A brief history of Richmond, Illinois

Richmond, Illinois, is a very small and picturesque town on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin. Its population is now about 1,500, but new housing developments will quadruple the number of homes in the next 10 years. It is called “The Old Town” because it has many Victorian houses and an interesting variety of antique shops.

William A. McConnell is credited with founding the town of Richmond.

Also known as “The Squire,” McConnell was a 27-year-old carpenter and farmer living in Pennsylvania. He dreamed of independence and traveled on horseback to the Richmond area in 1837. In his biography, McConnell stated that there were only two neighbors in the area. He made a claim for 480 acres of land and bought it when it went on the market in 1840 under the Blackhawk Treaty. Family tradition says that McConnell spent his first night under an oak sapling across the street from what is now Richmond Grade School. That very mature tree is still standing. Bo McConnell, a great-grandson, calls him “the little oak tree.” At the time, the Richmond area was primarily oak-patched prairie and was still part of Lake County, Illinois.

In 1838 McConnell and his new wife, Elizabeth, built a 16 ‘x 18’ log cabin in which their family lived for 15 years. It was located west of what is now Grace Lutheran Church and was the first residence built in Richmond Township.

A mill was built on the Nippersink around 1840 and that area is now occupied by Doyle’s restaurant.

In 1852 McConnell built a house in the Greek Renaissance style across the street from the log cabin. He and his family lived in this house for 20 years raising three children. In 1872 he gave the house to his son, John.

Over time, McConnell purchased approximately 1,400 acres from the government. The city limits were established in 1844 and Richmond was named after a contest to the man who climbed the highest when the new mill was built. That man was Isaac Reed, who chose the name of a town he remembered from his childhood in Vermont.

McConnell participated in many local activities. He served on the railroad commission, served as a legislator in Springfield, was elected McHenry County Commissioner, Richmond’s first Justice of the Peace, its first Postmaster and Associate Justice for 16 years. He was one of the first temperance group in McHenry County.

McConnell opened the first cheese factory half a mile west of town. The Old Bank Building on Broadway was owned by McConnell’s son, George. “That’s Uncle George’s bank. That’s what we’d call it,” recalled Bo McConnell, great-great-grandson of William A. McConnell.

What was Richmond called

Theodore Purdy bought the log home from Charles A. Noyes in 1937. Purdy planned the village in 1844 with Charles Cotting, who settled in Richmond in 1844. Together they built a mill on Main and Mill streets.

A contest was organized so that the person who climbed the highest in the new mill could name the town. Isaac Reed won the contest and named the village after Richmond, Vermont, where he lived as a child.

Richmond grows

In the mid-1840s, Richmond looked like a small town with a hotel, a sawmill, a car manufacturer, a doctor, and a lawyer. McConnell built a cheese factory (possibly the first in McHenry County) west of town.

Officially incorporated on September 2, 1872, Dr. Fillmore Bennett was elected the first president of the village. The first director of the graduate school, Fillmore wrote poems and religious hymns. “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” was the most famous.

Railroads made their appearance in the 1850s. McConnell was one of the railroad directors. The first train crossed the Nippersink in 1855.

memorial hall

Charles DeWitt McConnell donated $ 10,000 to the village “to be used for the purpose of erecting a village or town hall, the same to be called Memorial Hall, to be used when required by church societies and school functions free of charge, and not to be used for immoral displays or immoral shows … “The village president, EC Covell, bought the land where Memorial Hall now stands from Charles Kruse, owner of the hardware store on the corner in the middle of town at Broadway and Rt. 12. The Hardware Story later became the Emporium Antique Store and the name “Kruse” can be seen etched across the top of the front wall today.

Memorial Hall was built in the early 1900s. It contained an auditorium with a balcony and a stage where the JB Rotnour Players performed for many years.

The Richmond Police Department occupied part of the basement along with two cells.

Village board meetings were held in Memorial Hall until the new village hall was built in 1993. This building is now shared with the police department. This left the room empty until Chris Gallagher obtained a grant from the Illinois Arts Council in 1992 to create the Nippersink Creative Arts Center. Founding members include Christina Gallagher, Yvonne Cryns, Carolyn Janus, Donna Karolus, and Nancy Richardson. Many local groups donated money to the organization. The Creative Arts Center lobbied to make Memorial Hall the iconic historic building it is today.

The public library used the room beginning in the 1930s. In the 1940s, the library moved to part of the pharmacy building on Broadway and Main. But on July 7, 1972, the library moved back to Memorial Hall before moving into its own building in 1990.

In addition to the work of the village government, Memorial Hall hosted plays and school graduations. Basketball games were played there starting in 1908.

Other activities in the basement included gatherings held by the Boy and Girl Scouts, the American Legion, and a group of seniors known as the Pioneers. This is where the local polling place resided.

Richmond Fire Department

Founded in 1926, the first meeting of the Richmond Volunteer Fire Department was held in Memorial Hall and was chaired by Mayor JG “Curly” Stevens.

Richmond Post Office

The post office has been in service for over 150 years. Appointed in 1940, William A. McConnell was the first postmaster for six years. In the early years, settlers in the area found great comfort in the post office, which brought them news of events in their hometowns. Still in the 1960s, the Chicago Tribune was delivered by the post office. Farmers needed honey bees that were also delivered by the post office and sent eggs by mail to the big city.

Until 1946, trains carried mail to Richmond. Since 1946, mail has been delivered by truck. The current postmaster is William L. Schaeppi since 1988.

The new mayor of Richmond, Illinois, is Laurie Olson. Olson’s family has a long history in Richmond. Olson was a homemaker and volunteer member of the fire department before being elected mayor in 2004.

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