Whipple Letter To Parents – Jan. 30, 1838
Below is a portion of a letter from William Harrison Whipple, aged 21, to his parents back in Massachusetts, Jacob and Susan Whipple, written in 1838. It is one of the earliest first-hand accounts of Sterling, written less than four years after Hezekiah Brink became the first settler here. Even the envelope is interesting. The […]
Grandon Civic Center
What a gift! The city of Sterling was the beneficiary although in reality all area citizens were the ones to ultimately reap the many rewards in the years since the July 20, 1938 Dedication ceremony. The donor of this magnificent structure was David Washington Grandon, better known as D.W. He was born in Pennsylvania on […]
Science Ridge Mennonite Church History
Eleven years after the establishment of Whiteside County, Illinois, Mennonites began coming to this county. In 1852 Benjamin Stauffer and his wife were the first to arrive with a following, coming from Lancaster and Bucks County Pennsylvania. The group first met together in Joseph Snavely’s corn barn. In 1858 a church building was built on […]
Early Sterling & Rock Falls History
Prior to the 1830’s, this area was the territory of the Sauk and Fox Indians. It was not until after the Black Hawk War of 1832 that settlement began in earnest, making this one of the last settled areas in Illinois. Hezekiah Brink was the first settler in the Sterling-Rock Falls area, coming from Indiana. […]