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NAVIGATION
LaSalle
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History at
Rays Place
Also see [ Railway Officials in America 1906
] NEW
Rays
Place
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The best of farm land characterizes this township, which lies to the south of the central district of the county,
all being prairie land except in the southwestern portion, bordering the Vermilion River.
The first settlers were William McCormick, Samuel Mackey and Bees Morgan, who came in 1833, from Pennsylvania.
The year 1835 brought Elmer Baldwin, Beebe Clark, James B. Beardsley and Noble W. Merwin, who came from Connecticut.
Elmer Baldwin contributed much to the civic and industrial development of the county, held various offices of distinctive
public trust, was possessed of exceptional literary talent, and wrote a valuable history of the county. Other early
settlers in the township were Harvey Benson, Solomon Brown, Kirjeth A. Hurst, Marvin W. Dimmick, Henry W. Gridley,
William Moore, John and Alfred McCormick and their father (Charles), James G. Patten, John Trout, John T. Ross,
George Gleim, Isaac Wheatland, Dr. Johnson Hatch, John W. Calkins. The postoffice of Farm Ridge was established
in the early ‘40s, and Elmer Baldwin was the first postmaster in what grew to be the thriving Village of Farm Ridge.
The Village of Grand Ridge is a station on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, officials of which gave
the name to the place.
The township was organized in 1850, and its first elected officials were as follows: Supervisor, Elmer Baldwin;
clerk, M. W. Dimmick; assessor, Beebe Clark; overseer of the poor, J. C. Van Doren; road commissioner, J. P. P.
C. Hinman.
FROM:
History of LaSalle County, Illinois
By: Michael Cyprian O'Byron
The Lewis Pullishing Company
Chicago and New York
1924
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