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LOMBARDVILLE
On June 15, 1870, Edwin Butler, then county surveyor, surveyed the town of Lombardville for Julia A. Lombard and Dr. Alfred H. Castle, and the plat was filed on the 8th of July following. Lombardville was located on the Buda & Rushville Division of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RailRoad, on the line dividing sections 2 and 11, Osceola township. The original plat shows 104 lots, with State, Franklin, Lombard and Duncan streets running north and south, and Howard, Main and Washington run east and west. The hotel and elevator were completed in the fall of 1870, the Lombardville Mining Company began operations about the same time, and for some time the village showed signs of becoming a town of some importance. But the coal deposits were worked out, much of the trade was diverted to Bradford and other towns and Lombardville never came up to the expectations of its founders. A public school, a general store and grain elevators were the principal institutions.

MASSILLON
Says Mrs. Shallenberger: "Massillon was situated seven miles nearly due south of the present town of Toulon, not far from the southern boundary of the county. Its projector and proprietor was Stephen Trickle. date of survey, April, 1837."

This is the only written account of Massillon found. It is known that one of the precincts of the county was named Massillon, from which it may be inferred that the town was once a place of some consequence, though it is now nothing more than a memory.

MORSE
This town owed its existence to the building of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad through the county in 1901-02. It was located in the extreme northeast corner of the township of Osceola and only a short distance east of Lombardville. No official plat oft he village was ever filed in the office of the county recorder, but an atlas of the county, published in 1907, shows fourteen lots--six north, and eight south of the railroad station. Rand & McNally give the population in 1910 as 50.

MOULTON
The extinct town of Moulton was located near the northern border of Essex township, about three miles west of Wyoming, in the Indian Creek Valley. It was surveyed in August, 1836, by Robert Schuyler, Russell H. Nevins, William Couch, David Lee and Abijah Fisher. George and William Sammis had a store on the site at the time the town was laid out. At one time Moulton had aspirations to become the county seat of Stark county, but Toulon won that honor and the close proximity of Wyoming also contributed to Moulton's downfall. A frame house was erected there by Eugenius Frum a year or two after the town was platted, but this building was afterward purchased by Benjamin Turner and removed to Toulon, where it stood until 1886.

PLEASANT GREEN
An old map of Stark county shows the settlement of Pleasant Green near the center of section 33, Osceola township. It was never formally laid out as a town, but a rural postoffice was maintained here for some time in early days and some coal was mined in the vicinity. The district school known as the "Pleasant Green" school was still there in 1915.

PUCKERBRUSH
This is another settlement that "just growed." It was located in section 7, Penn township, a little south of the site of the old village of Walden, and consisted of six lots along the south side of the highway. Just how the settlement obtained its name is uncertain. The location of Puckerbrush was just a stones throw from old Walden.

SLACKWATER
Just east of the Spoon River, in section 33, Essex townahip, is the old village of Slackwater, which at one time was a trading point and neighborhood center of some importance. The building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and the founding of the town of Duncan, only a mile and a half east on the Railroad, robbed Slackwater of its prestige and it sank into insignificance.
TO SEE PICS OF THE SLACKWATER AREA TODAY CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE !!!

SNAREVILLE
The area known as Snareville lies within Penn township just a few miles south of Modena in Stark County Illinois. Snareville isn't exactly gone but there is little left of it today. The cemetery there was established in 1838 and is fairly sizeable for a rural cemetery. It is also well kept and is still used by many area families for burial. There was once a school there as well as a church but today there are only a few scattered houses and out-buildings.

SPOON RIVER
Especially prior to the establishment of Wyoming in 1836 and it seems for sometime after, the few early settlers along the banks of the Spoon River in what is today Stark county IL, referred to their settlment as the Spoon River community or village. Isaac B. Essex was considered the first settler of Spoon River and General Samuel Thomas came later using this reference to the people of Spoon River as well. General Thomas’ home was the only religious chapel among the people of Spoon River for several years. Through those early years the term fell into disuse and as villages and towns were established settlers identified with them as well as with the townships in which they lie. The Spoon River area was between Wyoming and Moulton.

STARWANO
No plat of this settlement--for it can hardly be called a town--was ever recorded. It is located in West Jersey township, near the eastern boundary. A Methodist church was organized here at an early date but the commercial activity of Starwano has long departed.
TO SEE THE STARWANO AREA TODAY CLICK ON THE NAME ABOVE !!

STRINGTOWN
In the atlas of Stark County, published in 1907, is shown a thickly settled neighborhood in the southwestern part of Essex township(sections 30 &31) which has long been known as Stringtown. Its location is almost identical with that of the old Town of Massillon previously mentioned. A church and a school were both established there. Today there are only scattered farms and a cemetery.

WADY PETRA
This little town with the unusual name was platted on June 2, 1873 by Edwin butler, then surveyor of Stark County, for Mrs. Anna K. Chase. It was located on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, in section 31, Valley township, only about one mile from the village of Stark. Front street ran parallel to the Railroad and a square farther east was Chase street. The north and south streets were Main and Hamilton. The original plat shows fifty-five lots. Wady Petra was a typical little railroad station, with the usual local business enterprises. In 1910 the population was given as forty-five.

WALDEN The old town of Walden was situated in the north side of section 7, Penn township, just across the Spoon River from Modena. It is said to have taken its name from Dexter Wall, and was sometimes written Wallden. Mr. Wall built a steam mill there at an early date and a general store was opened, but the name of the pioneer merchant has apparently been forgotten. "Wall's Schoolhouse" which stood not far from the mill, was a favorite place for holding religious services by ministers of different denominations. In time Mr. Wall removed his mill to Wyoming and the town of Walden disappeared from the map.

WALNUT CREEK
The following is from a “History of Stark County” - By G. A. Clifford
(Published in the Stark County News May 30, 1862)
The land of West Jersey is made up of a gentle undulating prairie, skirted with belts of timber. Upon the west is Walnut Creek, the Walnut Creek bluffs abound in coal, as do those of Spoon River not far to the south of the township. The mill upon Walnut Creek, now known as Rounds' Mill, was commenced in January, 1838.
The first regular Ball in that settlement was at Joseph Palmer's in Walnut Creek, on the 4th of July, 1838. Barnett hired Palmer to get up dinner for twenty-one couple for forty-two dollars, provided that many were present. Caleb North delivered a short oration in the day time. Before dark the ball opened. It was a brilliant success. Twenty-three couple were present. Mr. William Mason, now living near Toulon, did the fiddling, for which he received the handsome sum of Nine Dollars, the first money he ever took in for music. The party danced beyond the "we sma' hours" into broad sunshine the next morning. Most of the party were there twenty-four hours, enjoying themselves hugely all the while.
The Carding Machine at the south west corner of the town, on Walnut Creek, was built about 1842 by Washington Trickle and Charles Yocum, and for several years did a fair business, when there was water to run it. People patronized it from very distant places.

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