History

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

History of Florence Illinois

Florence township was set off from Wilmington in 1851. Previous to that time it was known only as Starrs Grove. In fact up to about that time there were few settlements in the township except in and around the little grove of a few acres in the northwest corner of the township. The first of the pioneers to settle there took it for granted that land that was too poor to raise trees was too poor to raise anything else. But the pioneer soon learned that the open prairie was the best for farms. The timber was all right for … Read more

History of Frankfort Illinois

This was one of the earliest settled of the towns in the county. The township was largely covered with timber, and that proved as great an attraction to the pioneer in Frankfort, as it did in the other parts of the county, for it was a fixed fact that the pioneer would build his cabin where fuel and shelter was to be had, and that too with but little trouble to himself. Another attraction was the land was high and rolling and well watered and drained, and besides the Old Sac trail, which went in almost a direct line from … Read more

History of Custer Illinois

Custer township was organized, as such and under that name in 1886, but it was settled long before when it was a part of Reed township,—in fact, there were inhabitants in what is now Custer township before there was in Reed township, as now organized. The whole township of Reed and Custer was organized in 1850, under the name of Clinton. Soon after, however, it was changed to Reed, and under that name it continued as one large township until 1886, when the inhabitants of the eastern portion seceded, and set up a township of their own, naming it Custer … Read more

History of Crete Illinois

When the county was organized in 1836, what is now Crete and Monee were joined together as one voting precinct, and called Thorn Creek precinct. But in 1850, when the towns in the county were organized under the new state constitution, they were separated and the township of Crete was organized as a voting precinct, and Nicholas Brown was elected the first supervisor. The voting place was established in Crete village, that being the nearest the center of the township. The township is situated in the extreme eastern part of the county, bordering on the Indiana state line. It is … Read more

History of Channahon Illinois

The township of Channahon is located in the southwest part of the county bordering on Grundy county and is known on the map of the county as town 34, range 9 east of the third principal meridian. The township is well watered, having the DesPlaines and DuPage rivers passing through it. They meet a short distance east of the village and hence the town derives its name from the fact, the name meaning in the Indian language “The Meeting of the Waters,” and was bestowed upon it by Judge Peek, one of the early settlers. The surface is pretty uneven … Read more

History of DuPage Illinois

This township is in the extreme northern part of the county, and was organized as a township in 1850, under the law of 1849, relating to the organization of townships. Originally with Wheatland it formed the DuPage precinct when the county was formed in 1836, and was one of the precincts of Cook County, previous to the formation of this county. The township is well watered, having the DuPage river in the western part, the Lille Cache creek in the southern, and the Des Plaines river and the canal in the eastern part. There is a widening of the river … Read more

History of Will County Illinois, 1907

Will county extends from the Indiana state line on the east to Grundy and Kendall counties on the west, and from Kankakee county on the south to Cook on the north, and contains twenty-four townships, nineteen of which are full townships of thirty-six sections each; two townships, Crete and Washington, have more than that number of sections, as each contains forty-five sections, and three townships that have less sections in number. Reed has eighteen sections, Wesley twenty-six, and Custer twenty-eight sections. And as section is a square mile, there are seven hundred and fifty six square miles in the county, … Read more

History of Joliet Illinois, 1907

In our history of the Northwest Territory we have alluded very briefly to this most intrepid and distinguished explorer, in whose honor our flourishing city was named, and who as the leader in the great expedition with Father Marquette, 1673, was the discoverer of not only the Mississippi river, in its entirety, but also was the first white man to set foot upon the soil of what is now the Prairie state, and if the theories and conjectures are true as regards their voyage up the Illinois river to Lake Michigan, that they passed up the Desplaines to the portage … Read more