Dement Town

There are times that people who live in or close to the City of Dixon will occasionally hear folks talk about or refer to Dement Town. An inquiry from a woman in Seattle, Washington stated that her father had lived in Dement Town in Lee County but she was unable to find the location on any map. Was there such a place, and how did it get the name? Indeed there was. I for one many years back when moving here from Chicago, listened to stories about the area and through the ensuing years have been intrigued to the way Dement Town developed and played such a vital part in the growth of this comunity.

John Dement who was a major and in command of the Illinois troops during the Black Hawk War, was born in Tennessee in 1805. He retired from military service with the rank of colonel. Settling in Lee County in 1840, his family finally moving to this region in 1845.

It was sometime during 1849 that Colonel John Dement, as one of Dixon's early settlers and at that time being receiver of the Government Land Office which was located here. Mr. Dement had erected a plain square store residence which was later enlarged and improved by Judge John D. Crabtree who would also locate his family on a large homestead in the area. This was then one of the most beautiful outskirts of the village and Mr. Dement owned a vast amount of the real estate in that vicinity and throughout the county.

Near the center of the area, several acres encompassed a large growth of oak trees where the soil was quite sandy and the elevation of the land was slightly high. This spot was well known by the early settlers and was called "Sandhill Grove". It was here, at certain seasons of the year that the wild cranes which were then very plentiful, used to assemble in large flocks. People were fascinated with these long legged and long necked birds as they would go through a sort of dance like motion. And accompanying their ungainly steppings were weired cries which they evidently intended for music.

During the early 1850's the Illinois Central Railroad Company had surveyed a line of road running from Cairo to Galena, and which ultimately would run through Dixon. It was through the influence and persistence of Col. Dement that the railroad company agreed in locating its depot on the western edge of town.

This was contrary to what most people thought was going to happen when the railroad announced a station would be built in this locale. Many citizens and community leaders had felt that a depot should have been built in or close by to the business center. Of course the location of the depot had a dramatic effect on the town and an impressive advantage for the Colonel, as the value of his property increased tremendously. It was then surveyed into town lots and many new residences were erected west of the depot.

This neighborhood gradually became seperated from the main part of town, not only by the steep embankment of the railroad but by the long stretch of almost vacant town lots. The vocabulary of residents in this area naturally took the name of Dement Town for the convenience of designation.

Early in the year of 1855 the first train arrived in Dixon with anxious crowds assembled to watch as the "Iron Horse" reeled into town. Almost overnight, additional new stores and shops along with a variety of various factories were being built and existing ones expanded to meet the needs of this rapidly changing town. The area would boast of fine hotels, the Shabbona Hotel which later on became known as the Dement House, and the Waverly House were built to handle the increasingly large railroad business that came into and passed through Dixon.

But just as the railroad dramatically changed the County of Lee, so too would it leave its mark in history for the City of Dixon and Dement Town, for in time it also would diminish from the prosperity it garnered so rapidly. After the death of Colonel John Dement in 1883 it seemed the catalyst for this area was gone. But, for some 140 years the stories, the memories, and this designated area affectionately called Dement Town have remained.

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