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Bingham, Helen M. (Helen Maria) / History of Green County, Wisconsin
(1877)
Decatur, pp. [216]-228
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Page [216]
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
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