Riverside in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes Home Site
Photographed By Sean Flynn, September 25, 2023
1. Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes Home Site Marker
Cook County west of Chicago
by its first elected sheriff
Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes
1831
Only voting place of
Cook County for its first
colonel of the state militia
Jean Baptiste Beaubien
June 7, 1834
Erected 1937 by Riverside Historical Society.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Settlements & Settlers • Wars, US Indian. A significant historical year for this entry is 1831.
Location. 41° 49.598′ N, 87° 49.276′ W. Marker is in Riverside, Illinois, in Cook County. Marker is on Bloomingbank Road near Burling Road, on the right when traveling west. The marker is set back from Bloomingbank Road within a shrubbery, which sits next to the commuter parking lot for the Riverside Metra station. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Riverside IL 60546, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Bourbon Spring (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Reverend Hedley Heber Cooper (about 400 feet away); Private Albert Edward Moore (about 400 feet away); Sergeant James P. Quinn (about 400 feet away); Veterans Memorial (about 400 feet away); War Dead of World Wars I and II
this page online
Regarding Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes Home Site. Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes was born in Vermont in 1797, and he and his wife Elvira arrived as part of a surveying party at Fort Dearborn, in what would become Chicago, in 1829. The Forbes family set up a school in a log cabin at what is now Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue just outside of the fort. In 1831, Forbes was awarded 160 acres of land in what would later be Riverside, and he built a large log structure on high ground with a view of the Aux Plaines River (now called the Des Plaines) as well as easy access to the Indian trail that ran through the area.
Also see . . . Riverside's first residents. A history of the Forbes family in Riverside, as well as information about the 1937 dedication of this monument, whose attendees included grandchildren of Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes.
Excerpt: His granddaughter, Mrs. Longhurst, was present at the 1937 monument dedication and recalled the event thusly: “He was active until(Submitted on September 26, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)a few moments before his death. I believe it was after dinner that he performed some of his usual activities, sat down in his favorite chair, and an instant later gave a deep sigh and was dead.” She also remembered him as “a proper gentleman in a high-top silk hat, always particular about manners.”Photographed By Sean Flynn2. Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes Home Site Marker
Courtesy of the Village of Riverside
3. Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes (1797-1879)
Stephen Forbes, a Vermont native, was Cook County's first elected sheriff and owned much of the land that later became Riverside, Illinois.
Credits. This page was last revised on September 29, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 26, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 67 times since then and 27 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on September 26, 2023, by Sean Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
