The history of St. Charles began long before the first white settlers found the rolling terrain along the Fox River in 1833.
Several years before, the Black Hawk War drove out the last remnants of the Fox, Sauk and Pottawatomie tribes who inhabited the area for generations. Returning soldiers told tales of the green valley, mighty river and rolling hills, which inspired land-hunting pioneers to settle along the Fox River and set the tone for a reputation which has spanned the decades.
A village was born in the late 1830s as hardworking pioneers reached an agreement with ambitious businessmen to add a dam, sawmill and trading house in exchange for choice acreage. They christened the new village Charleston, a name that was changed to St. Charles in 1839.
As St. Charles steadily grew, it developed the characteristics of strong convictions and decisive action. During the Civil War years, the home built by abolitionist James Wheeler in 1851 was a famed stop on the underground railroad, shuttling slaves to freedom. This home and surrounding land was later purchased by Herbert Crane, heir to the Crane Plumbing Company of Chicago, and renamed Wild Rose Inn. Another portion of Mr. Crane’s land holdings was Wild Rose Farm, now the site of Crane Road Estates.
St. Charles was incorporated as a city in 1874. Dr. James K. Lewis took the post of mayor a year later. The Great Western Railroad brought new prominence to St. Charles in the 1880s, as did telephone service and a stagecoach line between St. Charles and Geneva. The turn of the century brought automobile traffic and even greater popularity to this western city.
Through the years, residents have not refrained from voicing their opinions on matters ranging from building schools to electing aldermen. They have been just as firm in their religious beliefs, and churches built in the 1850s still stand today.
Education has been the backbone of St. Charles since classes were held in the pioneers’ cabins. IN 1836 the community banded together to construct a board-and-slab schoolhouse and town hall. In 1854, the situation improved dramatically with the formation of a state school system, and education opportunities in St. Charles blossomed.
With a current population of more than 38,800, the days of growth and expansion are not over. Named by Governor James Thompson as a “Certified City,” the St. Charles of the 21st Century is a city of progress, still reaching out in new directions: economically, culturally, politically and educationally.
St. Charles has fulfilled the popular local legend known as “The Four Sons of Charlemagne,” in which a wise fox bequeathed to each of his offspring the responsibility for one of four facets of life in St. Charles.
It would seem the foxes have been successful during the past 170 years of so. St. Charles, known as “The Pride of the Fox,” is a place where people can Work, Worship, Learn and Play. If Charlemagne’s sons could see the city today, the four mythical brothers—now immortalized in bronze by Herbert Crane and guarding the Main Street Bridge—would smile.