What is the history of Downers Grove, Illinois?
Downers Grove was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, a settler from New York. He established a dairy farm in the northwest section of the village. Its other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, and Carpenter families. The original settlers were mostly comprised of migrants from the Northeastern states and Northern Europe. The first schoolhouse was built in 1844. During the American Civil War, 119 soldiers from Downers Grove served in the Union Army; at least one of these was interred in the cemetery downtown. There was an abolitionist presence in the village, and some of the older homes are thought to have been stops on the Underground Railroad. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended from Aurora to Chicago through Downers Grove in 1862, boosting its growth. The town was incorporated in March 1873. Its somewhat unusual spelling (“Apostrophe-free since 1873”) remains a minor historical mystery. In April 1947, a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy RailroadBurlington
