Every day is just like the rest: Lewistown, IL

LEWISTOWN, IL

POPULATION: 2,522

AREA: 1.8 Sq. Mile

COUNTY: Fulton (County Seat)

      MOTTO: None. Which is really fucking fitting.

I really hate to say this so soon, but man, these towns are starting to get tedious.

At some point, they all just bleed together, y’know? You’ve got the old court hourse:

You've got the giant old churches:

You’ve got the local paper named after a political party:

You’ve got the little diner, populated mostly by the elderly:

...and specializing in biscuits and gravy:

And you’ve got the references to history:

Well, okay, the references to Lincoln:

And that’s charmingly juxtaposed with fleeting stabs at modernity:

And all of that stuff is fine. Fun, even! But if you’re a blog devoted to finding out what’s special and unique about each and every town*, well, finding this much that is the same in all of them gets really tiresome.

*- This may be just such a blog.

Fortunately- for Lewiston and my general sanity- there is one thing about this place that makes it stand out from every other small Illinois town. It seems that this place was the home of Edgar Lee Masters, and it’s cemetery, Oak Hill Cemetary, was the inspiration for his Spoon River Anthology.

See? Proof of what I say.

Which, okay, as far as exciting goes, that’s not. But it is cool to see a town that turns someone besides Lincoln into an icon.

(Okay, maybe I’m just really reaching for something, ANYTHING to justify this entry)

But this town actually cared about Masters. I talked to a woman who worked at city hall, and she seemed genuinely disappointed to learn I’d never read his poetry. Which was refreshing, because at least when it came to my father, the disappointment usually stemmed from knowing TOO MUCH poetry.

On the other end of town, my waitress could recite some lines from some poem of his, but, as usual, if it didn’t involve biscuits or gravy, I wasn’t listening.

Even the court house had to recognize!

So, at least, it was interesting to find a town that idolizes someone besides Lincoln, and to see a town that kept it’s historical figures so close to its heart. But that only gets you so far. I was still left wondering what people do in this town and why they chose it over any other. I suppose, at some point, I could just ASK someone that question. But no, that’s exactly what they’d be expecting.

Other notes:

A word from the DTL sports desk:

Please note that the DTL sports desk is time insensitive.