Here is my little corner of the world. Royal, Illinois.the original town was founded in 1882 by immigrants from Germany. The ground was flat for miles and miles. There was one small problem. It was under water. But being industrious and familiar with drainage problems, they brought in steam shovels on barges and dug drainage ditches. Soon the water drained and they had wonderful fertile black dirt to raise crops in. They built a Lutheran Church and had a few houses. No name yet. And then in 1887 the railroad came through the area. But not thru the settlement. Again, being industrious , they moved the church and the few houses a mile and a half and situated them next to the tracks. Being by the railroad and hoping to get a station, they had to have a name. Some of the founding fathers were trying to decide what to call the town as a train was going by. One of the rail cars carried an advertisement for "Royal" baking powder and the name was born!
This our church as it stands today. We have built on to it a couple of times as they congregation has grown. But the original building is still in there!
Our main industry is agriculture. We grow lots and lots of corn and soybeans. To get all those crops to the market, we have a huge elevator (located next to the tracks!) During harvest season in the fall, truck after truck lines up waiting their turn to dump and head back out for the next load. The elevator ships out the crops in 100 car trains. For months we can hear the banging of train cars as they move in the next one to fill. The downside to this is that we have red snow. Not actually, but that is what we call it. The chaff from the corn cobs settles on to everything in town during harvest.
We have a lovely small town of about 350 people. Of course our community is much bigger as families from all the farms consider Royal their town too. I guess that is one of small town life's most rewarding characteristics. Everyone is family!
This is the original site. During our centennial celebration, we erected this marker. You can see the flat fields behind it.
We have lived in this town for 37 years and I truly love it. We raised our kids here and as the saying goes " it takes a village.." so it did. Small town life can gives you such a solid feeling of belonging. It teaches you sharing and caring, and ultimately, that is what it is all about.
If you are ever in our area, look for us. We will be here.
