith, of New York, was the first station master. Slowly a few local merchants were attracted to the townsite; some came from the now-defunct town of New Michigan in northern Livingston County. David Williams put up a shack and began to sell "a few basketfuls of groceries and notions". He soon gave up and returned to New Michigan. The railroad erected a small warehouse which was rented out for