Riverside As It Once Was

In 1828, the Lawton brothers, David and Bernardus (Barney), came to the area that became Riverside, Illinois, established an outpost, and chose the site for its proximity to the Chicago Portage and a busy land trail from Fort Dearborn to the western prairies. In 1831, Stephen Van Rensselaer Forbes and his wife, Elvira Bates Forbes, arrived at Barley Lawton's Tavern and built a home on the unclaimed southwest corner of Section 36, which Forbes later purchased in 1835 for $200. In July 1832, during the Black Hawk War, the U.S. Government sent General Winfield Scott west from Chicago, and he and his army camped here for 10 days before continuing, later giving Scottwood Road its name. The Potawatomi lived in the area, traded with the Lawtons, and were part of the Council of Three Fires with the Chippewa and Ottawa; Riverside's location on a Des Plaines River peninsula near Salt Creek and the Chicago Portage, together with trails such as the Green Bay, Barry Point, and Portage Trails, made it an important Native American trade and travel area. Potawatomi hunters and gatherers later adapted to farming, burial grounds and encampments lay between the Des Plaines River and Fairbank Road, artifacts have been found in Indian Gardens and Scottswood Common, and although Native Americans were forced from their lands in the early 1800's, some Potawatomi remained into the 1850's. In 1848, the first stage of the Southwest Plank Road was completed from Chicago to Riverside, later extended to Naperville, and operated as a successful private toll road that encouraged commercial enterprise. Taverns including Sackett's, Lund's, Kellogg's, and Storr's served travelers and horses, and Mueller's Brewery was another prominent landmark. The Wesencraft family arrived in 1855, bought 26½ acres, and established a small farm and orchard. In 1864, David A. Gage bought about 1600 acres for an estate and horse farm in the same year the newly laid double-track of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad opened parallel to the Southwest Plank Road. In 1868, eastern businessmen formed a company to create a suburb accessible to Chicago; Emery Childs bought Gage's 1600 acres and transferred them in 1869 to the Riverside Improvement Company, which hired Olmsted, Vaux and Company, with Frederick Law Olmsted taking a lead role, to design the village. In 1875, an election with twenty nine votes chose Carol Gaytes as town president, and the Village of Riverside was born.

Riverside, Illinois · United States