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EMDEN. The village of Emden was laid out in 1871 by John M. Gill. of Pekin. for the directors of the Peoria, Lincoln & Decatur, now the Peoria and Evansville branch of the Illinois Central railroad. The town was surveyed by Thomas G. Gardner, county Surveyor. June 15, 1871, and contained 30 blocks. The land prior to the survey had been portions of the farms of A. J. Snyder and William Johnson and their houses were on the plat of the new town. At the time the town was laid out the P. L. & D. railroad ran two trains daily between Pekin and Emden. B. F. Burnett built the first store and was the first postmaster and railroad agent. Sol Jennings was the first blacksmith. During the summer of 1873 the first elevator in the town was built by A. W. Ray, of Delavan. The second elevator was built in 1875 by Smith, Hippen & Company, of Pekin. The first store built by Mr. Burnett was located on the present site of Theodore Van Beuning's store. The village is said to have received its name from Emden on the river Ems, in Germany, from which locality a number of the settlers in the vicinity of the Logan County town of Emden emigrated. Emden was incorporated as a village under the general law of 1894. The following is a list of the first officials: President, J. G. Zimmer; clerk, Theo. Van Beuning; police magistrate, Philip Ward; trustees, J. L. McCormick, Rudolph Jacobs, George Mayer, Charles D. Taylor, Anton Ricken, N. T. Rademaker. The village officers for 1910 were: President, B. M. Irwin; clerk, Cyrus J. McCormick; trustees, John Nagel, William Taylor, William Cross, August Klopp, John P. Johnson, Jr.. John C. Mammen. The village has three commodious churches and an up-to-date school building. It also supports a newspaper, the Emden News, edited and published by Charles H. Scholz and W. E. Mickle. A fire in 1906 destroyed the Bartlett-Frazier elevator, operated by H. Van Beuning; loss, $6,500. The village is located in Oran township and has a population of about 400.

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