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Driving tour offers a glimpse of Big Foot history

WALWORTH — The small town of Big Foot, Ill., was a bustling place in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Some families farmed the rich land, producing milk and grain, and some families operated key businesses, such as the general store, the blacksmith shop and the creamery.

But the town eventually dried up. The post office closed. Automobiles replaced the popular electric rail line. Families moved to bigger cities.

The Historical Society of Walworth and Big Foot Prairie plans to remind people of the once thriving community of Big Foot by pointing out notable properties and offering information about notable men and women on a self-guided driving tour of the area Wednesday.

The event starts in Walworth, where tour-goers will receive a map and guide with information about area farmers, merchants and buildings, said Nancy Lehman, president of the historical society.

The first settlers—the Fish family of Massachusetts—arrived in Big Foot in the 1840s, Lehman said. But the family was lonely, and every morning they looked out over the prairie and watched for smoke from campfires, hoping more settlers had arrived, she said.

Soon more families came, and the small town began to grow into an active, close-knit community, Lehman said. The general store sold everyday needs. The creamery churned out thousands of pounds of butter and cheese each day. The schools, churches and post office served important purposes in town, she said.

In 1899, an electric rail line was built from Harvard, Ill., to Fontana, Lehman said. The Chicago-Harvard-Lake Geneva line, popularly known as the “Toonerville Trolley,” not only took Chicagoans to Geneva Lake, it hauled milk, grain, gravel, ice and mail, she said.

But in 1924, the concrete road was built between Harvard and Big Foot, Lehman said. Automobiles proved to be a greater convenience for people who wanted to travel to and from Chicago and soon forced the electric rail line to shut down, she said.

That signaled the demise Big Foot, Lehman said.

This is the second such tour the historical society has offered. Its first—also a self-guided driving tour of farms and other properties in the area—still is popular, Lehman said.

Tours such as these are important to remind people of the roots of their community, said Art Anderson, who will serve as a tour leader.

“It’s like walking around an old graveyard,” he said. “There’s a lot of history in those old places.”