Auburn, "loveliest of the plain," [* according to Goldsmith] situated about half a mile north of the present village of Washburn, was called into being Sept. 12th, 1836, by William Maxwell. History is silent concerning its rise and decadence; but the fact that it was vacated by the Legislature Feb. 27th, 1841, is not without its significance. A certain highway running in that direction still honors it by the title "Auburn road."
Bristol consisted of two ranges of lots along the river bank a mile above Lacon, laid off by James Orr on the 6th of May, 1836. One lot in Bristol - no doubt a first-rate business corner - was sold in June, 1838, for $18. The town was vacated Feb. 3d, 1840, by Legislative enactment.
Centreville is the name of a bad speculation in the .shape of a town, laid off in January, 1853, on a school section twelve miles west of Henry, near the centre of Saratoga Township, by Ira Torrey, Samuel Divilbiss, and George Scholes. As yet it has few (if any) other than quadrupedal inhabitants.
Chambersburg was located seven miles west of Lacon, and two
miles north-east of Troy City. It was surveyed Aug. 15th, 1836,
for John T. Shepherd, and has not been heard of since.
Dorchester was a "paper town" laid off July 25th, 1836, by Stephen F. Gale and Robert Kerr Richards, on a tract of ground surrounded by a slough, immediately below Henry. Richards resided in Chicago, and was an extensive dealer in towns, owning interests in a large number of sites in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. He seems to have set a high value upon Dorchester, for half of it was transferred by him to Gale for $40,000. - In this estimate he differed from the public, who never built upon the site; and the town proved "of large promise, and very small performance."
Troy City, a good-sized town-plat, was staked out Sept. 13th, 1336, by Sanford Klock. It was situated eight miles west of Lacon, and has existed only in name since its founding.
Transcribed 04 Feb 2012 from History of Putnam and Marshall Counties, by Henry Allen Ford, 1860
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