Clinton’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Clinton. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The city was founded in 1835 by Jesse W. Fell of Bloomington, Illinois, a land speculator and lawyer, and James Allen, a representative in the Illinois State Legislature. The two men were on their way from Decatur, Illinois back to Bloomington after a business trip and stopped to rest their horses on the open prairie halfway between the two cities. It occurred to them that this was an ideal location for a settlement, as there was nothing else nearby. They named the town in honor of DeWitt Clinton.
Clinton is on the 8th Judicial Circuit, on which Abraham Lincoln traveled, along with Judge David Davis, for twenty years. Lincoln acted as lawyer because lawyers were scarce in the area at the time.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Clinton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clinton’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBird's eye view of the city of Cl…, 1869: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Clinton
See all 9 →
Clinton, decade by decade
1990s
CommonsMagill House in2014
CommonsDeWitt County Jail2014
CommonsDeWitt County Courthouse2014
CommonsClinton public square, northwestern quadrant2014
CommonsClinton post office 617272014
CommonsClinton city hall in Illinois2014
CommonsClinton, Illinois2012
CommonsClinton and Bloomington, Illinois2012
CommonsC. H. MOORE HOUSE2006Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Bird's eye view of the city of Clinton, DeWitt County, Illinois 1869 (1869) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (12). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.