Its First Hundred Years
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Christian
County Its First Hundred Years |
The first land homesteaded in the vicinity of what is now the town of Chadwick was entered by Lew Ballard in 1840. It is located a little more than a mile northwest of Chadwick on Bull Creek.
The first home of which records can be found, was built here by Ballard that same year. It was a two-room log cabin with a small leanto attached. The house contained a large fireplace, two doors and three windows covered with skins to keep out rain and cold. The floors were dirt but in 1845 a puncheon floor was built in one room and a small cellar dug underneath for defense against occasional Indian attacks. A storm cellar was dug several yards away from the house. This also served as winter storage space for fruits and vegetables.
The first village in the community was started east of Chadwick in 1842 in a large field owned now by R. J. Gray. At that time the present site of Chadwick was in cultivation as a corn field. Descendants of Aunt Sis Newberry remember her telling about helping her father and her husband plough it with a team of oxen. The village was called Log Town as all of the buildings were made of logs. It was later abandoned and all the businesses moved to Chadwick when that town became a bustling center of timber activities.
David Walker homesteaded on Bull Creek in 1840. Frank Weter homesteaded on Barber Creek and Howard Loomis entered the farm now owned by James A. Loomis. In 1860 a land patent signed by President Buchanan granted James Easley eighty acres of land east of Chadwick. Easley sold the land to Mrs. Minnie Kelly in 1872.
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