History:

In 1850, the Illinois Central railroad pushed two lines south from Chicago across the prairies of Central Illinois. One line ran through Decatur and to Centralia, the other through Champaign, Arcola, Mattoon and Effingham. Soon, all along both of these lines people settled and towns sprang up every few miles at water and coal stops every three to five miles apart. The one most influencing our history was called Okaw and later changed to Arcola. It was from Arcola that settlers filtered west into the swampy country on each side of the Okaw (Kaskaskia) River. In 1850, Malden Jones and a few others settled on some higher ground about s-7 miles northwest of Arcola, and in that year they received a post office permit for their town of Bourbon. Others went directly west of Arcola, crossed the river and, on a high bank started their town called Bagdad. A bit farther south more soon had a town called Cooks Mill. But other than along the rivers, the big slough prevailed.