Little White School Museum

History of Oswego:

Located about 50 miles west of Chicago at the confluence of Waubonsie Creek and the Fox River in Kendall County, Oswego was settled, at least in part, for its transportation potential. A limestone shelf creates a natural, smooth-bottomed, ford across the river just above the mouth of the creek, making it a favored crossing first for Native Americans and then for the American settlers who began arriving in the 1830s.

William Smith Wilson and his wife, Rebecca, were the first settlers on the site of what is now Oswego. Wilson and his brother-in-law, Daniel Pearce, scouted the area in 1832, permanently moving their families to their claims in 1833. The area began growing that year, and in 1834 two newly arrived businessmen, Lewis Brinsmaid Judson and Levi F. Arnold, platted a new village they called Hudson. One of the early roads to Galena crossed the Fox River ford at the new town, and in 1836 the Temple, later Frink & Walker, stagecoach line began regular service on the “High Prairie Trail” branch of the Chicago to Ottawa Road through the village.