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There is some dispute as to the actual year Mahomet was established.
The 1878 volume, History of Champaign County maintains that
the Village of Mahomet was "laid out in 1832". However, J.S. Lothrop,
Champaign County's first historian, sets the year as 1836. He records
that this is the year that Daniel T. Porter "entered the land where the
Village of Mahomet now stands and at once laid off the village…"J.O.
Cunningham in his 1905 history agrees with Lothrop on the year. The
original plat still exists in the office of the county recorder, and on it
the surveyor, Garret Moore, certifies, "the foregoing as the correct plat
of the Town of Middletown as located by Daniel Porter of Champaign County
and surveyed by me (on) March 10th, 1836." |
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Mahomet was originally named Middletown, presumably because it is the
half-way point between Bloomington and Danville. Sometime during the
1840s or 1850s it was discovered that there were two Middletowns in
Illinois, the other being in Logan County. It is assumed that the name
Mahomet was arbitrarily assigned to this Middletown's post office in
Washington, D.C.. In his article, "Middletown Becomes Mahomet", Dan
McCollum states, "It is likely that the post office was the most important
feature of the village, causing that name to be used instead of the local
name. Even the first county map, the Bowman map of 1863, also used the
name of the post office, in spite of the fact that the name remained
Middletown until 1871." |
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The early settlers chose Mahomet because of its water (Sangamon River)
and fuel (timber). The settlers came primarily from Indiana, Ohio,
Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Before them, Indians roamed the
land, including the Kickapoos and Pottawattamies. |
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This information about the history of Mahomet was obtained from the
following sources: Mahomet Sesquicentennial 1832-1982, by the
Mahomet Historical Society; Mahomet Methodist Church Centennial
1955, by Isabelle S. Purnell; Sangamon River People by
Charlotte Nesmith Williamson; and "Middletown Becomes Mahomet", by Dan
McCollum. These books and articles and many more on the history of
Mahomet and Champaign County can be found at the Mahomet Public Library.
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