 | 1671 All land
of the vast and unknown interior of the continent was claimed as a French
possession under military rule. |
| 1763 The land
where Aviston stands switched hands from France to become part of the
British Empire. The land would become part of territorial Virginia.
|
| 1783 The
area formally becomes part of the United States of America as the Treaty
of Paris end the American Revolution and British power in the region. |
| 1810 The first
European settlements began to appear along the Sugar Creek. Early
settlements were bothered by Native Americans. |
| 1812 Nathaniel
Journey sets up a log fort northwest of Aviston in township section 11
during the War of 1812 to protect settlements from British or Indian ruin.
|
| 1814 On August
5th John Journey (Nathaniel's brother) filed for Sugar Creek township
section 11. One month later he died at Hill's Fort near Greenville,
Illinois during the War of 1812.
|
| 1814 A local
named Mrs. Bayels was killed by Native Americans while riding with her
husband Jesse Bayels east of the Sugar Creek just off of what is today,
Old State Road. |
| 1818 Illinois
becomes a state |
| 1824 On
December 27th
Clinton County was created
out of Washington, Bond, and Fayette counties. It is composed of 490
square miles and 414,777 acres. |
| 1825 Mount
Pleasant School district was established. This school was later changed
to District #2, Township #2. |
| 1830 Samuel
Hull, a Virginian, brought his money and trading skills to Illinois. He
would later help found Aviston (Hull at first). |
| 1835 Hugh
Johnson, a Revolutionary War soldier, was buried in
Sharon Cemetery
just southwest of Aviston along Rocky Ford Road. |
| 1836 "Old"
Aviston on Old State Road was first laid out into lots on April 29, 1836.
Old Aviston is the current location of Old Towne North subdivision where
many of our students live north of town today. Aviston was the first town
established in Sugar Creek Township. |
| 1836 July
14,1836 Alexander Sheilds becomes the 1st Postmaster of the Aviston Post
Office. The Aviston Post Office has run continuously from 1836-present.
|
| 1836 Aviston
was named after gunsmith John T. Avis who was the first person to open a
business in the community on the old Vincennes Road (Old State Road
today).
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| 1840 Between
the years of 1840 and 1845 local Protestants built a small frame church in
"old" Aviston. |
| 1850 "Old"
Aviston appears on the
1850 Illinois map.
|
| 1854 In the
1850s the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad (now B & O) was built south of "old" Aviston traveling
through Clinton County. The citizens of "old" Aviston re-settled in Hull
near the railroad. The
1856 Map of Illinois
is the first Illinois map to show this addition to Aviston and Southern
Illinois. |
| 1860 Hull
(Aviston) was laid out into lots by the J.W. Dugger and Co. near the O & M
Railroad. |
| 1861 Residents
in the Aviston area register and fight in the
Civil War.
|
| 1962 The
Sacred Heart Hospital, a two-story frame structure, on lots 6 and 7, in
block 22, was finished by Rev. F. Lohman at a cost of $6,524.00.
|
| 1864
The year our town was established according to past historians. The
reasons this year was
chosen:
1) The cornerstone was laid for a Catholic Church in the spring of 1864.
The original 80 by 50 ft. structure was built by Gerhard Rolfmeyer and
Henry Dillmann for $11,741.25.
2) Aviston had enough citizens to truly be a community.
3) Business activity picked up this year. |
| 1864 Aviston's
First Lieutenant Robert Gooding fought for the
59th Infantry
and died in the
Battle of Nashville. He is buried in Lake Branch Cemetery just northeast
of Aviston Park on Old State Road. |
| 1864
Gerhard Rolfmeyer
dies after falling 50 feet while constructing the new Catholic church. |
| 1865 Aviston
Civil War soldier's like
Jacob Hetzel,
of the
13th Illinois Cavalry,
returned home from war. He received a $8.00 a month
pension
for serving his nation.
|
| 1865 In September of 1865
the St.
Francis Catholic church was completed. Check out the history of
this amazing building. |
| 1865 On
November 22, 1865 Samuel Hull died and was buried 3-5 miles north of
Aviston in Gullick Cemetery. |
| 1866
A great picnic was held that raised $1,300 for an organ that would
eventually cost $1,600. |
| 1870 Clinton
County's population reached 16,285. |
| 1870
With the Protestants numbers shrinking, District School #1 closed and its
remaining students attended District #2. |
| 1870-1873 A
large number of people from Aviston died from small pox. Many people
contacted it from a funeral visitation of the young Catherine Lipsmeier.
She was said to have had black measles, but that was clearly not the case.
It continued to spread after the funeral. |
| 1873 Between
small pox and cholera, which became a big problem starting in October, 40
people died in Aviston. |
| 1874
It is noted that there are now 100 families in Aviston. |
| 1875 The
Aviston we know today was once the combination of three communities,
Aviston, Hull and Hecker. |
| 1876
St. Francis Parish accounts that there were 142 Catholic families, of
which two were English. The rest were German. |
| 1877
Pleurisy, or what some called winter fever strikes the town. 34 died
in 1877. |
| 1878 A
tax supported school district was created in Aviston |
| 1878 A new road was leveled by townspeople towards
the cemetery. 82 farmers also came with their wagons to bring cinders from
Trenton to strew along the path. |
| 1879 St.
Francis purchased 4 bells weighing 5,000, 3,300, 1,140, and 560 lbs.
These were the largest ever cast in St. Louis at the time. Since
there was no tower on the church at this time, a belfry was constructed on
the east side of the church. |
| 1880 Henry
Rosen was elected the first Village President in 1880. Early terms were
only 1 year. |
| 1880
A large school was built north of the church. |
| 1881
A large stone cross was added to St. Francis Cemetery |
| 1884 October
24th, 1884, Aviston was officially registered as a village with Illinois. |
| 1885
A bid of $17,450 was accepted from Hy. Stoff & Aug. Klutho of Aviston to
expand St. Francis Church. The bid did not include bricks, water,
lime, sand, or hauling of materials. On Sept. 24th at 3 p.m. the
first stone was laid on the expansion. |
| 1886
On August 12th at 10:20 a.m. the old church is abandoned when the west
wall of the church was taken down. The cornerstone from the old
church was removed and opened. In the stone were two decayed
newspapers, paper with names of the pastors, and a few copper coins.
These items and more were placed in the new cornerstone on the southwest
wall near the north sacristy. |
| 1886
To further the health of inhabitants of Aviston, the town board had sewer
pipes installed. Each resident had to pay $5 into the town treasury. |
| 1887 St.
Francis completes an extensive expansion of the church. The upgrade cost
the parish around $42,000 with a 185 feet tall steeple and a 820 seating
capacity. |
| 1887
On Oct. 22nd a five-foot wide brick paved sidewalk was added to the west
side of St. Francis Church. This was the first brick plaster
pavements in Aviston.
|
| 1887-1894
To provide more jobs, the Creamery of Anton Huelsmann and B. Lager Co.
operated making and selling butter. |
| 1888
The Aviston Coal and Mining Co. opened and begin digging the necessary
shaft. After two years of digging down to 200 feet, veins of coal were not
big enough to be profitable. The shaft was turned into a well for
the milk condensery in 1908. |
| 1892
St. Francis church was the first church consecrated by Bishop Janssen and
the third ever in the diocese of Belleville. Only Germantown and St.
Libory came prior to Aviston. |
| 1895
Population of Aviston was 381 |
| 1906 Telephone
is introduced to Aviston |
| 1907 The
village hall is built on Spring Street and the Aviston condensed Milk Co.
opened. |
| 1909 The first
Aviston volunteer fire department was organized in May of1909.
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| 1913 In
1913 commercial business
begins to pick up. |
| 1913 Fred G.
Brefeld was elected mayor and continued to serve until 1945. He served
for a record 32 years as mayor. |
| 1914
Henry J. Althoff
of Aviston was ordained the Diocese of Belleville's 2nd Bishop. Althoff
served as Bishop for 33 years. |
| 1917 Reverend
Frederick Lohmann, 41 year pastor at St. Francis and visionary of the
current building died on February 10th. Lohmann was buried near the cross
at St. Francis Cemetery. |
| 1917
A iron and wire fence was added to the north side of St. Francis Cemetery
for $447.85.
|
| 1918
Pvt. Urban Mondt
of Aviston died on September 28th, 1918 fighting in World War I. It
was in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a major battle of
World War I,
that Urban died. This was one of the biggest operations and victories of
the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in that war. The offensive took
place in the Verdu Sector, immediately north and northwest of the town of
Verdun. He was put to rest in the
Argonne American Military
Cemetery in
France. Mondt is recognized at the Aviston Post 1239 American Legion.
|
| 1921 In 1921
Aviston built a large school (St. Francis Parish Center today). The
school contained six first floor classes, a large auditorium upstairs, and
a large basement for the cost of $54,480. |
| 1921 The 3037
mile long
U.S. Route 50
passes through
Aviston, Illinois.
"The backbone of America" runs from San Francisco, CA to Ocean City, MD.
The history of Route 50 dates back earlier than the 1920s. 50 turns into
Constitution Ave. which passes by our nation's Capitol. Learn more about
our highway from
Wulf Berg.
|
| 1923 Aviston
High School District 71
was organized and it included Albers and Damiansville. |
| 1929 The
Aviston Milling Company
burns to the ground mysteriously. |
| 1930 The
1930 Aviston census
listed residents within
the village limits. The census shows 380 residents. The
1930 Sugar Creek census
list residents outside the limits of Aviston and Trenton in Sugar Creek
Township. |
| 1937 The
upstairs auditorium (St. Francis Parish Center) was transformed into
classrooms and a the gymnasium was built in 1937 for $20,000. |
| 1940 Census
showed Aviston with 388 residents. |
| 1941-1945
Citizens of Aviston and
Clinton County
joined in the fight of World War II. |
| 1945
Sgt. Joseph F. Lampe
fought in the
289th infantry
and was one of 45 people from Clinton County killed in World War II. He
died January 19, 1945 and his burial was in the
Henri-Chapelle American
Cemetery in
Henri-Chapelle (near Liege), Belgium. At this
cemetery, covering 57 acres, rests 7,989 American military dead, most of
whom gave their lives during the advance into Germany known as the Battle
of the Bulge. Lampe is recognized at the Aviston Legion.
|
| 1947
Aviston won the first of its three baseball districts (high school regional
tournaments) tournaments. The others came in '51 & '56. |
| 1948 In 1948,
St. Rose, Germantown, and Bartelso were added to the Aviston High School
District. This made Aviston the second largest school district in the
state by land area. |
| 1949 The
Aviston water tower was erected. The 125' tower holds 30,000 gallons of
water and cost $15,700. |
| 1952 Fred
Lohman was elected mayor and continued to serve until 1977. He served as
village president for 25 years. |
| 1956 A tornado
struck the St. Francis Church and damaged the tower. A much shorter
steeple tower replaced the old one. |
| 1958
Mater Dei Catholic High School
was
established in 1958 when AHS enrollment was at 250 students. Local
priests and the bishop recommended students attend Mater Dei and this
dramatically hurt the school district.
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| 1959 Aviston
builds a sewer system for residents within the village limits |
| 1964 Aviston
celebrated its 100th birthday with a centennial celebration. |
| 1967 Aviston
purchased land east of town and begins work on a new community park.
|
| 1969 President
Eisenhower's funeral train
travels through Aviston. |
| 1970 On July
1, 1970 Aviston High School and Breese Community High School voted to
consolidate into
Central Community High
School,
District 71. |
|
1970
Sgt.
Jerome Stroot with Delta Company, 2nd Battalion in Vietnam died
shortly after returning from the
Vietnam
War. |
| 1980 Census
showed Aviston with 846 residents |
| 1989
Aviston
celebrated 125 years. The Quasquicentennial celebration was held at the
park. |
| 1989
Charles
Rakers was elected mayor. He served as mayor until 2009 and
holds the third longest tenure as village president. |
| 1990 Census
shows Aviston with 924 residents. |
| 1996 Aviston
Village Board approves the annexation of land north of new Highway 50.
|
| 2000 Census
showed Aviston with 1,231 residents. |
| 2000s The late
1900s and early 2000s were a good time for residential growth in
Aviston. Aviston has became one of the fastest growing small communities
in the state of Illinois. From 1990 to 2000 Aviston's population grew
33.2%. |
| 2001 On
October 9th, 2001, Aviston Elementary moved from Spring Street to Hull
Street. The building cost an estimated $5 million. |
| 2002 Aviston
Elementary receives the "Bright
A+ Award
of Excellence." The award is given to the top 5% of schools with the
highest academic performances within the 894 Illinois school districts.
|
| 2003 Aviston
purchased 24 acres of land east of the village community park. Soccer and
football fields have been made out of this addition. The village also
completed its new firehouse. |
| 2003 The
Village of Aviston published its Web site. |
| 2004 On March
16th the Aviston School District voters voted 145-67 (68% yes) for the
creation of an Aviston Community Park District that includes everyone
living within the district, except citizens from Madison County.
|
| 2005
On June
4th, 2005, Kopff Park was dedicated to Fr. Herbert Kopff who was
instrumental starting the Khoury League in Clinton County. A brick
memorial sits behind home plate to recognize the occasion. Fr. Kopff
died shortly after the dedication on August 15, 2005. |
| 2005 Aviston
Elementary receives the
Bright A+
Award of Excellence." The award was given to the top 5% of schools with
the highest academic performances within the 894 Illinois school
districts. |
| 2006 Aviston
passed another school referendum with 62% yes vote to add on to the
elementary school. The addition included six classrooms, a storage
facility, and other changes to the school. |
| 2006 Aviston
Elementary receives the
Bright A+
Award of Excellence." The award was given to the top 5% of schools with
the highest academic performances within the 894 Illinois school
districts. |
| 2007 Aviston
Elementary added on a storage facility, six classrooms on the west wing,
and made other smaller improvements to the school. The additions were
made on the western side of the campus. Construction began on May 7th,
2007 and students entered the new section on Oct. 28th, 2007. |
| 2008 Aviston
Elementary received the 2008
Bright Star Award
of Excellence. The award was given to the top 5% of schools with
the highest academic performances at a low cost per pupil within the 871
Illinois school districts. |
| 2009 The
volunteer fire department celebrated its 100 year of existence with a
centennial celebration at the community park. |
| 2010 The census showed Aviston population grew to 1945. This
growth of 714 residents marked a 58% growth, the largest in Clinton
County. |
| 2010 Aviston
Elementary received the 2010
Bright Star Award
of Excellence. The award was given to the top 5% of schools with
the highest academic performances at a low cost per pupil within the 871
Illinois school districts. Aviston Elementary has been honored
consistently over the years with this award. |
| 2011 A statue was unveiled on April 9th at Hidden Lake Winery
in Aviston, in honor of Clinton County soldier, Joshua Melton, who was
killed in action on June 19th, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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