Noble Leroy Marsh was born January 26, 1843, on his parents' farm in the northeast quarter of Section 14, Cedar Township, Knox County, Illinois. A portion of the property would later be covered by the waters of Lake Bracken.  Thomas and Sophronia Marsh had purchased the land in 1835.

 

Young Marsh grew up helping cultivate the land. He recalled in later years finding many arrowheads while plowing. They had been made by Native Americans. He even found the skull of one in a field. He saw Native Americans pass through the area on their way to a reservation farther west. He was also a witness to the debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas at Knox College in 1858. He claimed Lincoln had given him a quarter and, the rest of his life, regretted spending it.

 

Leroy liked horses. During the Civil War he helped the army buy them from local farmers. They would be driven to Peoria, put on steamboats and taken down the Illinois River for use by the army. In 1861 he started a small horse sale on the Cedar Township farm. Many farmers bred their animals which then could be sold for cash.

 

In the early 1880s Marsh established a boarding and sale stable on North Cherry Street at the corner of Waters Street. He sold heavy draft animals as well as driving horses. When he was delivering milk, Carl Sandburg may have driven a team of horses purchased at a Marsh sale. Marsh was an astute businessman and a good judge of equine flesh. He relished practical jokes but was kind to boys who enjoyed watching the horses being trained.

 

In 1896 the business failed because a partner had been speculating in the grain market. Judge Alfred A. Craig and banker J.L. Burkhalter helped Marsh restart the business. By the turn of the century, Marsh was selling thousands of animal per year. He was known and respected by buyers in Chicago and St. Louis as well as on the East Coast.

 

Galesburg profited from the business as well. Buyers stayed in the hotels and ate at the restaurants while attending the sales. The railroads profited from the shipping of horses in and out of the city. About forty workers kept the stable running. Additional men and boys were hired on sale days to keep the auction go smoothly. A horse would be sold every minute, all day long.

 

In 1912 a spectacular fire destroyed most of the sale barn. Fortunately, the horse sale had been conducted the day before so there were few animals in the barns. Thirty-six horses were rescued, but a dozen were destroyed by the fire. The facility was rebuilt of brick for greater safety and sanitation. Within four months horse and mule sales resumed.

 

During World War I Marsh sold horses to buyers from England, France and Italy. Over a thousand  animals were sold in one day during the summer of 1917. They were shipped on special express trains to the East. The horses were used in cavalry units and to pull cannon.

 

Mustangs were shipped from the West to be trained and sold at Marsh's sale. On Sunday afternoons a kind of rodeo was conducted on the Broad Street side of the facility. Many Galesburgers would stop to watch.

 

IIronically, Leroy Marsh was injured by a runaway motorcycle in 1920. Because of his poor health he sold the business to the Galesburg Horse and Mule Market. It continued into the mid-1930s.

 

Leroy Marsh died May 15, 1929, in his home at 346 North Cherry Street, just a block from the stable.. He was 86 years old.. He was buried in the Marsh family plot in the Knoxville Cemetery next to his wife Philena and two of his three children.o:p>

 

The site of the Marsh stables was later paved and used as a city parking lot. A granite marker commemorates the business.