By BILL KLINGENBERG
Published by The Barrington Area Historical Society, Inc., 1980
5th Printing, August 1988
In the early days of earth’s evolutionary life, the Mastodon roamed the Barrington area. Remains of this elephant-type animal were found buried in a peat bog near Interstate Hwy. 90, south of Barrington.
In more recent historical times, the late 1700’s and early 1800’s found this area interspersed with woods and rolling prairies, dotted with small lakes and peat bogs. The animals ranging yesterday’s Barrington can still be found in existence today. They included buffalo, deer, wolves, coyotes, beaver, ermine and many other small wildlife. The carrier pigeon flew through this area by the billions and were joined by large numbers of prairie chicken, quail, eagles and hawks.
The Potawatomie Indians were in this territory when the white men first arrived. The Chippewa and Ottawa tribes also made some use of this region. In 1832, the Blackhawk War broke out in the northwestern part of Illinois, and also in southern Wisconsin. Thousands of troops were sent in by the Government to control these uprisings. Loss in Indian lives was huge. Chief Blackhawk was captured and put in prison. The tribes represented among his slain followers included the Kickapoo, Sac, Winnebago, and Potawatomie. When peace was finally achieved in 1833, a treaty was signed in which the Indians agreed to leave this territory and move west of the Mississippi. They were allowed three years to accomplish their relocation, and were paid the sum of $100,000. The government agreed that no white man would be allowed a land grant to homestead in the territory before August, 1836.
However, as was the case with many Indian treaties, the white man broke his word. There are records of Jessie F. Miller and William Van Orsdal squatting on land in 1834, in a section of Barrington Township. This would be in the location of where the Barrington Center Church now is and also on the south side of Brinker Road. Of course, that was all heavily wooded territory, and later on they called that section Millers Grove. Records further show that in 1834, there were still about 500 Potawatomie Indians living in an encampment close to the land settled by Miller and Van Orsdal.
In 1836, more pioneers from the East migrated to this area after hearing tales of the fertile soil in Illinois. Some of these people originated from Great Barrington, Massachusetts, thus giving Barrington its name. The land grants issued to these pioneers were signed by President Tyler and later by President Polk. Most of the pioneers came by covered wagon, drawn by oxen. Others came by way of the Great Lakes to Chicago. Still more traveled up the Mississippi to the Illinois River and then overland to this region.
The pioneers’ first dwellings were log cabins with dirt floors. The cabins and the furnishings in them were very simple in design. Although it would take at least two men to construct a log cabin, all but the roof could be erected in a single day.
In December of 1840, our Barrington pioneers met in the cabin of William H. Otis, located at the southeast corner of Route 62 and Bartlett Roads. At that meeting they decided to incorporate the area as Barrington Township. The minutes taken at that meeting show eighteen votes for incorporation and one against. The following month, the pioneers again met in the same cabin to map out school districts. In 1846, a log school house was built where the Catlow Theater now stands on West Main Street. This building accommodated the few children of the area who would walk several miles to be taught only as much as the school master himself knew. Log schoolhouses built around that time had one pot-bellied stove with a jacket around part of it to deflect the heat. The first person, pupil or teacher, arriving first in the morning had to go to the wood-shed and get the key to unlock the school. That person was responsible for starting the fire in the stove.
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