Lost Towns of Illinois - Bybee, Illinois.

Bybee is a former settlement in Fulton County, Illinois. The small settlement was about 2.7 miles south-southwest of Fairview and 7 miles west-northwest of Canton.

The community was named for David Bybee, who donated land to construct a station on the Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway in 1880. It operated into the 1920s. There was a school, store, and train station on the narrow gauge rail. The Postoffice was established on September 29, 1881, and William Bybee was the Postmaster for the first two years.

Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway was turned into a standard gauge around 1910. In 1905, two trains per day passed through Bybee, but by 1913, only one train ran per day. The track was torn out of this area when the narrow gauge company discontinued service between Galesburg and Fairview, Illinois.

There is a small cemetery named Bybee Cemetery (aka: Hipple Cemetery), near where this community used to exist. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Lost Towns of Illinois - Coltonville, Illinois.

Coltonville was a community in DeKalb County, Illinois. In June 1839, DeKalb County was considering building a courthouse and, as such, placement of a county seat. Rufus Colton, Clerk of the Court in the county, was leading a push for Coltonville, where he lived.

Colton nearly led Coltonville into a new era as the county seat through political wrangling and underhanded techniques. He had arranged for the court to convene at his log cabin only after he had set up an election as a clerk for the county seat. The election was unique in that only the residents of Colton's choice for the county seat, Coltonville, were informed of it. When the DeKalb County Court convened in Colton's Coltonville home, the sheriff served a court order which stated a courthouse was to be built in Sycamore, the city which would become the county seat.

Even without the court order, Colton's actions would have never been deemed legal; they were eventually canceled by an act of the Illinois General Assembly. Along with Brush Point, the other community considered for the county seat, both communities disappeared after losing out to Sycamore.

Today, the town name lives on as Coltonville Road in southwestern Sycamore. The town site lies in DeKalb Township, near the cities of DeKalb and Sycamore.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.