Old Chicago Trail - Paw Paw, IL
N 41° 41.384 W 088° 59.230
16T E 334626 N 4617236
A marker describing the significance of the stage coach road from Chicago to Galena that went through the old town of Paw Paw (Grove), in Lee County, Illinois
Waymark Code: WMM1RA
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 07/04/2014
Views: 4
The marker says:
OLD CHICAGO TRAIL
The Old Chicago Trail extended from Fort Dearborn to Galena. A government mail route was established along this Indian trail in 1829. The Potawatomi ceded their territory to the government in 1833. This route became the first East-West stagecoach trail across Northern Illinois. Paw Paw Grove, one of the first settlements along the route, was a midway haven between Chicago and Galena. It was over this trail Poetess Margaret Fuller traveled in 1843, she wrote: "We traveled the blooming plain unmarked by any road, only the friendly track of the wheels which beat, not broke the grass. Our stations were not from town to town, but from grove to grove."
Erected by the State Bank of Paw Paw and the Illinois State Historical Society 1986
At one time there were
three Paw Paws in this area: East Paw Paw in far southwestern DeKalb County; Paw Paw (now known as South Paw Paw), and Paw Paw Grove -- both in Lee County. When the railroad came through the latter in the 1870s, many folks moved to it, and they even brought some of the buildings. The word Grove was dropped from the name, necessitating a change to the original Paw Paw to be called South Paw Paw. It is hard to imagine that there used to be a seminary at East Paw Paw. Now all that is there is a cemetery and a few houses.
There is an irony here. Both DeKalb County and Lee County wanted to call the area Paw Paw Township, but they both agreed that that could cause confusion, being in two different counties. So they drew straws or flipped for it or something. DeKalb County won the toss and ended up with Paw Paw Township. At least it has the name. The folks from the Lee County side were stuck for a name. Many of them had come from the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania; so they decided to name the township Wyoming.
A lot of history of this area can be gleaned from historian Frank E. Stevens (edited by A. C. Bardwell) for Wyoming Township and Willow Creek Township just north of Wyoming Township. One might also learn a lot about day-to-day existence in this area during the 19th and early 20th century from bachelor farmer David Smith in his Recollections of David Smith, having come to this area with his family when he was 6 years old in 1837. His mother's brother, John Colville, emigrated with them, becoming a well-known businessman in Paw Paw (Grove). The aforementioned Frank E. Stevens has a nice biography of David Smith in 1914 -- nine years before Smith died.
Can you tell that this poster learned a bit of the local history in the 13 years that he lived here?
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