Barrington HVAC Services

Barrington, Illinois

The original settlers of the Barrington area were the indigenous peoples of the Native American Prairie Potawatomi or Mascoutin tribes, which later divided into the Potawatomi, Chippewa, and Ottawa tribes. Many local roads still in use today, including Algonquin Road, Rand Road, Higgins Road, and St. Charles Road, were originally Native American trails. For many years, Barrington was considered part of the Northwest Territory, then the Illinois Territory.

By treaty dated September 26, 1833, ending the Black Hawk War, the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes ceded to the United States all lands from the west shore of Lake Michigan west to the area that the Winnebago tribe ceded in 1832, north to the area that the Menominees had previously ceded to the United States, and south to the area previously ceded by an 1829 treaty at Prairie du Chien, a total of approximately 5,000,000 acres (20,000 km2). Through this treaty, the Sacs, Fox, Winnebago, Chippewa, Ottawa and Pottawatomi tribes ceded all title to the area east of the Mississippi River. Between 1833 and 1835, the U.S. government paid approximately $100,000 in annuities and grants to the Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa tribes, presumably as payment for the land.

Following this treaty, pioneers traveling from Troy, New York, via Fort Dearborn (now the city of Chicago) to live in Cuba Township in Lake County. The first white pioneers known to have settled in Barrington township were Jesse F. Miller and William Van Orsdal of Steuben County, New York, who arrived in 1834, before the three-year period which had been given the Native Americans to vacate the region, and before local land surveys. Other settlers from Vermont and New York settled in what is now the northwest corner of Cook County.

The combined settlement of these pioneers, located at the intersection of Illinois Route 68 and Sutton Road, was originally called Miller Grove due to the number of families with that surname but later renamed Barrington Center because it “centered” both ways from the present Sutton Road and from Algonquin and Higgins roads. Although residents and historians agree that the name Barrington was taken from Great Barrington in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and that many settlers immigrated to the area from Berkshire County, there is currently no evidence that settlers emigrated from Great Barrington itself. In addition, several original settlers, including Miller, Van Orsdal, and John W. Seymour, emigrated from Steuben County, New York, which also features a town named Barrington founded in 1822. However, it is currently unknown whether any settlers emigrated from Barrington, New York, itself or whether the New York settlement influenced the naming of Barrington, Illinois.

Much of the history of Barrington since its settlement parallels the development of railroad lines from the port facilities in Chicago. In 1854, the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad (now known as the Union Pacific/Northwest Line), led by William Butler Ogden, extended the train line to the northwest corner of Cook County and built a station named Deer Grove.