Community Corner

Before the Mall Was There

The area is rich in Native American history.

Look.

Look hard.

Not through space, but through time.

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That oil change place wasn't always there. Or that shopping center. Not even the Morton Arboretum. In the early 1800s, the arboretum was one of four major Potawatomi villages in DuPage County, along with others near Naperville, the Churchill Forest Preserve and what is now Oak Brook on Salt Creek.

Ausagaunaskee, a large settlement on DuPage County's southeast border just south of the Des Plaines River, is the origin of the word "The Sag.'' This was the Potawatomi word for "The Prairie,'' which is what they called this spacious hunting ground.

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Long before the Europeans came—at least 9,000 years—this area was home to a series of Native American tribes, from the Achiligonan to the Tionontati. At one time or another, Illinois was home to more than 40 tribes.

The first documented Native Americans in the area were hunters. Thirty-two Native American sites in the DuPage River drainage have been identified.

An extensive dig at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia in 1970-71 revealed 17 sites dating from 6,500 B.C. There is a public display of the finds on the 15th floor of Fermilab. At what is today Fermilab, Native Americans lived in 10 permanent settlements from the 13th to the early 17th centuries.
An archaeological dig under the auspices of Wheaton College in 1975 unearthed artifacts and three burial mounds in Winfield Township. The finds cover the period from 300 B.C. to 700 A.D.

And along Ferson Creek near Wild Rose in St. Charles, excavations in the early 1990s unearthed mounds, which contained skeletons of people, as well as tools, pottery and ornamental items. Many of these items are on display at the museum of the St. Charles Heritage Center, 215 E. Main St.

Scholars begin the history period for Native Americans in 1492, the year Europeans landed in the Americas.

Many different tribes moved through the area. Most were of the Algonquin people, which included the Potawatomi, Sauk, Fox, Illiniwek, Miami, Kickapoo, Menominee and Winnebago.

With the Europeans came trade goods, guns and disease. Farther east, the Europeans pushed the Iroquois, who in turn moved west and pushed the Potawatomi south through Wisconsin and into northern Illinois. Once here, the Potawatomi drove out the Illiniwek.

By 1800, 6,000 Potawatomi lived in 50 major villages in northern Illinois. One of the largest, Grand Bois, was approximately six miles southeast of present-day Geneva.

It all started to come apart for Native Americans in 1832 when Chief Black Hawk and his followers went to war against the United States. Black Hawk claimed the government was not living up to an 1816 treaty that allowed Sac and Fox to live on the land the tribes ceded to the government. In 1828, settlers had just moved in.

In July, General Winfield Scott brought his troops down the DesPlaines River. They landed at Lake Street in present-day Maywood and marched west on Lake Street and then on what is now Army Trail Road. Scott never caught Black Hawk, but General Zachary Taylor did and defeated him at Bad Axe, WI.

The Treaty of Chicago in 1833 ordered the removal of all native Americans beyond the Mississippi River. It took a while—still in 1840, there were some Potawatomi at the Round Meadow Village west of today's Morton Arboretum—but by 1850 virtually all Native Americans were gone from this area.

Today, descendants of the Potawatomi live in eastern Kansas.

Local historical groups can tell you more about local history. Here's where to look:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here