Friday, June 9, 2017

About Town


Just because I think it's funny--on my walk to work the other day, I spotted the neighbor's cat in their tent, enjoying the beautiful weather. 

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Carter Camp


Some of the Carter Camp houses are at the end of the street I live on, and I never knew any of this until a few weeks ago when a gentleman told me he helped move the houses in. My dad was from the Loudon area and he told me stories about St. Elmo during the oil boom, but I didn't realize how much it affected Altamont. This is an excerpt from "Black Gold: The Loudon Oil Field Story" by Devin Walk at the Altamont, IL History website. Click here for the full article.


The oil boom attracted hordes of workers from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, and the largest oil companies in America like Shell, Texas Co. (Texaco), and Standard Oil set up operations in the area. 
By 1940, St. Elmo’s population increased to 3,000 and Altamont’s grew to 2,100. The influx of workers created a housing crisis. With a lack of vacant living space, workers rented rooms in family homes, and some workers slept on the floor in barns next to the horses.
Altamont, during this period, had a quiet, residential feel, which attracted office workers and oil workers with families. Oil workers stayed in the Altamont Hotel at the end of Adams Street, near the present-day government housing. They also lodged with Altamont residents including my Great-Grandfather, Louis Wendling who rented out two rooms of his house to workers.
In 1938, Carter Oil Company built Carter Camp, a group of houses in the northeast part of Altamont for Carter Oil Company employees and families. (Some of the Carterville houses are still standing.)