When the first Euro-American settlers came to this area in the 1850s, the land lay near the center of a two-million-acre hardwood forest the French fur traders called Les Bois Grand, or The Big Woods. Once opened for settlement, this forest quickly attracted pioneer farmers because its trees provided abundant fuel and building materials, and the rich soil of the forest floor was ideally suited for agriculture after the trees were cleared. By 1880, all of the surrounding land had been divided into lots and sold for agricultural development. Wendelin Grimm bought nearly 160 acres in 1857 and, like many of his neighbors, immediately began clearing the landscape for planting. Transforming this tract of Big Woods forest into a productive farm took roughly 30 years of backbreaking work. After such widespread conversion to farmland, only a fraction of the Big Woods forest landscape remained when Three Rivers Park District established Carver Park Reserve in 1964.