German immigrants, many of them Catholic and seeking affordable land, economic opportunity, and political and religious freedom, traveled west by horse and wagon, oxen and Conestoga, and on foot, and found a place for a new community on the National Road. In 1837, a group of German Catholics in Cincinnati, Ohio, pooled their resources to buy 10,000 acres in a well-timbered part of Effingham County after considering sites in Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. They assigned plats by drawing numbered slips from a hat, recorded names, made plans, offered prayers, and established Teutopolis. The community later developed institutions and businesses that reflected its needs and ambitions: in 1858, nine Franciscan friars came from Germany because most villagers spoke Low German and local priests were not conversant in it; in 1862, with the friars' encouragement and community support, St. Joseph's College opened and offered instruction in languages, philosophy, mathematics, and natural science; and milling became an important local enterprise, beginning with the town's first mill built by Clement and Herman Uptmor in 1842 and continuing through later operations including Hope Mills and the Siemer Milling Company. Teutopolis also remained tied to the National Road, a federally funded route authorized in 1806 and later carried by U.S. 40, which helped channel settlers westward and linked the ambitions and accomplishments of early Illinois immigrants to the growth of communities across the state.