Founders' Monuments

Founders' Monuments. Cemetery Highlights. Dr. Kasper Koepfli wished to lead a party of fellow Swiss to the United States where opportunities existed for immigrants. He persuaded a number of relatives and friends, all from Sursee, Switzerland to make the trip. The party consisted of Dr. Kasper Koepfli and wife, three of their sons, Bernard aged 27, Joseph aged 23, and Solomon aged 17, two daughters, two nephews, Joseph and Anthony Suppiger, a hired girl, and a carpenter. In the same party were four other men from other Swiss localities. In all, the party numbered 15. , They made their way to St. Louis, Missouri. The year was 1831. Koepfli and his family were not fully satisfied with Missouri's farmland, so they looked to Illinois. They searched for land near Vandalia, Illinois before deciding to return to St. Louis. On their return, they passed near the current site of Highland, Illinois. Koepfli was impressed by the Looking Glass Prairie- it was the location he had been seeking. , Koepfli decided that the wooded edge of Looking Glass Prairie was the place they would found a settlement. The Swiss immigrants quickly acquired land and moved their belongings from St. Louis. Not all of the party entered into the community plan, only Dr. Koepfli, his three sons, the Suppiger brothers, and Joseph Vonarx. , The first land purchase totaled 700 acres. Not long after, they purchased another 350 acres for a total of more than a thousand acres for the price of $2,727.38., The efforts of this first Swiss party attracted more Swiss immigrants. In 1833, a second contingent arrived. Joseph Suppiger Sr., the father of Joseph and Anthony, was among those that came. Other immigrants from Switzerland in 1833 were Johann and Rudolph Blattner, William Hagnauer, Jacob Eggen, and the Buchmann family.