The village of Lee Center was laid out in 1846 and is situated in the northwestern corner of the township. In the early days the first object liable to attract the attention of a visitor would have been the old seminary.

The building was erected in 1847, at a cost of $2,000. The school opened that year and remained for some time as the principal educational point in this part of the state and attracted to Lee Center, many students from adjoining counties who wished to avail themselves of the excellent educational advantages the school then afforded.

The first principal was Hiram McChesney, a graduate of Rensselaer Institute, of Troy, New York. The average attendance at that time is estimated at 150 pupils, a large percentage of whom were from abroad. Mr. McChesney served one year and was then succeeded by H. E. Leonard, of Naperville, Illinois.

Mr. Leonard after having taught two years was succeeded by the Rev. James Brewer, a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of the Jamestown college in that state. Mr. Brewer presided over the school for one year. Mr. Simeon Wright, formerly of Battle Creek, Michigan, comes next on the list of instructors. Mr. Wright took an active interest in the welfare of the school, and during the three years that he was principal the seminary passed through an era of prosperity never exceeded before or since. The attendance was very large and the school was in a flourishing condition. Mr. Wright was succeeded by Professor Nash, a native of Massachusetts, who conducted the school until 1859, in which year he died.

In the meantime other institutions of a similar character had sprung up in different points that were accessible by railroads. At Amboy, a high-school building was erected in 1857; academies had also been established in Dixon and Paw Paw; so that in 1859, the attendance being very small, an act was passed authorizing its incorporation as a graded district school.

There were three churches in the village by 1880. The Methodist Episcopal congregation was first organized in 1837, at the residence of Corrydon R. Dewey, at Inlet Grove. Their first church building was erected in 1842, in which services were held until 1858, when a larger and more commodious one was erected. The congregation by 1880 had thirty-four members. Trustees at that time were John Lane, B. F. Lane and S. Trowbridge. The stewards were S. Trowbridge, John Lane, J. H. B. Thornton, S. Thayer and Mrs. M. A. Fox. The pastor was J. G. B. Shadford.

The Congregational Church was organized in 1843 at the residence of Moses Crombie, near Binghamton, in Amboy township; the congregation then consisted of eleven members. First pastor was Rev. Joseph Gardner. The building occupied by them in 1880, was erected in 1856, at a cost of $1,500. The congregation numbered fifty members, and was in a flourishing condition. The pastor at the time was Rev. F. C. Cochran.

The Episcopal Church’s congregation was organized in 1855, and the church building erected in 1857, costing $2,500. The windows of the church were presented to the congregation by Bishop Whitehouse. The rector in 1880, was Rev. N. W. Herrmans, who had presided since 1879.

The only secret organization in existence in Lee Center during 1880 was the Masonic Lodge, No. 146. This lodge was organized on July 28, 1854; charter granted on October 2, of the same year. The first officers were A. P. Stinson, worshipful master; John Gilmore, senior warden; Daniel Frost, junior warden; Simeon Wright, secretary; Lot Chadwick, treasurer.

This was the second Masonic lodge organized in the county; and from the time of its organization to 1880, 142 members have reached the degree of master mason. James A. Hawley, who was for two years grand master of the Grand Lodge, was here initiated into the mysteries of Masonry. The 1880 membership roll of the organization was thirty-one members. The officers at that time were William S. Frost, worshipful master; Wallace Hicks, senior warden; W. W. Depew, junior warden; B. F. Lane, secretary; and Willard Salsbury, treasurer.

Among the many daring robberies perpetrated by the banditti in different parts of the country is the case of Mr. Haskell at Inlet Grove. On a stormy night in June, 1844, Mr. Haskell's residence was entered by masked men, one of whom afterward proved to have been the notorious Fox. Creeping silently into the bed-room occupied by Mr. Haskell and wife they succeeded in dragging a trunk containing money from under the bed. The noise caused by sliding of the trunk on the floor was drowned by the rumbling thunder, and so cunningly was the deed planned and executed that the sleepers were none the wiser until the next morning.

On the evening of June 3, 1860, a terrible tornado passed through the northern portion of the township, spreading death and desolation in its path. The loss of life and property was not so great in this as in other portions of the county, however, but persons who were in or near its path will remember it to their latest day.

In the spring of 1861, when the news came over the wires that Fort Sumter had fallen and the banner of the stars had been trampled under rebel feet, the citizens of Lee Center were among the first to send up the shout; "down with the rebellion." The hills and forests echoed to the stirring strains of the "red, white and blue" and "star spangled banner;" and when the long roll sounded, scores of her patriotic sons stepped to the front and helped to swell the vast throng of troops hurrying forward in response to their country's call.

Many of them took their places by the side of the flag-staff and followed it to the sea. In the great battles of Stone River, Pittsburg Landing, Lookout Mountain, and Chickamauga, her sons bore a noble part, and many of them fell, mangled and bleeding, under the shadow of the banner they had so bravely defended. Lee Center township furnished troops for the 13th, 75th and 34th Illinois Infantry, and for the 7th Illinois Cavalry.

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