Liberty and Liberty Township is located right here in Adams County
Just a little tale about Liberty, IL
Liberty is located on Illinois Route 104 east of Quincy Illinois. Liberty is a small rural village with an estimated population of between 500 and 600 residents.
Liberty was founded in 1822 by Daniel Lile. According to the history book about Adams County, many more settlers followed and settled there as well.
When the wild Illinois territory was being settled, there were very few settlers with European ancestry. There were native peoples, but how many no one knows and probably never will.
Illinois became a state of the United States in 1818. Settlement of the state began in the southern regions of the state that had river access from the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. As the new settlers arrived the moved quickly north to claim land. The native Americans that that lived in the new state were quickly driven out. A sad punctuation point in American history with the crimes committed against the native peoples by the U.S. government during that period of American history and its expansion west.
Settlement of Illinois really began in earnest after the French were defeated in the War of 1812. Before that the French were the first Europeans to discover and explore what would eventually become Illinois.
The land that became available for settlement were a great opportunity for people that had nothing to become land owners, entrepreneurs and small farmers. For the settlers moving into the new territory is was a land rush to get what was unclaimed and get your stake of ground established, and that they did.
Liberty Township where the village of Liberty resides was mainly settled by immigrants from Germany and from other German settlements around Cincinnati Ohio. There were other “New Englanders, Southerners, Hoosiers, Buckeyes, English, Irish and Polish” peoples as well.
During the 1820’s settlers discovered how fertile the soil in the Illinois prairies was. Once the word got out the settlers pushed north to claim land. Other advancements such as the introduction of the modern self-scouring plow by John Deere proved very effective in breaking up the prairie sod. The other factor that really helped to increase settlement was the building railroads which enabled farmers to be able to get their crops to market more easily.
Liberty had all these things going for it. Great soil and railroad access to make it able for farmers to get their crops to market. Today some 28 million acres of land in Illinois or about 80% of the available land is used to grow crops. Looking around Liberty you will see just that. Large farms with miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. The early settlers would hardly recognize the place.
Points of interest nearby Liberty
Airports
Fire Stations
- Liberty Fire Protection District, which is on 607 Talbot Street, Liberty.
- Plainville Fire House, which is on 120 East Vining Street, Plainville.
- Payson-Fall Creek Fire Department, which is on RQ95+9CQ, 111 North Park Street, Payson.
Secondary Schools
- Payson-Seymour High School, which is on 420 West Brainard Street, Payson.
Parks
- Siloam Springs State Park, which is on 938 County Road 3003 East, Clayton.
- Liberty Park, which is on Liberty.
- Hickory Hill Campground, which is on Clayton.
- Oak Ridge Campground, which is on Clayton.
- Pine Grove Campground, which is on Clayton.
- Burton Cave Nature Preserve, which is on Liberty.
City halls
- LIBERTY TOWNSHIP HALL, which is on 600 Dudley Street, Liberty.
- GILMER TOWN HALL, which is on 1350 East 1600th Street, Quincy.
- MCKEE TOWN HALL, which is on 2980 North 1200th Avenue, Clayton.
Govt offices
- LIBERTY TOWNSHIP HALL, which is on 600 Dudley Street, Liberty.
- Liberty Township, which is on 1000 East 2000th Street, Liberty.
- GILMER TOWN HALL, which is on 1350 East 1600th Street, Quincy.
- Payson Maintenance Department, which is on 204 South Washington Street, Payson.
- MCKEE TOWN HALL, which is on 2980 North 1200th Avenue, Clayton.
Nearby Towns and Suburbs
- Richfield is 4 miles to the south.
- Adams is 4 miles to the west.
- Kingston is 6 miles to the south-east.
- Plainville is 7 miles to the south-west.
- Burton is 7 miles to the west.
- Columbus is 7 miles to the north.
- Chestline is 8 miles to the east.
- Payson is 8 miles to the south-west.
- Beverly is 8 miles to the south-east.
- Kellerville is 9 miles to the east.
- Siloam is 10 miles to the east.
- Coatsburg is 10 miles to the north.
- Paloma is 10 miles to the north-west.
- Camp Point is 11 miles to the north.
- Hickory Grove is 11 miles to the west.
- Seehorn is 11 miles to the south-west.
- Fowler is 11 miles to the north-west.
- Fall Creek is 12 miles to the south-west.
