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The Town of Prairie is in the northeast corner of the county and contains 23,480 acres (a little over 86 sections),
all rich prairie except a fraction along the south side where the prairie is interrupted by the North Fork of Brouillett
Creek. Scottland and Raven are on the Indiana, Decatur & Western Railway, and afford a ready market within
the town, while Chrisman, near the west side, and Dana on the east, are both near by and convenient.
There is a greater proportion of the lands in this town held by the descendants of the original settlers than in
any other town in the county except Brouillett Creek. John Leggett came from Ohio in an early day, and his sons
and daughters occupy the home he established. Edmond Clark came from Kentucky, and his sons succeeded to the lands
which he entered and which their children still own. The Eonwells came from Ohio, and some of the name are yet
on- the land of their fathers; and this is also true of the Thompsons, the Scotts, the Ingrahams and others. The
settlement in this part of the county was made as early as 1820, Jacob Jones being perhaps the first permanent
resident. The first school in the town was taught in 1830, and the first postoffice was established in 1851 on
the Montezuma road, which runs from Montezuma, Ind., to Champaign, Ill. It was named Bonwell. The Indiana, Decatur
& Western Railway (originally the Indiana & Illinois) was constructed through the town on an east and west
line, near the south side of the town, in 1871-72. The people voted a donation of $12,000 and paid the same soon
afterwards in easy installments. Scottland was laid out when the railroad was finished, and soon became an important
factor of the town. It now has a handsome and commodious schoolhouse, a good church, several stores, elevators
and all the traffic and other ordinary conveniences of a thrifty country market in an agricultural region. The
descendants of the early settlers of Brouillett Creek still abide here in large numbers and consutute the backbone
of the community.
TOWN OFFICERS.- Douglas Dawson, Supervisor; B. F. Crawford, Town Clerk; Frank Jones, Assessor; A. E. Haworth, Collector;
W. O. Osborne, S. W. Camerer, Justices of the Peace; W. N. Smith, William Satterlee, Constables; John L. Scott,
J. C. Thompson. J. T. York, Commissioners of Highways.
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