siuDE.com

Dear Editor:

The early settlers of Carbondale lived in log cabins with a dirt floor. The first places of business were these homes and/or an adjacent lean-to shed.

The establishment of a local sawmill enabled them to build proper stores, hotels and other places of business. The increased prosperity allowed them to build new homes of sawn lumber. This obvious prosperity attracted new residents, which in turn led to more commercial construction.

As the town grew, it also attracted a place of higher learning and later the establishment of the Normal School (now SIU).

I believe this sawmill was the key ingredient which led to the Carbondale we know today.

I am a native of Jackson County and have a strong interest in the preservation of its history. Mill Street denotes and preserves some of this history. There are few features remaining in Carbondale that commemorate this early period of our history. The change of the Mill Street designation would be a drastic and irretrievable loss to the community.

Paying tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. is commendable, but why must we lose one bit of history to pay tribute to another?

Ken Cochran

Murphysboro resident

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