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History Reference Center
Full-text articles to support research in history and genealogy and lesson plans to support student learning.
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Language
English
Description
On a May evening in 1832, a solitary 50-year-old man on horseback rode toward an oak grove that rose majestically from the quiet Illinois prairie. Stopping at this beautiful site, the man bent a sapling to mark his claim to the rich Illinois farmland that would be his for the settling. In that singular act, Pierce Downer founded the town that would bear his name: Downers Grove, Illinois. He could hardly have imagined the remarkable development of...