History of the Arbor District p. 3  

          On January 4, 1853, the first public auction was held.  The lots sold for “six to one hundred dollars per lot, averaging, however, only a fraction over twenty-four dollars.  When investors drew out the plat they reserved a central square of 9.6 acres for use by the Illinois Central Railroad.  The remaining lots were laid out either parallel or perpendicular to the future railroad.  Carbondale was a planned community from the beginning and the plan centered on the Illinois Central Railroad. 

            With the initial auction complete, and the new town plat (Wright TownlotsJWDW) recorded at the Jackson County Courthouse, Brush sent a copy of the plat to the general superintendent of the railroad in Chicago.  Management of the Illinois Central Railroad agreed to put in a switching station when construction reached the proposed site, and to establish a station in Carbondale .  Brush also procured a contract to build a freight house.  Carbondale would have its station.  Construction could begin on the future town.

Source: Wright, John W. D. A History of Early Carbondale , Illinois :  1852 – 1905.  Carbondale :  Southern Illinois University Press, 1977.

            The first home built in Carbondale belonged to James Boyd Richart, brother of founder Dr. William Richart.  James Richart built his house in December, immediately after the founder’s division of property.  He was actually living in Carbondale when the first lots went to public auction.  His home was on town lot 36, which is now 207, 209, and 211 South Illinois Avenue , and was described by historian John Wright as “modest.”[1]  James Richart would later become Carbondale ’s first Mayor in 1868.[2]

            Daniel Harmon Brush opened the first business on the west end of lot 17, on Main Street .  When Brush moved his dry goods business into the building in January 1853, Asgill Conner became manager of the store.[3]  Brush also moved a sawmill and gristmill south of what is now Mill Street .  The new town would need wood for construction, and Brush would supply this need.  The wood for construction of the freight house and his own home, as well as most of the wood used in construction of the new town were all provided by Brush’s sawmill.