Edwin L. Drake, an out-of-work conductor for the New Haven Railroad, went to Titusville in December of 1857 to deal with financial problems associated with the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of Connecticut, soon to be the Seneca Oil Company in 1858.

Oil had been coming from a spring on Oil Creek that was used to lubricate machinery and provide smoky light. The technology for producing kerosene from crude oil was been developed and the crude from Titusville was thought to be valuable for this purpose.

Performance hall built in 1865

Alliance was founded in 1854 by the merger of three smaller communities called Williamsport (formed in 1827), Freedom (formed in 1838), and Liberty (formed in 1850). A fourth community, Mount Union, was added in 1888. Alliance was incorporated as a city in 1889.

https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/The-way-we-were-Twain-visit-marked-by-laughter-12581482.php

Freeport the capital of Stephenson County is a thriving town on the Pekatonica River at the junction of the Chicago and Galena the Illinois Central and Western Union Railways 121 miles west of Chicago 51 miles south of Galena and 67 miles from Dunleith. It contains a good hotel several handsome churches and three newspaper offices. Present population estimated 8,600. 

Appletons' hand-book of American travel: containing a full description of ... the United States and British provinces

Edward Hepple Hall

The Oldest Methodist Church in Northern Illinois:
In 1829 the first regularly appointed Methodist minister arrived in Galena. By 1832 a plain frame church was erected on Bench Street, but was lost to fire in 1838. A new building was built in 1841, and by 1856 the congregation had grown so that yet another new brick and stone church needed to be built. The present church was dedicated in 1857.