Origins

 

 

   

    Charles Wilhelm Freidrich Lange Lange immigrated from Westphalen Germany to the United States in 1843. He was descendent of an agrucultural family.

 

    The Village of Maryville was named after a Mary , as villagers now and others might have guessed. May Krome Lange, was the wife of Carl William Fred Lange, son of German immigrant who had settled in St. Louis and established a grocery business. Carl had earlier wandered over into Madison County and liked what he saw and bought a small farm. Lange platted the village in 1900 and named it in his wife's honor. Incorporation papers were filed May 4.1902. There were more than 300 men, women and children in the village.

 

    What may not be so well known is that the village got its first revenue from a glass of beer. After the village was incorporated in 1902, the village fathers found they hadn't a dime, so they levied a $ 500 annual saloon license fee. The four saloon keepers didn't have a "murmur of objection," The stiff annual fee was levied at a time when "most of the money that crossed tavern bais was spent for a five-cent stein of beer,” said. Michael Semanisin who imposed the

tavern tax

(Alton Evening Telagraph~ 1966)

 

Pioneer Origins

 

Long before that in 1802 two adventurous brothers, Samuel and Joel Whiteside, had marked the area for posterity. "They came from a family noted for its bravery and daring in troubles between the white settler and the Indians, who had a great deal of respect for the Whitesides." mentioned Micheal Semansin. That log cabin the brothers built became the nucleus of the village. Only a year before the Whiteside’s founded their home, Samuel Judy, the first permanent

(Alton Evening Telagraph~ 1966)