Bourbonnais Grove was settled in the 1830s and ’40s by the first families from Quebec’s Upper St. Lawrence Valley and became the largest 19th century French-Canadian agrarian village in Illinois. Some immigrants later moved on to found St. Anne, St. Mary, L’Erable, and Papineau. In 1865 Viateurian Fathers established St. Viateur College. The Letourneau Home Museum, Maternity V.B.M. Church, and surviving Viateurian buildings stand as memorials to these French Canadians, who were an influential part of Illinois’ pioneer population.