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{{otheruses4|the prominent Illinois businessman|the discoverer of a new process for coal combustion|Jesse Fell}}
'''Jesse W. Fell''' (1808 - 1887), a [[Bloomington, Illinois]] businessman, founded [[Illinois State University]], originally Illinois State Normal University. He called upon his attorney friend [[Abraham Lincoln]] to draw up the bond of guarantee for the Board of Education on May 5, 1857. During Lincoln's 1858 [[United States Senate]] campaign, it was Fell who urged him to challenge his opponent, [[Stephen A. Douglas]], to their [[Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858|famous series of debates]] <ref name = "mrlincoln">http://www.mrlincolnandfriends.org/inside.asp?pageID=41&subjectID=3 Mr. Lincoln and Friends: Jesse W. Fell</ref>.
 
== Life==▼
 
▲== Life==
Fell was born in [[Chester County, Pennsylvania]],studied law in Ohio, and moved to Bloomington in 1831. After opening up the town's first law offices,and began dealing in real estate.During the Illinois land boom of 1835 - 1837 he crisscrossed Illinois buying and selling real estate. He with James Allen he co-founded the town of [[Clinton, Illinois]] and worked to create [[DeWitt]] County and arranged for his brother Kersey Fell to become the clerk responsible for organizing the new county. He established Livingston County, which he named, and backed the founders of [[Pontiac, Illinois]], which he also named. He worked to preserve the boundaries of [[McLean County]] Eventually he turned the practice over to a young lawyer, [[David Davis (senator)|David Davis]]. He invested in lands in [[Bloomington]], [[Chicago]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Danville]] ,and many other places. With restless energy and knack for making friends, he would often ride sixty to seventy miles a day, braving any kind of weather. He manipulated roads and post offices, went east to raise money, and developed an abiding faith in the future of his his adopted Illinois home. <ref>Frances Milton Moorehouse, ''The Life of Jesse W. Fell'' (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1916) pp 1-29.</ref>
 
Fell then founded the city's first newspaper, ''[[The Pantagraph|The Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate]]'' on January 14, 1837. Begining in 1837 he suffered a series of financial reverses. Moorehouse, 1916, p.29. He married Hester Brown in January 1838, and in 1845, the couple moved to [[Adams County, Illinois|Adams County]], near [[Quincy, Illinois|Quincy]] to start a fruit nursery. In 1851 he returned to McLean County and once more became active in real estate and was soon working as an agent for the Alton & Springfield Railroad to secure the right of way through [[McLean County, Illinois|McLean County]]. He became co-founder helped of the town of [[Towanda]] and with his brother Kersey and three other men founded the town of [[Dwight]].<ref>Moorehouse, 1916, p.32.</ref> He helped defeat an effort to have the railroad bypass [[Pontiac]] where he had extensive land holdings.<ref> History of Livingston County Illinois (Chicago: LeBaron, 1878) p. 326.</ref> He sold lots in [[Decatur]], [[Lexington]], [[Clinton]], [[ElPaso]], [[Joliet]], and [[LeRoy]]. In 1855 he purchased timber land and began operation a sawmill near Ullin in southern Illinois. <ref>Moorehouse, 1916, p.33.</ref>▼
 
He also got back into the publishing business, joining with Charles Merriman to resurrect a failing newspaper, ''The Whig'', which was rechristened ''The Intelligencer'' in 1851. It took the name ''[[The Pantagraph]]'' in 1853.
 
▲Fell then founded the city's first newspaper, ''[[The Pantagraph|The Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate]]'' on January 14, 1837. Begining in 1837 he suffered a series of financial reverses. Moorehouse, 1916, p.29. He married Hester Brown in January 1838, and in 1845, the couple moved to [[Adams County, Illinois|Adams County]], near [[Quincy, Illinois|Quincy]] to start a fruit nursery. In 1851 he returned to McLean County and once more became active in real estate and was soon working as an agent for the Alton & Springfield Railroad to secure the right of way through [[McLean County, Illinois|McLean County]]. He became co-founder helped of the town of [[Towanda]] and with his brother Kersey and three other men founded the town of [[Dwight]].<ref>Moorehouse, 1916, p.32.</ref> He helped defeat an effort to have the railroad bypass [[Pontiac]] where he had extensive land holdings.<ref> History of Livingston County Illinois (Chicago: LeBaron, 1878) p. 326.</ref> He sold lots in [[Decatur]], [[Lexington]], [[Clinton]], [[ElPaso]], [[Joliet]], and [[LeRoy]]. In 1855 he purchased timber land and began operation a sawmill near Ullin in southern Illinois. <ref>Moorehouse, 1916, p.33.</ref>
Fell also is credited with developing much of the town of [[Normal, Illinois|Normal]], known in the 1850s as North Bloomington.
 
Fell became a close friend of such fellow Illinoisans as [[David Davis|David Davis (Supreme Court justice)]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]]. According to Davis's biographer Willard King, Fell and Davis "had a large part in making Lincoln President."<ref>Willard L. King: ''Lincoln's Manager, David Davis'' Harvard University Press, 1960</ref> After his election, President Lincoln rewarded Fell by appointing him an army paymaster<ref name = "mrlincoln"/>.
 
== Death==
Fell died at his home in Normal, Illinois on February 25, 1887. The Normal Town Council declared that through his "untiring and disinterested efforts" he had secured the crossing of the two railroads and they passed a resolution thating that, "Normal without Jesse Fell is comparatively like a family without a father."<ref> William D. Walters, Jr. A Brief History of Fell Park, Normal, Illinois (Normal: Town of Normal, 2003) p.5. His remains were interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington.</ref>
 
== Legacy ==
* Many place names in Normal reflect [[Jesse W. Fell]]. Fell Park in Normal is located on land he set aside for public use in the 1850s.<ref>[http://www.normal.org/Gov/Boards/HPC/FellPark.asp Fell Park]</ref> There is also a Fell Avenue extending from Bloomington to Normal. Hester Street in Normal is named for his wife Hester Brown Fell. Fort Jesse Road in Normal takes its name from the nickname given by the Fell family to their isolated rural home during the early years in Illinois.
*Co-founded, along with James Allen, the city of [[Clinton, Illinois]]. With Charles W. Holder he co-founded the town of [[Towanda]] Illinois. He was one of five men who founded [[Dwight, Illinois]]. He was deeply involved with the founding of [[Pontiac]], Illinois and in the creation of [[Livingston County]], Illinois. Fell park in Pontiac is named in his honor.▼
*[[Illinois State University]] has an aboreteum covering its main [[Quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] known as the [[Fell Arboretum]] (in Jesse W. Fell's honour). ▼
*His granddaughter married Lewis Stevenson, and thus he is an ancestor of the Illinois political family Stevenson, including his great-grandson, Democratic presidential candidate [[Adlai Stevenson|Adlai E. Stevenson II]].<ref>[http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2883282&id=I09634 Ancestry World Tree Project: Boss Family Tree]</ref>▼
 
▲*Co-founded, along with James Allen, the city of [[Clinton, Illinois]]. With Charles W. Holder he co-founded the town of [[Towanda]] Illinois. He was one of five men who founded [[Dwight, Illinois]]. He was deeply involved with the founding of [[Pontiac]], Illinois and in the creation of [[Livingston County]], Illinois. Fell park in Pontiac is named in his honor.
 
==References==▼
▲*[[Illinois State University]] has an aboreteum covering its main [[Quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] known as the [[Fell Arboretum]] (in Jesse W. Fell's honour).
 
▲*His granddaughter married Lewis Stevenson, and thus he is an ancestor of the Illinois political family Stevenson, including his great-grandson, Democratic presidential candidate [[Adlai Stevenson|Adlai E. Stevenson II]].<ref>[http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2883282&id=I09634 Ancestry World Tree Project: Boss Family Tree]</ref>
 
▲==References==
{{Reflist}}
 
== External links ==
* {{findagrave|3556}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fell, Jesse W.}}
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[[Category:People from Bloomington, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Quincy, Illinois]]
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