Riverside As It Once Was

Riverside As It Once Was. . A Brief History of Riverside, Illinois , 1. In 1828, The Lawton brothers, David and Bernardus (Barney), came to the area and established an outpost. They chose the area for its proximity to the Chicago Portage and one of the busiest land trails going from Fort Dearborn to the fertile prairies in the west. , , 2. In 1831, Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes and his wife, Elvira Bates Forbes, came out to Barley Lawton's Tavern - a place described by one visitor as a most remarkable home in the wilderness. , , 3. They built a home on the unclaimed southwest corner of Section 36 (Forbes later purchased this quarter section in 1835 for $200. , , 4. In July of 1832, the U.S. Government sent General Winfield Scott to help with the Black Hawk War. After leaving Chicago, Scott and his army camped here for 10 days before proceeding west. Today's Scottwood Road is named after the general. , , 5. The Potawatomi Indians lived in the area and traded goods with the Lawtons. , , 6. The first stage of the Southwest Plank Road was completed from Chicago to Riverside in 1848. It consisted of a continuous line of two stringers onto which eight foot long, three inch thick planks were laid. It was eventually extended to Naperville and was operated as a toll road, run by the private company that built it. Tolls ranged from 37½ cents for a four-horse vehicle to 12½ cents for a horse and rider. It was a very successful endeavour since the areas crossed were oftentimes muddy. , , With new main arteries for traffic came commercial enterprise. , , 7. Sackett's Tavern and Lund's Tavern were opened to provide shelter and food for both travelers and horses on the Southwest Plank Road. , , 8. And, Kellogg's Tavern and Storr's Tavern were operated on the northeast on Barry Point Road. , , 9. Another prominent landmark at the time, was Mueller's Brewery. , , 10. The Wesencraft family arrived in 1855, purchased 26½ acres and established a small farm and orchard. , , 11. In 1864, David A. Gage bought up about 1600 acres of land in the area for an estate and horse farm. This purchase was made in the same year as the opening of the newly laid double-track of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad that ran parallel to the Southwest Plank Road. , , And then, in 1868, a group of eastern businessmen formed a company to build a suburb accessible to the large city on the shore of Lake Michigan. Emery Childs purchased the 1600 acres of land that Gage owned and transferred it to the newly incorporated Riverside Improvement Company in 1869. , , The next step... hire a landscape architect to carry out the company's dream of a perfect village in a perfect setting. They settled on Olmsted, Vaux and Company with Frederick Law Olmsted taking a lead role and construction began. , , Then, in 1875, an election was held with twenty nine votes polled in which Carol Gaytes was elected town president and the Village of Riverside was born! , , Native Americans and Riverside , Riverside sits on a peninsula of land created by a loop in the Des Plaines River, strategically located opposite the junction of Salt Creek and in proximity to the Chicago Portage, a land connection between the navigable waters of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Those features made it a desirable location for its earliest Native American residents. The Green Pay, Barry Point, and Portage Trails, as well as numerous smaller Indian trails, all passed through the area that is now Riverside and were significant trade and travel routes. , , In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, various tribes migrated into Illinois and took over land formerly occupied by the Illinois and Miami Indians. The Potawatomi was the dominant tribe that inhabited the area that is now Riverside, and together with the Chippewa and Ottawa formed a tribal alliance known as the "Council of Three Fires" and "Original People." Migratory hunters/gatherers, they lived on wild game, fish, and roots, but later adapted to farming, tending fields of corn, beans, and squash. , , Indian burial grounds and encampments were located between the Des Plaines River and Fairbank Road. Arrowheads and other artifacts have been found in Indian Gardens and Scottswood Common. Although Native Americans were forced off their lands in the early 1800's, some Potawatomi remained in the area into the 1850's.