Underhill did not pay and was finally sold at considerable loss, and in 1874 it burned.
Brick for these early structures was manufactured in the northeast corner of Secor by the Collins firm. Moore Collins came from England and settled in Secor in 1858 with his two sons William and James. They established the brickyard which ran for years, the open clay pit still remaining. James Collins was the final member of the family to operate the brickyard.
The first grain elevator was erected in Civil War days by Peter Crow. A year or two later Sidwell & Carroll built another, and added a flour mill in 1869. A one-room school was erected in 1857, with William Hendron the first Secor teacher.
In 1954 Secor is still a fine country village with plenty of lot space for further expansion. A Community Club was organized in 1951 which is active in the study of the neighborhood needs. A new fire house and fire equipment were added that year for the protection of a new Secor Community Fire District, as well as the protection inside the village, where adequate water service is now maintained. A cooperative telephone exchange serves the communication needs of the area, Jacob Graber serving as secretary. Recently the Palestine Cemetery Association has been set up, a tax supported body of which Virgil Wilkey is President and Lewis Powell secretary. Ben Moritz is now chairman of the village's board of trustees.
The largest business in town is the Secor Elevator Company, managed by Virgil Wilkey, which annually handles close to 300,000 bushels of grain and 1,500 tons of coal, in addition to feeds and other retail items. The town has three taverns, a grocery, a drug and variety store, the Hunzinger Implement and Hardware store, two garages belonging to Eugene Heller and George Garrels, a barber shop and the George Jacobs Plumbing & Heating shop. The Secor post office has but a single rural route with Dorsey Hibbs as carrier, which serves the country area around the town in all directions.
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