In 1831, Dr. Kasper Koepfli led a party of 15 Swiss immigrants, mostly relatives and friends from Sursee, Switzerland, to the United States in search of opportunity. The group reached St. Louis, Missouri, but after finding Missouri farmland unsatisfactory, they explored land near Vandalia, Illinois, then returned toward St. Louis and passed near the present site of Highland, Illinois. There Koepfli found the wooded edge of Looking Glass Prairie to be the location he had been seeking for a settlement. The Swiss immigrants quickly acquired land and moved their belongings from St. Louis, though only Dr. Koepfli, his three sons, the Suppiger brothers, and Joseph Vonarx joined the community plan. Their first purchase totaled 700 acres, and soon afterward they bought another 350 acres, giving them more than a thousand acres for $2,727.38. The success of this first Swiss party drew more immigrants from Switzerland, and in 1833 a second contingent arrived that included Joseph Suppiger Sr., Johann and Rudolph Blattner, William Hagnauer, Jacob Eggen, and the Buchmann family.