D.D. Collins

1814 - 1882

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I am a relative of the Collins Brothers, who founded Collinsville. There has always been some confusion during the 20th Century about this.  But I came here because they swore to the beauty of this place, the richness of the bountiful soil and the abundant wildlife.  My father and old Uncle William were brothers.  And further, Uncle William's namesake was called William B. to avoid confusion.

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Now the Collins family gave this land that you are standing on to be a cemetery and also the school land over there, and the land that the City Hall is on.  These are all Collins legacies.  Now, besides the old homestead on Vandalia, my very fruitful farm was all the land of what was once Collinsville Township High School, about 75 acres.

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I was born on the Penobscot River in a town called Oldtown, just outside Bangor, Maine.  I moved around a lot and after working on the Erie Canal, got to Chicago. A congregation there needed a church and I agreed to build it.  It was right across the street from where Marshall Field is now located.  Well, when the church was completed, the congregation did not have the money to pay me. They offered me the land that Marshall Field now stands on.  I looked around and saw the swampy conditions and decided the land was worth nothing.  I donated my work to them and left for Collinsville and greener pastures.

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I opened a store when I got here in what is now Caseyville and built a comfortable little Greek Revival house on Main street in Collinsville for my new wife, Elizabeth Anderson.  The house was at the corner of Main and Center Streets.