and to the processing plant of A E. Staley Co Grain. Cattle were also hauled and driven overland to Chicago. On one crossroad a store, blacksmith shop and a schoolhouse formed the first settlement of Shoo Fly and was directly northeast of the present village of Weldon. With many bushels of grain and many head of cattle to be marketed, accompanied by a demand for raw materials, a railroad was soon found to be needed. At this time the government entered the picture and gave every sixth mile of land to a division of the Wabash, St Louis & Pacific Railway. This was used to form a railroad called "The Peanut Line," which ran from Champaign to Havana, Illinois, a total of 110 miles. The history of this railroad dates from the incorporation of the Monticello Railroad Co. on February 21, 1861. The line from White Heath to Havana, an extension from Monticello to Decatur, was completed by the Havana, Mason City, Lincoln & Eastern Railroad. The village there was named in honor of Lawrence Weldon, a prominent lawyer of Bloomington, Illinois, who was also an attorney for the railroad, and took an active part in determining where the railroad would be built. In 1872 a town of Weldon was laid out adjacent to the railroad, and stores were built one block north of the present main street. This section was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1879 and new stores were built at the present location. The village of Weldon, Illinois, was surveyed and platted by surveyor John Brown, in the spring of 1872. It was placed on record in the fall of 1873, by Colonel Thomas Snell, Charles S. Lisenby, James Alexander and James DeLand. Charles S. Lisenby, rich landowner, sold his land in parts, invested in and helped develop the village of Weldon. The first two-story home was built by Lisenby in 1872. The first church started in 1872, on land donated by Colonel Snell, for that purpose. The first store was built in 1873. The Winslow Brothers operated this store. The first stock consisted of drugs and groceries, but soon merged into a general store. The building was a framed construction, 20 by 60 feet and two stories high. It was located between Water and North Street. It was destroyed by fire in the summer of 1879. The next stores were built on the next