Quincy Farms history

Early in 1825, the Illinois Legislature created a new county in West Central Illinois and named it Adams.

Again showing their willingness to aid the most vulnerable of people, the residents of Quincy acted as a refuge to individuals of the Mormon faith escaping persecution in Missouri during the winter of 1838-39.

Founder John Wood became the 12th Governor of Illinois in 1860.

In 1892, Jim Hill, known as the Empire Builder, built the Great Northern Railroad, which opened the area to settlers.

Gadsden County's second big industry of the nineteenth century was Fuller's Earth, which is believed to have been accidentally discovered in 1893 on the property of the Owl Cigar Company, just north of Quincy.

The later business district was incorporated in 1907.

In 1946, these two districts were producing over 95% of American-grown wrapper leaf and they represented a $100,000,000.00 industry of which $25,000,000.00 was invested in land equipment, barns, packing houses, and operating capital in the Georgia-Florida area.

In 1965, Erroll Brown and Percy Kelly established the first food processing plant in the Valley.

The french fry plant was purchased by Lamb-Weston in 1966 and has since undergone both expansion and ownership changes.

In 2014—172 years later—Illinois Governor Pat Quinn officially pardoned Doctor Eells.

GADSDEN COUNTY, FL (February 2018) – History is what makes visiting Northwest Florida’s Gadsden County a unique travel experience in February or anytime.