This was one of the first of the townships in the county to be settled, if not the very first. It is said that Rev. Jesse Walker, better known to the pioneers of the county as “Father Walker,” established an Indian mission upon the bank of the Dupage river, in what has since been known … Read more
This township, one of the largest in the county, is now the smallest. From 1860 to 1875 it included in its boundaries all of Custer township, including its own. It now has but eighteen sections, or just one-half of an ordinary township. It was called Clinton at first by the county commissioners, but when the … Read more
This is another of timberless townships, and hence very lately settled. At the time of the organization of the different townships in the county into voting precincts, in 1850, Peotone could not be so organized for the reason that there were but two actual voters in the township at the time, and therefore it had … Read more
This township had not a white inhabitant until after the trouble with the Indians was over. There were settlements to the east over in Crete, and to the northwest up in Frankfort, but the township of Carey, as Monee and Will were then called, could not boast of a single white man until the year … Read more
New Lenox is what was formerly known as the Hickory Creek Settlement, although the settlement extended into and at first included that in Frankfort. But the settlers there not long after gave their settlement the name of Chelsea and by that name it was known until the Rock Island road went through the township, and … Read more
Past and Present of Will County, Illinois By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association Assisted by an Advisory Board, consisting of Hon. James G. Elwood, James H. Ferriss, William Grinton, Mrs. Kate Henderson and A. C. Clement ILLUSTRATED Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1907 Dedicated to the Pioneers … Read more
This township is situated in the extreme southeastern part of the county, and is the most distant from the county seat of any township, being from its center, in a direct line from Joliet, twenty-seven miles, and by rail not less than thirty-five. Since the division of Reed Township, this is one of the two … Read more
Population of Will County by Townships, 1850-1870
In 1850, when the township of Wilton was formed, Town 33, Range 11, or what is now known as Peotone, contained only two voters, and it was, therefore, necessary to include it with some other township, and as Wilton was already pretty well settled, it was concluded to embrace within its limits the two Congressional … Read more
Plainfield lays claim to the honor of the first settlement in Will County. The first settlement made in Walker’s Grove, a body of timber just south of the present village of Plainfield, dates back half a century or more. Look at the figures, 1826-1878! Fifty-two years are between these milestones. Thirty years are the average … Read more