[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 78 (Thursday, June 13, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HONORING THE VILLAGE OF MAEYSTOWN ON THEIR 150TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 12, 2002

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in recognizing the 150th Anniversary of the Village of Maeystown, 
Illinois.
  The Village of Maeystown, Illinois is located just eight miles south 
of Waterloo in Monroe County, Illinois and is celebrating its 150th 
Anniversary as a Village this year.
  The town, founded in 1852, was placed on the National Register of 
Historic Places in 1978 for significance in architecture and 
engineering. Since that time the small community of approximately 150 
residents has become a popular site for visitors to the area. Its 
historic distinction, as well as a progressive organization called the 
Maeystown Preservation Society, has brought new life to the once-dying 
community.
  The village has a periodic newspaper called the Maeystown Volksblatt. 
Maeystown has its own water system and is governed by a village board 
and mayor. Maeystown has a growing business community, including The 
Corner George Bed and Breakfast, Corner George Inn Sweet Shoppe, 
Eschy's Village Inn, Maeystown General Store, Raccoon Hollow 
Handcrafts, KW Outdoor Wear, T. Walster of Maeystown (custom doors and 
windows). The Maeystown Nature Walk is operated year round for 
donations.
  Although Maeystown's population continues to be small, people from 
throughout the area support Maeystown's many activities. These events 
include: Fastnacht, a German pancake and sausage dinner Tuesday before 
Ash Wednesday; Fruhlingfest, a spring craft festival, first Sunday in 
May; Oktoberfest, an art and crafts fair, second Sunday in October and 
a German Christmas, on the first Sunday in December.
  (The following is taken from ``The Significance of the Village of 
Maeystown, Illinois'' by Gloria Bundy.)
  ``The picturesque village of Maeystown, nestled in the hills and 
among the spring-fed streams in one small spot of Southern Illinois was 
founded in 1852 by Jacob Maeys, who was born in Oggersheim, Bavaria, in 
1828.
  Although the village was founded in 1852 and settled entirely by 
German immigrants of the Forty-Eighter movement, its historical 
significance begins in 1782, at the time of the Moore settlement at La 
Belle Fontaine, at what is now Waterloo, Illinois.
  Captain James Moore, a native of Maryland, was a soldier under George 
Rogers Clark and was with him at Kaskaskia when he captured the 
Illinois Country for Governor Patrick Henry, making it a county of 
Virginia. Having seen the advantages of the Illinois Country, he 
returned with his family and four other pioneers and their families and 
spent the winter of 1781 in Kaskaskia. In 1782, Moore and his party 
moved northward on the Kaskaskia Trail and settled at a place the 
French called La Belle Fontaine because of the beautiful spring there. 
This was the first permanent American settlement made in the Illinois 
Territory.
  Other pioneers subsequently followed, stopping briefly at the Moore 
settlement until they staked claims for themselves elsewhere. One such 
young pioneer was James McRoberts, a Revolutionary War Soldier, who 
joined the Moore party and then staked a claim of 100 acres (Survey 
704; Claim 316), which he received for an improvement right. He left 
his claim, went to Tennessee, where he married Mary Fletcher-Harris and 
came back to Monroe County in 1797, receiving, another 100 acres, 
presently owned by Mr. and Mrs. Halbert Mueller (Survey 703; Claim 
315), from the government as a militia donation. This claim was about 
one mile north of the first one. It was on the second claim that he 
built his dwelling out of cedar logs. Here his ten children were born. 
Samuel, the eldest, ``was the first native-born Illinoisan elevated to 
the United States Senate.''
  Following the elder McRobert's death in 1844, his Survey 704; Claim 
316, now known as the McRoberts' Meadow, was sold and re-sold in rapid 
succession. It was a hilly, wooded tract of land, not suitable for 
cultivation. It contained three streams and a large spring, with 
limestone deposits protruding out of the hillsides and along the creek 
banks.
  In 1848, Jacob Maeys purchased the Meadow from James 0. Hall because 
of the large spring upon it. Young Maeys intended to use the waterpower 
from the spring to run a sawmill. Here he built his log house to which 
he brought his bride, Barbara Fischer, also a native of Germany.
  Purchasing these 100 acres was very timely, as it was just when the 
Forty-Eighters were coming up the Mississippi River from the port of 
New Orleans, stopping briefly at St. Louis and then spreading by the 
thousands into the surrounding areas of Missouri and Illinois.''
  The people of Maeystown are extremely proud of their German heritage 
and love to talk of the history of the stone structures that dot the 
community. The German ancestry of the town originally existed because 
of the craftspeople that came to settle in the area. There was a 
cobbler, a shoemaker, blacksmith, tailor and an undertaker. The stone 
structures that dot the community were built by the German immigrants 
along the bluffs in a manner similar to Bavarian Stone houses in their 
native Germany. About 60 significant buildings still exist; including 
Maey's log house, the original church, the mill and the various 
limestone buildings.
  Maeystown today continues as a vibrant, historic community hosting 
thousands of visitors each year to walk among its historic areas and 
enjoy the hospitality of its people.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the 150th 
Anniversary of the Village of Maeystown, Illinois and to congratulate 
all of their past, present and future residents with the historic 
achievement.

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