Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects Early Perlee History

The village of Perlee is situated in Penn Township, on the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, six miles northeast of Fairfield. Prior to the completion of the railroad, the coal-mines known to exist for twenty years had been operated in a small way, and the product hauled in wagons to Washington. La Grange and Miller had done the principal business in that line. F. J. Demarsh had erected a saw-mill as early as 1860, and the first house built on the town site was a log-cabin erected by Israel Snook to accommodate the workmen at the mill.

The railroad was completed in 1870. The Jefferson County Coal Company was organized in that year, and the town laid out. The post office, established soon after, was named Perlee at the Post Office Department, Washington, D. C. Previous to this, the station had been known as Acheson, named by P. J. (sic - F. J.?) Demarsh in honor of George Acheson, Esq., of Fairfield.

Perlee is now a thriving town of 500 inhabitants, with three dry goods stores, one grocery, one drug store, one saw-mill, which also grinds cornmeal; a hotel, blacksmith and other shops, one church (Presbyterian), etc. The Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias each have a flourishing lodge. Mr. Demarsh, the principal merchant, opened his present store in 1872, and is doing a business of $12,000 per year. The town also supports a good school, with two teachers and an attendance of 130 scholars. The principal trade of the place is derived from the coal-mines.

This Company was organized June 3, 1870. Its mines are located at Perlee, where the Company owns 300 acres of fine coal lands, employs about sixty men, and mined, during the year ending November 1, 1878, 374,600 bushels of coal. The present officers of the Company are as follows: James F. Wilson, President; R. H. Hufford, Vice President; C. W. Slagle, Secretary; George Acheson, Treasurer.

organized January 25, 1876. Present officers: William Elliott, President; D. W. Templeton, Vice President; William A. Thompson, Secretary and Treasurer. Capital, $20,000. Mines located at Perlee, where it owns nearly two hundred acres, beside leases on additional tracts. Employs about seventy-five men. Product for the year ending November 1, 1878, 750,000 bushels, mostly consumed by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad.