History

Earliest History of Will County, Illinois

Indian Boundary Line

The reader has perhaps observed on the maps of this State two lines running parallel to each other and diagonally across the townships, and called the Indian Boundary. The land included between these lines – a strip twenty miles wide – was surveyed in 1821-22 (the Indian title having been extinguished to this in 1818) for canal purposes, as hereafter explained. The land lying outside of this was surveyed in 1837-38. Consequently the portion lying between these lines was brought into market earlier than the other. At the time of the first survey, the parties who did the work were … Read more

Topography of Will County, Illinois

The Eagle Lake Farm

The county is largely prairie, although it exhibits a great variety of soil and surface. There are several townships in which there is not a stick of timber (except as introduced by cultivation), yet considerable bodies of timber are found along the streams, and in isolated groves which were early called “islands.” In the early settlement of the county, and of the Northwest generally, the settlers were very careful to select locations adjacent to some grove, and to secure a timber lot was deemed indispensable to settlement. It was then supposed that the prairie land two or three miles from … Read more

Will County History

Along Old Sauk Trail Churches Cities/Towns History of Will County, Illinois, 1878 Monee Township Newspapers Past & Present of Will County, 1907 Photographs Reed Township Schools The History of Joliet Series, by John Whiteside, The Herald News

Settlements Along Old Sauk Trail

In 1933, during the centennial celebration held by Chicago Heights, the early pioneers were honored by a marker placed in the forest preserve by the Chicago Heights Centennial commission and Sauk Trail chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The bronze marker was mounted on a boulder on the south side of Sauk trail about opposite from the site of the McCoy homestead. Although it was plainly visible from the road and on public property, vandals soon pried the bronze marker off the boulder and there it stands today, a mute reminder of the unsuccessful effort to honor the … Read more

Photographs of Will County Illinois

Baumgartner Creamery

William Long’s Blacksmith Shop This is a picture of the blacksmith shop of William Millard Long who died in 1953 Channahon. He operated the blacksmith shop until after 1920 when he turned it over to his oldest son, Robert. William served as Channahon town clerk for a time. Submitted by Jill Doyle, Jul 2003   Four Generations of Hulberts, ca 1920 This photo was taken ca 1920 and is of four generations of Hulberts. From left to right: either Raymond or Joseph Hulbert, Charles Ray Hulbert, Clinton Raymond Hulbert, and Oren S. Hulbert. Oren settled in Will Co. in 1881, … Read more

History of Monee Township

In the township of Monee, lying between Greengarden and Crete, there were a few who settled quite early.  In 1834, John S. Dilley; in 1835, John M. Chase, N.C. Tibbitts, S.W. Cooper, Nicholas Young and Ruel Carney; and in 1836, S.W. Gaines, Aaron Bond, Otis Philips, Hollis Newton, and a Mr. Hall.  This township has abut three sections of timber in the northeast corner, which will account for its earlier settlement.  There is also a little grove in the southeast corner of the town.  The first school was opened in 1836, by Otis B. _______.  It has filled up in … Read more

History of Will County, Illinois

1875 Will County Illinois Map

Will County, as it is now constituted, consists of twenty-three and about one-half townships of land, and is bounded on the north by Du Page and Cook Counties; on the east by Cook County and the State of Indiana; on the south by Kankakee County, and on the west by Grundy and Kendall Counties. It has an area, therefore, of (about) 541,440 acres, or 840 square miles. In its widest part it is (about) thirty-seven and one-half miles east and west, and thirty-six miles north and south. The fractional half township is occasioned by its embracing a strip about one … Read more

First Permanent Settlements

We will now proceed to detail such facts in respect to the first settlement of Will County as have escaped oblivion, and have been collected from the memories of early settlers and from public records. In so doing, we shall of course repeat much of what was embodied in “Forty Years Ago.” At the time of the admission of the State, all that portion lying north of Alton and Edwardsville, with slight exceptions, was a wilderness. Occasional explorers, soldiers on their marches to the distant outposts,as well as Indian traders and trappers, had, however, discovered the beauties of the region … Read more

Father Walker and Walkers Grove

Father Walker and Walkers Grove History of Will County, Illinois Wm. LeBaron, Jr., & Co. 1878 It was one of these Methodist missionaries who became the first settler within the present bounds of Will County. This was the Rev. Jesse Walker a native of the State of Virginia, born in 1766, twenty-five years before the death of Wesley. He joined the church at the age of 20, and entered the ministry of the M. E. Church on probation, in 1804. He married the daughter of a wealthy planter who was heir to much property in slaves. These she manumitted, choosing … Read more