Bank of Sesser Receives Letter From Man Who Located City of Sesser

Taken from The Sesser Review Thursday June 12, 1947

The following letter has been received from John Sesser of Alhambra, California

"I have a Five Dollar Bill issued by the First National Bank of Sesser. The bill is No One. This called merit the thought that possibly you would be interested in knowing just how the City was named Sesser."

I was locating engineer for the Burlington Railroad during 1905 and it was decided to locate a new town where you are now, I sent the maps in to the Chief Engineer's office in Chicago, with the name "Knob Hill". The Post Office Department would not accept the name "Knob Hill" and returned the map to Chief Engineer, so stating. The Chief Engineer took a red pencil and circled the name "Knob Hill" and placing my name in the lower corner, meaning for the Chief Clerk to mail the print back to me for a new name. The Chief Clerk misunderstood, and put the name in place of "Knob Hill" and the town of Sesser was born.

"I will soon be 74, have no relatives living but I have satisfaction of knowing that my name will for all time be recorded on the face of the Good Old U.S.A."