Griggsville – the bad news

Having already seen the purple martins in Louisiana, Missouri, I decided to stop by Griggsville, Illinois on the way home. Griggsville became famous for promoting purple martins for mosquito control. A local antenna business (J.L. Wade & Co.) converted to producing purple martin houses. At the height of the purple martin boom in the early 1980’s, there was a “purple martin train” consisting of a CB&Q steam locomotive and 29 passenger cars owned by Mr. Wade. The cars were painted purple and contained nature exhibits. The train was eventually sold in the 1990’s. The cars scattered throughout the country and the steam locomotive ended up at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. Anyway, Griggsville was famous for its high rise purple martin houses along IL 107 in downtown Griggsville. After Mr. Wade died and the city took over the houses, problems were encountered with less than perfect maintenance of the houses and sparrows and starlings taking over the houses. Today, the openings in the houses all appear to have been boarded over. Check out my next post for some good news.