IN November 1886 a group of landowners living north of the city of Belleville, Illinois, came together to discuss setting up a new community.
A petition for their annexation to Belleville was being circulated, and establishing a new community was one way of avoiding it.
There are no records explaining their motivation, but independence, economic opportunities and personal ambition may all have been involved. There were 29 votes for incorporation and 16 against, and the following month the village of New Swansea was established. It is believed that the settlement was named after the British seaport by coal mining Welsh immigrants.
One less popular theory is that it was given the name to avoid post office mix-ups. The area once referred to itself as New Swanwick, after Swanwick in Perry County, and mail was constantly being delivered to the wrong place. A bricklayer of Welsh descent is said to have suggested the name New Swansea.
Only four years after incorporation, about 640 acres were disconnected from the community after a request from residents. It grew again slowly, annexing a few lots at a time.
The name was shortened to Swansea in 1895 at the request of the town's post office.
Most residents worked for the mines, brickyards or foundaries.
Today's Swansea is officially known as a village. This is not because of its size, but because of its form of government, a board of trustees - the legislative body - headed by the president of the board (the mayor).
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
A petition for their annexation to Belleville was being circulated, and establishing a new community was one way of avoiding it.
There are no records explaining their motivation, but independence, economic opportunities and personal ambition may all have been involved. There were 29 votes for incorporation and 16 against, and the following month the village of New Swansea was established. It is believed that the settlement was named after the British seaport by coal mining Welsh immigrants.
One less popular theory is that it was given the name to avoid post office mix-ups. The area once referred to itself as New Swanwick, after Swanwick in Perry County, and mail was constantly being delivered to the wrong place. A bricklayer of Welsh descent is said to have suggested the name New Swansea.
Only four years after incorporation, about 640 acres were disconnected from the community after a request from residents. It grew again slowly, annexing a few lots at a time.
The name was shortened to Swansea in 1895 at the request of the town's post office.
Most residents worked for the mines, brickyards or foundaries.
Today's Swansea is officially known as a village. This is not because of its size, but because of its form of government, a board of trustees - the legislative body - headed by the president of the board (the mayor).
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
The old Swansea Village hall.
The dog park in Swansea.
