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lunch the coach continued on until it arrived in
Rockford at dusk. Following a supper of prairie chickens the passengers again boarded the stage at midnight and crossed the Rock River by ferry in the dark. They climbed the sandy riverbank on foot to lighten the load for the horses pulling the coach. In the early dawn they arrived in Stephenson County, and Miss Snow left the coach at her family's log cabin several miles east of Freeport.
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Naperville, a crossroad of several stage routes in the 1830s, was the first major stop west of
Chicago. After 1848 coaches could travel on the Southwestern Plank Road (now Ogden Avenue), a toll road made of wooden planks laid crosswise on long timbers to form a roadbed on what had been an old Indian
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The long–vanished
Vanceborough post office was in Twelve–Mile Grove, a stop in western Winnebago County. Postage for letters brought by the stage was 25 cents each, paid by the recipient. Twelve–Mile Grove Cemetery south of the village of Pecatonica has permanent wheel ruts from the stagecoach road
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out of business. Frink & Walker ran two daily coaches that carried mail, passengers and small parcels from
Chicago to Galena. A published sketch of the Frink, Walker & Company General Stage Office in Chicago shows a Concord style coach with a four−horse hitch. Concord coaches were brightly
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Early inns were log structures similar to the houses in the area. They were soon replaced by wood frame, brick or stone buildings with better accommodations. Several historic stone stagecoach inns remain along the trail in Jo
Daviess and Stephenson Counties. These include the Old Stone Hotel (1851)
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between
Chicago and Freeport made this stagecoach route obsolete. The Galena and Chicago Union was the first railroad built out from Chicago. The tracks moved westward, reaching Elgin in 1850, Rockford in 1851 and ending in Freeport in 1853. Passengers who formerly took the stagecoach all the way
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Martha
Malvina Snow (Mrs. Oscar Taylor) of Freeport rode the Frink & Walker stagecoach from Chicago to join her parents in eastern Stephenson County in September 1839. She reported that the coach left Chicago at 2:00 a.m. and stopped at an inn for breakfast at daybreak. With a break for
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Rockford was named in 1837 for the rock bottomed ford across the Rock River that enabled stagecoaches to safely cross. It was earlier known as Midway, the midpoint on the trail between Galena and
Chicago. A 1968 historical map of Rockford shows the site of the stagecoach barn at the north end of
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now the Warren
Community Building; the Thomas S. French house, a residence southeast of Waddams Grove; Dodd's Inn (1848) a residence on Lena Street in Lena; the Stage Inn east of Eleroy; and Tisdel Inn (1852) a residence west of Freeport.
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trail. The stage traffic on this road was so successful that
Naperville businessmen rejected the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad's request for a right–of–way because they feared the competition. The railroad went to Wheaton instead.
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The line traced its beginnings to as early as 1835 as a series of smaller trails, all operated by distinct stagecoach owners. A single trail linking Chicago to Galena was formally established in 1839 by
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painted and attracted a lot of attention when the stage arrived in town. The stage office, located at Lake and Dearborn Streets as early as 1833, appeared on a map of Chicago landmarks from that year.
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from Chicago to Galena could take the train partway and transfer to the stage for the rest of the trip. The rail line, now Canadian National, parallels the old stage road between Galena and Rockford.
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and Business U.S. Route 20 through Eleroy, Freeport and Rockford to Belvidere. This road began as the old State Road number 2 established on 15 January 1836 and laid out by June 1837.
394:"Map of Chicago, Incorporated as a town August 5, 1833. Compiled from original Map of Chicago about 1833. Copyrighted 1933 by Walter Conley & D.E. Stelzer" in Robert A. Holland,
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On 1 April 1854 M.O. Walker's stage stable on Commerce Street in Galena caught fire. The fire eventually burned 32 buildings in the Galena business district.
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369:
Matile, Roger. "John Frink and Martin Walker: Stagecoach kings of the old Northwest." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2002.
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Kishwaukee Street, with a dam on the old ford site. East State Street, now Business U.S. Route 20, is labeled ″part of original stagecoach road″.
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These stops were active sometime between 1839 and 1854. The stagecoach inns also provided food and lodging to other travelers on the road.
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217:(Stage barn, Third and State Streets east of the Rock River ferry and ford; Rockford House, State Street; Log Tavern Stage House)
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434:″Points of Interest in Rockford, Illinois. Illinois′ Second Largest City″ Perspecto Map Co., in Allan Carpenter,
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in 1840. Frink & Walker expanded their pre-existing trail from Chicago to Galena, putting a competing Chicago-
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348:. Freeport, Illinois: County of Stephenson, 1972. pp. 79–80, 88, 214, 222, illus., map inside front cover.
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which was located in the lead mining district of the northwest. The Chicago-Galena trail includes the "
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Freeport, Illinois: Stephenson County Historical Society, 1955. pp. 6–9, 12–14, 22–23, illus., map.
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Completion of the Illinois Central Railroad from Freeport to Galena in 1854, along with the
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142:(Frink, Walker & Company General Stage Office, Lake and Dearborn Streets)
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-9912050407-tr-dec05,0,461846.story
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195:(approximately the midpoint of the trail) (Pacific Hotel, Main Street)
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http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3945/is_200207/ai_n9121377/
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Selbert, Pamela. "Coach travel." Chicago Tribune, 5 December 1999.
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383:
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois with Commemorative Biographies
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New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2005. pp. 58–59.
381:″Early Historic Scenes, Chicago″ in Newton Bateman and others,
385:. Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1926. vol. 1, p. 171.
462:. Chicago: H.F. Kett & Co., 1878, reprint 1973. p. 536.
148:(Oak Ridge, Cicero. Joseph and Betty Kettlestrings′ house)
418:. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. p. 558.
360:"Then and Now." Rockford Register Star, 23 May 2003.
112:Millville, now an empty site along Apple River in
43:, located in the northeast of the state, with
39:. As indicated by its name, the route linked
28:that ran from the mid-to-late 1830s until 1854
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239:Harlem Township, Stephenson County, Illinois
227:Ridott Township, Stephenson County, Illinois
277:(Tisdel Hotel—Warren House—Old Stone Hotel)
222:Seward Township, Winnebago County, Illinois
460:The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois
438:. Chicago: Children′s Press, 1968. p. 185.
235:(Mansion House, Walnut and Spring Streets)
292:Gratiot's Grove, Lafayette Co. Wisconsin
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253:(Buckhorn Inn; Dodd's Inn, Lena Street)
55:. East of Lena the stage route follows
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491:Historic trails and roads in Illinois
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7:
220:Twelve–Mile Grove (Vanceborough),
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448:History of Stephenson County 1970
346:History of Stephenson County 1970
300:(Stage stable on Commerce Street)
259:(Thomas S. French house and barn)
124:Galena and Chicago Union Railroad
288:(Samuel H. Scales′ public house)
473:http://www.genoamainstreet.com/
51:" that runs between Galena and
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396:Chicago in Maps 1612 to 2002.
114:Apple River Canyon State Park
416:The Encyclopedia of Chicago
82:Frink, Walker & Company
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24:route located in northern
436:Illinois, Land of Lincoln
294:(Fortunatus Berry Tavern)
206:(Belvidere Company hotel)
105:near a utility building.
30: (170 years ago)
471:Genoa Main Street, Inc.
334:Stephenson County Roads.
271:(Eldridge Howard Tavern)
199:Garden Prairie, Illinois
80:, who later established
257:Waddams Grove, Illinois
210:Cherry Valley, Illinois
88:stagecoach line run by
286:Scales Mound, Illinois
229:(Thomas Hunt's Tavern)
281:Apple River, Illinois
247:(Stage Inn and barn)
172:Naperville, Illinois
18:Galena–Chicago trail
450:(1972) pp. 545−546.
332:Keister, Philip L.
269:Millville, Illinois
204:Belvidere, Illinois
174:(Pre–Emption House)
162:Oak Brook, Illinois
233:Freeport, Illinois
215:Rockford, Illinois
157:Hillside, Illinois
146:Oak Park, Illinois
152:Maywood, Illinois
140:Chicago, Illinois
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298:Galena, Illinois
275:Warren, Illinois
265:(One Mile House)
245:Eleroy, Illinois
188:Virgil, Illinois
183:Elburn, Illinois
178:Aurora, Illinois
131:Stagecoach Stops
49:Stagecoach Trail
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305:References
74:John Frink
22:stagecoach
485:Category
86:Freeport
26:Illinois
67:History
41:Chicago
33: (
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45:Galena
20:was a
420:ISBN
400:ISBN
76:and
35:1854
16:The
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353:^
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