Tag Archives: belleville
Jacob Brosius
Jacob Brosius was a mechanic and an inventor who came directly to Belleville in 1849. His products reflect the hand of man. He held at least 7 patents for agricultural equipment improvements and 3 for radiators and steam conducting pipes. His foundry and machine shop was prosperous, and his castor, linseed and pecan oil business was even more so. In 1876, he built a very pretentious, palatial style home on a hill overlooking east Belleville. He called it “Kronthal”. In [...]
Share and Enjoy
Ferdinand Braun
Ferdinand Braun, a malster from Germany, owned coal mine lands, a dairy and a brickyard on the north side of Belleville where his father, Lorenzo, and George Bressler built a distillery in about 1840. In 1863, Ferdinand was the sole owner. By 1874, his interests turned to transportation, and he incorporated the Belleville City Railway Company. Belleville is credited with the first electric rail line in the State of Illinois. Braun and his wife, Wilhelmina, returned to Germany in 1891 [...]
Share and Enjoy
Belleville Illinois – Founding Fathers
The city of Belleville, Illinois was founded in 1814. It is the county seat of St. Clair County and is the eighth most populated city in Illinois outside of the Chicago Metropolitan area. There have been many influential men who have contributed to the building and growth of this city. Here, we find many of them in photo’s from the Labor and History Museum and the Belleville Public Library. As you trace your family tree, finding photographs can be very [...]
