Day 6: 10 Facts About My Home Town

Good ole St. Charles, Illinois. The place where I spent the majority of my childhood and most of my adolescence. Sadly, I do not know much about it so I will have to google.

1.) St. Charles was founded in 1833, after the Black Hawk War.

2.)The fox river runs directly through it, hence the term "pride of the fox" that you see everywhere.

3.)There were "stations" for the underground railroad in many of the homes way back in the day. They had tunnels and false doorways. There was also an early abolitionist group called "The Kane County Anti-Slavery Society" formed in 1842 that met there.

4.)St. Charles was extremely isolated early on, even though it is only 40 miles west of Chicago. This started to change in the 1880's with the building of the Chicago Great Western Railway.

5.) It has a population of about 32,000, as of 2008.

6.) Michael J. Nelson, comedian and writer for the series Mystery Science Theater 3000, was born and raised there.

7.) St. Charles was home to the Potawatomi's. ("Neshnabi" as they called themselves, which simply means "the people") A group of migrating Native Americans who were forced south by settlers. Relations between the French and Spanish Illinois settlers and the Potawatomi's was generally good for a hundred years or so. That is until the Anglo's moved in on their high horse and tried to force them out. This causing the Black Hawk war. This war was considered and embarrasment to the US Government and is largely forgotten outside of northern illinois and wisconsin. Don't worry though. We have a huge ass Potawatomi statue by the police station and a park named after them. :p

8.)St. Charles was originally called "Charleston" for a couple of years, until it was discovered that there was already a Charleston in downstate Illinois. It was suggested by a lawyer that the town be named Saint Charles, and hence it stuck.

9.) There was a large boom of industrial activity there in the 1840's and 1850's. Consisting of several mills and also an iron foundry. The mills were all powered by the river. Also, because Saint Charles was a great stop between Chicago and Dekalb, it contained several hotels in the early days. It is estimated there were as many as 17. The first one built was called The Burchell, and stood where the Arcada theater stands today.

10.) In 1920-1940 a sudden boom of wealth made it's way to the town and St. Charles became known as a resort town because of its scenic river views and what not. The famous Hotel Baker was so popular that everyone referred to it as 'the honeymoon hotel'.