Bunkum

The most important town that never existed

Brian Capouch

sunnycrestfarm.org/bunkum

brianc@palaver.net

Thanks to:

Iroquois County Historical Society
Iroquois County Genealogical Society
Iroquois County Clerk/Recorder
Jasper County Surveyor
Chicago Historical Society
Chris Kaufmann

The NCHS "kit"

Bunkum and Brian

My Medaryville project and Josiah Walden
My first visit in 2010
My encounter with the Old Chicago Road
My lucky misunderstanding with Kay Babcock

I had questions

Where did Bunkum get its name?
Why was Gurdon Hubbard so important?
Where does the Old Chicago Road meet Hubbard's Trail?
Why did tiny Bunkum deserve an extensive Indiana road?
Did Hubbard really live in Danville with Watch-e-kee?
Is there anything left of Hubbard's Trail?

The timeframe

Indiana and Illinois were in the Northwest Territory
Treaty of St. Mary 1818
Treaty of Tippecanoe 1832
Treaty of Chicago 1833
Transition from Native Americans to whites
Presentation timeline: 1820s to about 1880

I. Bunkum as towns

Salem Ely wrote a history in 1918

Multiple towns on the site

Important ford across Iroqouis
- Like Baum's Bridge over the Kankakee
- Existing Potawatomi Village there
Iroquois County struck off from Vermilion, 1833
May, 1835: Montgomery, first county seat
April, 1836: Iroquois (East of Montgomery, not north!!)
June 1836: Concord

Montgomery was abandoned

Wrong side of tracks
Lower ground

No one ever lived in the original Iroquois

Original Iroquois plat was vacated

Much of Montgomery plat also vacated

What about Bunkum!!??!!

Has never been an official name
Nobody knows for certain; hypotheses abound
- Named by fur trader Gurdon Hubbard
- Derived name from Buncombe County, North Carolina
- A derisive term shouted by a drunk traveler
Easy to disprove the first two; hard to prove the last one
The nickname applied to the general area

How name got to be Iroquois

Town and PO were named Concord
Railroad came through in 1871
- Named the station "Iroquois"
- PO changed name shortly thereafter
Officially changed name in 1881 upon incorporation
- Full circle back to Hubbard's original name

If we don't know how or why, can we figure out when Bunkum was first used?

Ad in Jasper Banner

1857

Jasper County records first mention "Bunkum Road" in 1869

John Ade said that's where he was going in 1853

So the evidence points to the name arising around 1850

Some Views

Calaboose was moved in 1993

Entrance to Dunning Park

Bunkum School, painted by ??

Last RR depot is now a residence

Intersection in Iroquois

(Pickaminch, Pickamick,Pinkamink)

"The Miller House"

Prairie Dell Meeting House

II. People of Bunkum

Profiled today

John Ade
Drs. Spitler and Fowler
Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard

John Ade (1828-1914)

Chapter V, "Morocco in 1853" in county history
- If this were just college days again!!
Came from Cincinnati by invitation
- Ayres & Co. of Bunkum had branch in Morocco
Moved to Morocco after a few weeks in Bunkum
Wrote county history in 1911

We'll be looking at maps of places he discusses later on in the presentation

Dr. William Fowler (1811-1872)

Very early doctor
His son married Edward Sumner's daughter
- Their daughter Jennie endowed Caldwell Home in Earl Park
"by mistreatment he was induced to commit suicide by taking morphine" at age 61

Dr. Daniel Spitler (1843-1884)

Son of Newton County's Zachariah
Practiced in Iroquois
Died very young, buried in Buswell Cemetery
Other Spitler family members were at Bunkum, too

Gurdon S. Hubbard (1802-1884)

"Founder" of Bunkum (182?-1828)
Prominent Danville businessman (1828-1834)
"Father of Chicago" (1834-1884)

There is many conflicting assertions in accounts of his early life!!!!

Hubbard's Bunkum

He was second white man in that area
His precise arrival year is in some dispute
- 1821-1824 depending on the source
Opened a trading post primarily for natives
- Employed by John Jacob Astor's US Fur operation
Was the first farmer in Iroquois County
Established Hubbard's Trail during his time in Bunkum
Married Watch-e-kee, niece of Potawatomi chief Tamin
Maybe started out near Middleport (Watseka), maybe not

Watch-e-kee Mural in Watseka

(Click for Findagrave page)

Historical marker on site of trading post

Stood approx. 1824-1860

There is a marker in Watseka; the Historical Society knew nothing about it

There actually have been two!

Hubbard's Landing, Smith St. @ River, Watseka 9/23/23

What the marker used to say!

Hubbard in Danville

He erected the first frame building there
Moved there "permanently" in 1828
- Operated a trading post there, for the settlers
Was elected to the state legislature while living there
- Hubbard's trail became Illinois 1, "Dixie Highway"
In 1937 city celebrated his time there
- Plaque in Vermilion Co. courthouse
- Article in historical journal that year, too

Plaque at Vermilion County Courthouse

Hubbard at 28 ca. 1830

Hubbard Mural in Danville

Hubbard left for Chicago in 1834

He was worried about moving to a smaller town
He was first there in 1818, friend of Kinzie family
- Note that he was 16 years old!!
Several sources: "He was the father of Chicago"

Hubbard's Chicago life truly seems stranger than fiction!!

His distinctions

Provisioned Ft. Dearborn from the 1820s
Built first warehouse in Chicago (Hubbard's Folly)
Purchased 80 acres now in heart of "Loop"
Operated first stockyards/slaughterhouse
- Our local land barons did that later, too!
Was instrumental creating Illinois-Michigan canal

Historical marker near Chicago River

Map of Chicago ca. 1833

More Hubbard touts

Formed first church
Established first fire department
Owned "Billy Caldwell's House"
- Calwell also known as "Sauganash"
Was city's first insurance underwriter
- Wiped out financially by Great Chicago Fire
- Recovered by forming Mackinac annex

Hubbard's Annex to Mackinac Park

(click for larger image)

His autobiography is my primary source

His diary, basis of book, was lost

Another maddening discrepancy
- Most sources say he lost it in fire
- Chicago Tribune story says he loaned it to business partner and it was never returned

Portrait from his autobiography

He laid out Hubbard's Trail

Parts followed old Native American traces
Illinois Highway 1 mostly follows it
Went from just west of Vincennes to Chicago
Connected to Indiana's "Old Chicago Road" near Sheldon
- This is the part that stole my heart

III. Early Traces, Trails and Roads

Just where is Bunkum?

Ade's Trip to Bunkum

Cincinnati to Madison on boat
Madison to Indianapolis by train
Indianapolis to "hill 3 miles E of Lafayette" by train
To Bunkum w/Mark Ayres in "two-horse carriage"
- First to Oxford
- Oxford to Parish Grove
- Parish Grove to Sumner's Grove
  - Sumner's Grove is Sugar Grove on map
- Sumner's Grove to Bunkum