The Ottawa Travel Road began in Danville and, of prehistoric origin, was used until the early 1850's. It wandered northwest along higher ground, fording streams and detouring around seasonal obstructions. At Ten Mile Grove it divided, with one fork going west to Saybrook and the other to Ottawa. In 1848 William (Gunsmith Bill) Trickel opened a general store and blacksmith shop that also served the area as a post office from 1848 to 1857. The Grove took its name from the distance to the nearest camping place on the Ottawa Travel Road to the southeast.