The village of Dayton was settled in 1829 by a group that travelled by covered wagon from Dayton, Ohio. In 1831, Abraham Lincoln himself visited Dayton during the Blackhawk Indian Uprising. Dayton's rich history developed from those early years. Throughout the 1800s, Dayton became an industrial center for LaSalle county, providing factories for leather and woolen products, including the fabric to make Union army uniforms during the Civil War.
In the last 150 years, Dayton has developed into a modern bedroom community with many homes overlooking the hydroelectric dam and beautiful river valley. These homes are now threatened by the requirements to clear the land below these power lines.
According to Ameren proposals, these sorts of power lines normally require an easement 50 feet to each side of the power lines, free of buildings and vegetation taller than 10-12 feet. Surprisingly, they are now proposing a reduced safety margin of 25 feet to each side, in an apparent effort to disregard safety considerations, while reducing the number of landowners able to object. The other routes passed primarily along state highways and through agricultural areas, well away from homes, and substantially free of nearby buildings. This route, however, passes through a dense historic community where many existing homes and buildings are much less than the normal 100 foot separation.
It is clear that the demolition of such a historic neighborhood imposes a much greater impact on the public than either of the other proposed routes. When pressed to comment on this during a break in the public meetings, the Ameren engineer commented that this was a major problem and a compelling argument that the lines should not pass through the downtown Dayton area along this route. This sentiment was echoed by several comments to numerous landowners, saying that they "need not worry", this route presented too many difficulties, and would "never be seriously considered".