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OSWEGO, IL - A Town's History Oswego Statistics
Located about 50 miles west of Chicago in Kendall County at the confluence of Waubonsie Creek and the Fox River, Oswego was settled primarily 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 arrived later.
William Smith Wilson and his wife, were the first to settle where today's Oswego is located. Wilson and his brother-in-law, Daniel Pearce, scouted the area in 1832, and moved their families to their claims in 1833. Just two years later, the village of Oswego was laid out on land then still officially owned by the local Potowatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa Indian tribes. A year later, the U.S. Government removed the local Native Americans and began surveying land up and down the Fox River.
The new village was first named 'Hudson'. When the U.S. Government established a post office in the new village in 1837, it was named Lodi. The conflicting names were resolved finally when citizens gathered and picked a permanent name of Oswego.
In 1900, the Aurora Elgin & Yorkville Railway, a trolley line, made a connection to Oswego from Aurora to the north and Yorkville to the south.
With the advent of inexpensive automobiles Oswego found itself to be a transportation hub where three state highways--Ill. Route 25, Ill. Route 71, and Ill. Route 31--originated and through which a U.S. highway--U.S. Route 34--passes. Of historical significance, all four highways follow portions of the old stagecoach routes that originally passed through the village.
In the mid-1950s, Caterpillar, Inc. and Western Electric (then a division of AT&T) announced plans to locate facilities within Oswego Township close to the village. The two large industrial plants led to the development of the sprawling Boulder Hill Subdivision in unincorporated Oswego Township. For the next 40 years, Boulder Hill was the largest community in Kendall County.
In the 1980s, the homebuilding boom in Naperville and Aurora advanced west along the Route 34 corridor. This caused housing developments to begin springing up around Oswego .
In early 1990s, Oswego began annexing contiguous properties as a way of exerting some control over the inevitable growth. The village limits extended west of the Fox River for the first time in its history, and also grew east and north to U.S. Route 30.
Oswego's population growth has been robust. In the 2000 census, Oswego 's population had grown to 13,326. Four years later, a special census counted nearly 20,000 residents living in Oswego 's municipal limits. And there is every sign that Oswego's growth will continue into the future.
