Hosea Walter Cagle was born on January 19, 1880 on his parent’s farm located just south of Pigeon Creek Road in what is now the U.S. Wildlife refuge. When Hosea was born, the family farm was located next to Crab Orchard Creek under what is now Crab Orchard Lake. His parents were Pleasant E. Cagle and Flora Elmida McCown. Hosea quite likely got his primary education attending the local rural schools of the area which, given the location, was most likely Chamness School but later attended and graduated from a mechanics school.

When the 1880 federal census was taken in June, Hosea was listed as living on a farm in Bainbridge Precinct which is what a portion of West Marion Township was called in earlier days. His father, Pleasant was 22 years old and his mother, Flora, was only 21. Hosea was only 5 months old at the time and was the first and only child in the home.

By the 1900 census, the farm family had grown to include 9 family members, Pleasant 42, Flora, 40, Hosea 20, Noah E. 18, Ora E. 16, Stella A. 13, Carrie M. 8, Sherman M. 6, and Jennie L. aged 2. Not only had the family grown in numbers, the farm itself had grown to a size of 160 acres purchased in 40 acre plots over time.

On November 6, 1901, at the age of 22, Hosea married his first wife, Ettie Glenn, but the marriage wasn’t to last and ended in divorce in 1905. Before the year had ended, he remarried to Della May Smith, who went by Delphia, in Jackson County.

In 1905, Hosea was granted a patent for a pneumatic tire clamp. A 1907 Marion Street directory located Hosea and Delphia living at 504 E. DeYoung Street with Hosea listed as a carpenter/contractor, however it was established that Hosea had a knack for things mechanical. Early reports indicate that he went to work for the Sullin’s Garage located on N. Market Street in these early days. That fact was reflected in the 1910 census. In that census, Hosea, then 30 years old, was working as a mechanic. He and his wife, Delphia 25, were then living in a rental home at 506 E. Boulevard St.

By 1910, Hosea owned a vehicle called an Elmore. Elmore’s were made in Ohio from 1893 until 1912. They were a brass era vehicle that used a 2-stroke engine design not unlike a weed eater that uses mixed oil and gas and equipped with kerosene powered head lamps that had to be lit by hand. These cars were usually only one or two cylinder vehicles. It is likely that Hosea was one of the first automobile owners in Marion.  An article appearing in the Marion paper “The Egyptian Press” in June 1912 stated “A.R. King, Hosea Cagle’s driver, and L.E. Holmes when arraigned for trials in Justice C.C. Davis’ court, pleaded guilty to charges of being out after sunset without lights on their machines and were fined $10 and three cost. This makes three cases in the city within the last few days. Moral: Be of the seven wise virgins.”

In 1915, Hosea built his own auto service garage called Cagle’s Garage in the 600 block of N. Market Street next to the railroad tracks. It was, at the time, the largest garage building in Marion and one of the largest in the state. It was 300 ft. long and 100 ft. wide covering the width of the block between N. Market and N. Madison Streets. It was operated by Hosea for several years as a garage and was later leased by John Whiteside who ran Whiteside Garage there until after Cagle’s death when the garage building was sold through court to Wesley Hayton of Carterville and Maurice Hayton of Marion operating as the Hayton Motor Sales Co. The building would eventually burn to the ground on July 24, 1926 and be rebuilt as another car dealership and service center. This lot is now occupied by D & C. Heating and Cooling as of this writing in 2025.

Related to his car ownership, the following article appeared in the Marion Daily Republican on July 18^th, 1916. “Last Friday night, two racing automobiles on West Main Street crashed into a buggy and killed the horse. The automobiles then went on into town without stopping to see what damage had been done. Yesterday the first of these racers were brought up for trial when Hosea Cagle was brought forward. Witnesses estimated the speed as from 25 to 50 miles an hour. Persons in the cars said they didn’t know how fast they were going. This was the second time in little more than a month that Mr. Cagle has been arrested for speeding. He was found guilty and fined $200 and with costs makes a total of $239.95. Cagle was given until Tuesday to arrange for the payment or to make an appeal and to file bond. He appeared in court this morning and objected to paying the city attorney’s fee which the law provides for in this case. The argument became very warm and it is claimed he called the city attorney a thug and a thief and several other insulting names. He became so strong that the city attorney could stand it no longer and hit him. This brought the blood and in the scuffle City Attorney Rice’s shirt was torn and blood was spilt around on the floor. Cagle’s injuries were thought to not be at all serious. Late this morning Rice pled guilty to assault and was fined $25 plus costs. This morning, Arlie Ing pled guilty and was fined $200 and costs as the law provides which makes a total of $226.65.”

When Hosea filled out his WWI Draft record in 1918, he listed 607 N. Market as his home. He was described as a self-employed merchant, aged 38, with a medium build, medium height, blue eyes and dark hair.

On August 2, 1919, Hosea purchased a tract of land from Elijah & Cora Blankenship for $8,500. In total, the land occupied right at 110 acres and was located on what is now the Halfway Road extension that runs south from West Main Street to Westminster Road. The property occupied the space between what is now the Pepsi plant and reached almost to the Burlington Northern Railroad underpass. Back then, the railroad would have been the C.B. & Q, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

Articles started appearing in the paper stating, “Work has started on Southern Illinois’ largest amusement park, one mile west of Marion called Cagle Amusement Park. The park being built by Hosea Cagle of Marion will cover over 100 acres of land, 30 of which will be an artificial lake. Other features will be a baseball diamond, airplane landing station, picnic groves and golf links.”

An article appearing in the Marion Daily Republican dated February 20, 1920 stated, “Hosea Cagle is busy at work on his suburban park and the bath houses are now nearing completion. The big 30-acre lake is filled with water and four wells will supply it with water during the season. Mr. Cagle says that the baseball park will be completed before the season opens. The gun club has arranged to use the grounds for the future matches and it will be the amusement headquarters for Southern Illinois.”

When the 1920 federal census was taken, Hosea 39 and Delphia 36 were living at 609 N. Market St. and Hosea listed himself as a mechanic at the Amusement Park.

In January 1921, Hosea and his second wife, Delphia, divorced at her request only to remarry to his third wife, Safronia Simmons in May 1922.

In January 1924, K.K.K. enforcer S. Glenn Young and numerous Klan members conducted 44 raids throughout the county for Illegal alcohol operations, so it was inevitable that they would raid the Cagle Amusement Park west of Marion. Among the people netted in the raid were Hosea Cagle. Victims of the raid claimed they were mistreated and had their property stolen including Cagle.  Cagle claimed he was struck over the head with a gun and was charged with resisting arrest. All arrested ended up in the jail at Benton, Illinois.

In February 1924, federal courts issued temporary injunctions against 47 “soft drink parlors” including the Cagle Amusement Park. Evidence was said to have been abundant against them. Of all the cases, Cagle’s case was acquitted with two others in May 1924 and charges dropped.

An article appearing in the newspapers dated July 24, 1924 stated, “Hosea Cagle, owner of the Cagle Amusement Park was almost instantly killed about midnight Thursday night when he drove into a wire cable stretched across the West hard road (West Main) by contractors as a barricade. The Cadillac roadster he was driving was partially wrecked by the cable, which caught the radiator and completely swept the body of the car catching Cagle about the shoulders and breaking his neck as the car went under the cable. Three men who were following behind him, Dewey Robert, Barney Abler and Frank Price, found him lying with his head in the door with the car door open. They brought him to town and he lived until they got in front of the Hub Clothing Store (on the public square), when he died about 2:00 o’clock A.M. Cagle was returning home from the Saline County Fair at Harrisburg when the accident occurred.” The only hospital in town at the time was located at 317 E. Main Street.

His obit read, “Hosea Walter Cagle, son of Mr. and Mrs. P.E. Cagle, was born January 19, 1880, seven miles west of Marion in Williamson County. He was 44 years, six months and six days of age at the time of his death. He had been married to Ettie Glenn, Delphia Smith and last to Safronia Simmons. At the age of 18, he professed faith in Christ and joined the Missionary Baptist Church of Pigeon Creek in Chamnesstown. His education was obtained in rural school and he graduated from and holds a diploma in a school of mechanics. He was in public business most of his life. Those who survive him are his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. P.E. Cable of 106 S. Court Street, Marion, siblings; Noah Cable of E. St. Louis, Mrs. Cora Freese of Marion, Mrs. Stella Denison of Chicago, Mrs. Noah Harrell of Marion, Mrs. Jennie Hendrickson of Chicago, Mrs. Guy Kelley of Paducah. One brother and sister, Sherman and Mae, preceded him in death.

The funeral was held on Sunday afternoon at the home of his father, P E. Cagle, at 106 South Court Street at 2:30 p.m. Interment was in Rose Hill Cemetery.

After Hosea’s death his family requested a partition of his assets through Chancery court. His assets were listed and sold off through the courts and the remaining balance after bills were paid were distributed to his current wife Safronia, ex-wife Delphia, his parents and remaining brothers and sisters.

His amusement park was closed the next year and the property sold off to the Marion Golf Club and now serves as the Half Way Road extension south to Westminster and the Fed Ex distribution Center.

(Sources: Egyptian Press, Marion Daily Republican, Waterloo Republic Times, Williamson County marriage records, Marion city street directories, WWI Draft card records, The K.K.K. Movement in Williamson County, Federal Census Records, Williamson County Deed Records. Compiled by Sam Lattuca on 5/29/2025)