Wheaton's Original Ten Blocks

Wheaton's Original Ten Blocks. Historic Wheaton. , The story of Wheaton unfolds along the railroad. Wheaton owes its existence to the individuals who had the foresight to imagine the potential railroads held for the future. From these beginnings our community grew and in 1853 Wheaton's original ten blocks were officially recorded as a town., Settlers began arriving in the area in the 1830s, years before there was a community of Wheaton. Among the new arrivals were Erastus Gary in 1832, and brothers Warren L. and Jesse C. Wheaton in 1837, all of Pomfret, Connecticut. They became neighbors here also, claiming adjacent lands, and soon became relatives through marriage. In 1846 the nearest post office was in the community of Langdon, located about one and a half miles north., When the directors of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, the region's first, met rejection in the county seat, Naperville, for their railroad, they headed north looking for a route. They planned for the railroad to parallel St. Charles Road, an established stage route. The Wheaton brothers and Gary invited the railroad directors to dinner, where they offered over three miles of free right-of-way through their lands. The railroad accepted the offer, moved its route south, and completed the survey in 1847. The railroad laid the track and built a depot, hanging a sign for "Wheaton." The first trains came through in the fall of 1849, and regular freight and passenger service began soon after. In 1850 a few businesses opened: a grocery store also serving as an inn, a country store, a blacksmith shop, and a warehouse. In 1852 postal service to Langdon was discontinued and changed to Wheaton., By 1853 the Wheaton brothers had laid out, surveyed, and platted ten blocks of their land surrounding the railroad. On June 20, 1853 the Town of Wheaton was officially recorded with the county. The Wheaton's offered lots to anyone who would build upon them, so that the community would continue to develop., In 1856 the railroad built a new passenger and freight depot with an express office. According to an 1857 county history, Wheaton numbered about 1,000 people and more than 200 buildings. The community could boast "1 hotel, 12 stores, 12 factories, …a steam flouring mill, 2 lightning rod manufactories, 2 lumber yards, 2 markets, 2 post offices, 1 school house, 1 institute (college), 1 printing office, 1 nursery." It was also clear that it could now boast of a bright future., Established as a Wheaton Historic Site in 2000..