Beginning with the flood of settlement during "The Year of the
Early Spring" in 1833, new communities began springing up like
daffodils after a warm spring shower. According to contemporary
accounts, 1832 enjoyed a warm, early spring when the dirt roads
of the era dried out much earlier than usual. The favorable
conditions persuaded hundreds of immigrants to load their wagons
and head west to settle on the Illinois prairies. Oswego's
municipal boosters were first, laying out their village on the
bluff overlooking the Fox River and Waubonsie Creek in 1835,
followed by Newark (also 1835), Yorkville (1836), Little Rock
(1836), Lisbon (1838) and Millington (1838). One of the first
things many new settlers and businessmen found when it came time
to conduct their legal business was that it was a long, long way
to the county seat. Residents of Oswego, Bristol, and Little
Rock townships had to travel all the way north to Geneva to
conduct legal business at the Kane County Courthouse, while
those living in NaAuSay, Ke