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DECATUR. 
The history of Decatur begins with the history of 
Centreville, "a paper city " laid out in 1836 on the west 
bank of Sugar river, within half a mile of the place 
where the village of Decatur arose some years later. 
Upon the plat of Centreville, which was exhibited in 
Milwaukee, Detroit, and the eastern cities, were. repre- 
sented steamboats, churches, warehouses, and blocks of 
stores. Thus portrayed, the place was the cause of 
many a yearning for a western home, and a brisk sale 
of high priced business lots and four acre out lots be- 
gan.   Careful, prosperous farmers and tradesmen, 
wealthy speculators, and penny-saving laborers all em- 
braced the opportunity to make a good investment, and 
purchased real estate in what the agents called the grow- 
ing, bustling city of Centreville. One by one the pur- 
chasers learned that they were the victims of a fraud, 
that their land was no better than might have been 
bought at the government price. And so undesirable 
did it seem, when the unsettled state of the country was 
made known, that although their titles were unquestion- 
ably good, yet, so far as can be ascertained, not one of