Downtown Crystal Lake began as a railroad center. Near this site in the spring of 1855, the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad was extended down from Wisconsin to connect with a rail line from Chicago that had ended at Cary Station the year before. That same year the Fox River Valley Railroad graded a line north from Elgin to end at Williams Bay on Lake Geneva. By the time surveyor John Brink platted the village in 1868, it was known as Nunda. The Village of Nunda was incorporated on January 24, 1874, in an area now bounded by Route 176, Crystal Lake Avenue, Main Street and Walkup Avenue, on land originally owned by Daniel Ellsworth and Simon Gates. The Village of Crystal Lake, just south of Nunda, was incorporated on January 10, 1874. On June 6, 1908, Nunda was renamed North Crystal Lake by petition of its citizens. After several attempts, the two villages voted to consolidate, and on April 28, 1914, the Village of North Crystal Lake was annexed to the Village of Crystal Lake; on September 23, 1914, the city form of government was adopted. By then, the downtown area was a bustling business district.