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Jersey County Page Jerseyville History
Jerseyville Sold For Eighty Dollars
Source unknown, Newspaper article
The original Town, now City, of Jerseyville comprising some forty acres of land on which the main business section of the land now stands, at one time sold for the sum of $80 or $2.00 per acre.
The original forty acres was first entered by Lindsey H. English from the government, and in 1831 he disposed of it to John Evans of Carrollton for the sum of $80. Evans sold the tract in the spring of 1834 to Jonathan W. Lott and Edward M. Daley for the sum of $475. On the first of October, 1834; these men laid off a town on the tract purchased from Evans. Lott was a New Jersey man, and when the question arose as to the naming of the prospective town, Lott proposed Jerseyville.
A number of other names were suggested by others interested but Lott was so strong in his preference for a name in honor of his native state that Jerseyville was agreed upon.
Soon after the survey of the original town was completed, Lott and Daley erected a building and started a store which was the first one in the town. The firm did not continue for long in the mercantile business but later sold to George Collins and Benjamin Yates.
The selection of Jerseyville as the county seat followed the establishment of the county in 1839, and gave impetus to the growth of the city which continued steadily.
Contributed by Marty Crull and his volunteers.
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