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Geneva's History
"The Herrington homestead served as the center of Geneva for many of the early years." Geneva was known as "Herrington's Ford" and "La Fox" in the early days.
In 1836 Geneva was selected as the new county seat. "The name that was originally selected for the town was "Campbell Ford" after two of the county commissioners, James Campbell and Thomas Ford. The name "Geneva" was instead adopted, most likely at the suggestion of Dr. Charles Volney Dyer of Chicago, who was a noted abolitionist who had recently come from upstate New York, and was a friend of both Hamilton and Ford. Geneva was an upper New York State name."
In 1839 James Herrington helped plat the town and he opened the first general store, tavern, and post office.
In 1836 settlers from Massachusetts arrived in Geneva. This group organized the Unitarian Church, which is currently the oldest church in Geneva. These settlers are referred to as some of the most influential citizens of early Geneva.
During the 1840's Geneva established a courthouse and jail, a classroom and teacher, a doctor, three general stores, two hotels, a tavern, and two blacksmiths. Geneva developed it's economy with mills by producing such goods as produced packed meat, butter, cheese, and milled grains.
In 1853 the railroads came to town. This helped Geneva to establish relationships with Chicago and other surrounding communities.
A Rand McNally travel booklet titled, "Summer Resorts of the Northwest" from 1879 describes Geneva as:
Many professional men who really belong to Chicago have their homes in Geneva, and the society is, therefore, very agreeable. It is a quiet, restful place, where there is a perpetual air of a New England Sunday afternoon. On warm summer days the shaded streets are cool quiet; nothing is astir for hours except on one or two of the business corners and about the courthouse. There is a sort of natural atmosphere of dolce far niente about the whole place, which is extremely grateful to people who have been working or pleasure seeking on the high pressure plan for seven of eight months of city life. Toward evening everything is gay and active, however, and the scene on the arrival of the evening train is quite like that at many Eastern resorts. There are many pleasant places where board can be obtained.
The Bennet Mill was established in 1865 by the Bennett brothers. This mill sold flour all over the midwest, and some of the largest wholesalers in the U.S. In 1950 the mill closed, but some parts have been restored and are being used as offices.
In 1880 a glucose factory was opened. This factory was damaged by a large explosion, but was rebuilt and by 1897 was one of the largest manufacturers of glucose in the United States.
In 1925 Good Templar Park was developed, and a Swedish Day festival was sponsored in this park every summer. Geneva's Swedish citizens were a big part of the local government in the early 1900's.
*Much of this information was taken from the City Of Geneva's website.