Fulton: A River Town

Fulton: A River Town. . , Fulton's heritage as a small, river town extends to 1835. , A Perfect Site for a Town , Traveling up the Mississippi River in 1835, John Baker noticed a stretch of river that narrowed amid flatlands and bluffs – a perfect site for a town and a ferry service. Baker started a town – Baker's Ferry – and began ferry service to Iowa within a year. The town's name was changed to Fulton (in honor of inventor Robert Fulton) and it soon became an important transfer and warehouse port. , Caption: Fulton's founder, John Baker , The Population Grows , In the 1850s, settlers, many of them immigrants from Holland and other European countries, arrived in the Fulton area. Some were farmers and merchants. Others worked in sawmills making lumber for rafts, boats, bridges, and buildings. The railroad also employed many as it expanded west. , Caption: A roundhouse, part of Fulton's history. , Students from the Community and the Nation , In 1858, the town's first school for grades 1-12 was opened. After this, a military college for Civil War soldiers was built and later became Northern Illinois College and Hansen's Military Academy. The Academy was closed in 1912. , A Town with Ties to a President , Several generations of President Ronald Reagan's family lived and worked in Fulton. President Reagan's parents were born in Fulton and were married at the rectory of the Fulton Catholic Church whose cemetery contains the Reagan family plot. The Reagan family's connections to Fulton extended well into the 20th century. , Caption: The Reagan family plot in Fulton. , Linking the Nation , The narrowing of the Mississippi at Fulton makes it an ideal location for bridging the river. For more than a century, bridges have connected east and west at Fulton. Lock and Dam 13 also spans the river at Fulton. , Caption: Bridging the River – 1910 postcard , Thriving Today , Fulton has remained a vital community into the 21st Century. , Caption: Main Street Fulton