In 1816, while this area was still part of the Illinois Territory and before Illinois became a state on December 3, 1818, two Lorton brothers from St. Joseph, Michigan came here and built an Indian trading house that also served as their residence. Early local histories later wrote that it was the first house built by white men within the present limits of Macon County. Those accounts also said that from 200 to 500 Indians were at one time camped around it, that the Lortons did a thriving business there for ten years until the Indians ceased to come, and that the brothers then left and returned to St. Joe. In 1828, just before Macon County was established effective January 19, 1829, John Draper settled on the land surrounding the trading house and lived in the abandoned building. The government-owned land had been surveyed and certified with a drawn plat dated March 1, 1823. The land, including the trading house, was part of an 80 acre tract that Draper bought from the federal government on April 15, 1831 for one hundred dollars. The tract, legally described as E.½, S.E. Qtr. of Sec.18, T.17N., R.4E. of the 3rd. Principal Meridian, is now included in Whitmore Township. The trading house stood on the high north bank of the Sangamon River on the northeastern 10 acres of that 80 acre tract.