EARLY HISTORY—FARNHAMSBURG AND STEPHENSON.

The City of Rock Island was preceded by the Town of Farnhamsburg, the first settle­ ment on this side of the river within the present City limits. Here the first house was built by Colonel Davenport and Russell Farnham, partners in the Indian trade, in 1826. It stood near the landing from old Fort Armstrong, about a block south of the southern approach to the present railroad bridge over Sylvan Water, and on an elevated lime stone knoll. The county road from the east ran in front of it, and turned from the Moline road to the west of the Lemuel Andrews residence—now Honorable Ben T. Cable's residence—and down along where is now the Burlington and Milwaukee Railroad tracks, until it reached- Twenty-fourth Street, where it met old Illinois Street, now Second Avenue. The house was a noted place in the early history of Rock Island County. Here the County Government was formed, the first elections held, and the first postoffice established; it was the seat of the Circuit and County Courts from 1833 to 1835. In the latter year, this original seat of justice of the county was superseded by the Town of Stephenson, and a village laid out' in what is now the lower part of the City of Rock Island. It was laid out by the commissioners authorized by the Legislature to establish the seat of justice for Rock Island County, and contained the old county grounds, with a portion of the county buildings. There are still standing many of the earlier buildings erected by the pioneers and here were inaug­urated many of the first institutions of Rock Island. Stephenson was the cradle of Rock Island, the nursery of much of that intellec tual and social life which has since expanded into the larger and in tenser life of the city.

Historic Rock Island

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An Early Description

 

 

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Illinois Ancestors