amounts of chicken, oysters and coffee were consumed. Scheduled rail service would continue until December 1982 and the last train special train stopped in Danvers in August 1984. In 1907 Danvers also became a stop on the electric interurban railroad. These tracks were laid along Exchange Street and passed through the center of the town. The Illinois Traction System operated long after similar electric railroads in other areas had closed. In 1942 the interurban tracks were threatened when the government scoured the country for surplus metal for war needs, but citizens protested that the electric railroad was vital to local people and saved great amounts of gasoline. Service on the interurban finally ended on February 21, 1953. Later years In 1870 the population of Danvers was 356. By 1900 it had climbed to 607 and by 1950 to 762. However, by 2000 it was over 1100, meaning that unlike many similar places, the town had grown more rapidly than at any earlier period. Much of this increase in population was due to a substantial number of people who found the town a pleasant residential base when working in Bloomington-Normal or Peoria. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Danvers was the home of Dr. F. J. Parkhurst’s distinctive alcohol treatment facility, the Willowbark Institute. Beginning in 1880 the doctor sought to treat addiction to strong spirits by administering small amounts of alcohol, followed by a stiff dose of foul-tasting willowbark extract. Parkhurst’s facility operated until about 1920 and was revived by others from 1935 to the early 1950s. Danvers was also distinctive for its drift gas wells. During the last glacial epoch, vegetation was buried by ice-carried soil. Its decay produced gas that could be tapped in shallow wells and used for some domestic purposes. At one time there were more than seventy such wells in the Danvers area. The town is currently home to a cooperative grain elevator, two bars, bank, and a gas station. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 1,183 people, 426 households, and 328 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 453 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.89% White, 0.93% African American, 0.34% Native American, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.76% of