depot building was erected on the north side of the tracks. J.M. Mitchell built the first store on the corner just north of the depot. A small house and blacksmith shop was built south of the railroad. Charles Cochrane George Washington Kent, the town’s co-founder moved to Gridley. There was a brief setback in 1858 when a tornado swept through the down damaging Cochrane’s and Kent’s house and twisting the newly laid rails, but growth quickly resumed. Kent built the first grain elevator. History of McLean 1879, pp 558–560. He then enlisted in the Union army serving first as sergeant and then lieutenant. Upon his return he guided the town through additional growth; among other things he dug up trees along the Mackinaw River and hauled them to town where they were planted in public square. In 1884 Fred Donner established a tile factory. It was first incorporated as a town under a special charter. Gridley, Illinois: A sesquicentennial Celebration. By 1900 the town had a population of 735. Fire of 1901 On Friday May 4, 1901 a fire destroyed most of downtown Gridley. The afternoon of Friday 3 May had been hot and windy. At 3:40 in the afternoon smoke was seen rising from the alley behind Cohn’s store. There had been a serious fire in July 1891, and the town seemed well prepared with several cisterns and a dedicated force of volunteer fire fighters. Soon stores along both sides of Center Street were engulfed in flame. Water was pumped from several cisterns and then hoses were run to the flooded pit of the tile factory. All of the able bodied people in town, and many from the surrounding countryside, joined in the fire fighting effort. The state bank and many other structures burned to the ground. Message was telegraphed to Peoria for help, but before it could arrive the blaze had subsided. Damage was estimated at $100,000, a severe blow for a small town. Rebuilding quickly began. Later history Until the third decade of the Twentieth Century Gridley had been a railroad town; in the early 1920s six passenger trains in both directions served the town. Then, in June 1924, the newly paved Route 8, today US-24, was opened. The hard road quickly destroyed rail passenger traffic. In 1925 it was announced that the depot would be closed on Sundays. In 1929 all passenger traffic ended. One of