The town of Chester, the county seat of Randolph County, is a river town in the proudest sense of the word. The Mighty Mississippi has played an important part in its history.

The area was considered a suitable place to settle and the earliest entry of land on the site was made by John McFerron who, on September 30, 1816, purchased from the government, fractional section 25, containing upwards of 47 acres. This is a triangular tract embracing the ferry landing and the old depot site and extending up the river as far as Hancock Street.

McFerron operated a ferry and was a Judge for the Court of Common Pleas at Kaskaskia. Later he represented the area as State Senator in the first Legislature that convened after the admission of the State of Illinois into the Union.

To Samuel Smith, however, belongs the honor of being the founder of Chester, originally known as Smith’s Landing. In the summer of 1829 he erected a dwelling, established a ferry and began construction of a mill. His wife was a native of Chester, England, and her name was Jane Thomas. She came to Illinois with the Swanwick family and bestowed the name of her home town on the new settlement. Smith kept a hotel and ferried passengers across the river on a flatboat.

Early Chester’s chief commodity was castor oil which was used as a lubricant. It lost its importance as the petroleum industry was developed and flourished. There were castor bean presses in other area towns, however, Chester had the advantage over the others because of river transportation. Shipments were made to St. Louis, New Orleans, and as far away as England. In 1830, the settlement increased and along the river front were an iron foundry, machine shop and several large stores. The old wood-burning steamboats did a brisk business at Chester.