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Mahomet is a village of about 4,900 people. Home to Lake of the Woods County Park, it boasts one of the most popular golf courses in the region. Hartwell C. Howard Golf Course (left) opened its links to the public in 1954. Lake of the Woods offers its visitors a vast array of activities including swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, running, picnicking, cross-country skiing, and sledding.
Mahomet was first settled in 1830 by Daniel Porter. Mahomet township was originally platted as "Middletown" in 1832, and finally recorded when the new County of Champaign was organized in 1836. The Post Office was changed to Mahomet around 1840 because another town in Logan County was named Middletown. The name of the township was officially changed to Mahomet in 1867, and the Village of Mahomet was incorporated in 1872.
Agriculture and transportation provided the original impetus for the village's growth. The Old Bloomington Road forded the Sanagmon River at Mahomet. This provided opportunities for businesses such as a ferry, taverns, and boarding houses. The Indiana, Bloomington, and Western Railroad, later known as the Norfolk and Western, ran a line through the Mahomet area, and provided transportation between Bloomington and Danville. A mill and elevator located near the railroad at Mahomet in 1879 along with other agriculturally related businesses which needed the railroad to transport goods. The area supported several farm families which included Benjamin Franklin Harris who farmed 5,000 acres in the area.
Today, proximity and convenient access to major population centers have contributed to the Village's continued growth. The Village was considered an independent community in the first half of the Twentieth Century, with most of its labor working in the Mahomet area, and a majority of the goods and services being purchased within the township. The completion of Interstate 74 has changed the development of Mahomet into a "bedroom" community for Champaign-Urbana. Today, the majority of Mahomet's labor force commute to jobs in other communities, and most of the goods and services are purchased outside the Village. For information about the business community in Mahomet, please check the Web site of the Mahomet Chamber of Commerce.
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