Marshall Public Library (Marshall, IL)

The rooming house in this photo, located at 613 Locust, was run by Clay Montgomery and his wife, Josephine. Notices in the newspapers as early as the 1920s advertise rooms for rent at the couple's home. The 1950 census, taken 6 years before this fire, recorded Clay and Josephine at the home along with 6 lodgers - Robert Schofield, Clara Crow, Mary Sanders, Sam Norton, Jack Corn and Eva Jesson.

This photo, from an album donated by Joann Brosman Strange, shows the Stone Arch Bridge on West Archer in1985.
The bridge was constructed in 1837 along the National Road under the supervision of Alexander McGregor. No mortar was used in the construction, and this is one of the last stone arch bridges from that road still in use.
From the "Tour of Historic Marshall, Illinois" booklet - "Archer Avenue is part of the original Cumberland Road, later known as National Road. The road was commissioned in 1806 to go from Cumberland, Maryland to the Mississippi River. The completion of the road through Clark County in the early 1930s drew many settlers to the area and was a contributing factor in the move of the Clark County seat from Darwin to Marshall in 1838. The road was paved with bricks in the 1920s and in 1926 it became a part of US Hwy 40 which stretched from coast to coast."

Paul Paddock, 4th & Archer looking east
What a neat photo . . the old tanker truck, the proud looking young man, and the Claypool & Son building in the background. When we began researching this photo, the name was a great place to begin. A search of our newspaper archive quickly revealed a sad story for this young man.
Paul Paddock was born in April 1903 and grew up in Darwin. In 1926, he was living in Marshall - rooming at Clay Montgomery's boarding house on Locust Street and driving a tanker truck for H.B. O'Hair. On the morning of December 22, 1926, he had breakfast at the boarding house and headed to work. When he returned to O'Hair's filling station after a run in his truck, he was not looking well and was talked into returning to the boarding house. There he fell terrible ill and passed away suddenly. Paul was only 23 years old. He was laid to rest at Darwin Cemetery.