A piece of Dixon history: Why area towns are about 10 miles apart

On New Year’s Day 1834, 190 years ago, the new “Chicago Road” opened up, offering the first direct route between Dixon and Chicago. But at that time, Dixon, Chicago and the Chicago Road were much different than today.

In 1833, the residents of Dixon (actually Dixon’s Ferry) probably numbered fewer than 20. Chicago was a small village of about 200. And the Chicago Road then was only a dirt trail, probably just wide enough for one wagon.

Captain Joseph Naper

The new Chicago Road had been authorized by the young Illinois General Assembly on Jan. 7, 1833. Captain Joseph Naper, a veteran of the 1832 Black Hawk War, won the contract for the surveying work.

Prior to the war, in 1831, Naper helped establish Naper’s Settlement, known today as Naperville. When Naper did his surveying work in 1833, no settlers lived along the vast 80-mile stretch of Chicago Road between Dixon’s Ferry and Naper’s Settlement.

Zechariah Melugin

Zechariah Melugin was then living in Dixon’s Ferry (Dixon), where he, too, had served in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War. As one of the soldiers in the Fort Dixon garrison, Melugin had become “warm friends” with fellow soldier Abraham Lincoln and with “Father” John Dixon, who founded Dixon’s Ferry in 1830.

(Note: I pronounce Melugin “muh-LOOG-in,” but I’ve heard other pronunciations, including “mulligan.” His name has also been spelled Zachariah Malugin.)

In 1833, Melugin, then 27 and single, approached John Dixon for some career advice. The white-haired, 49-year-old Dixon was keenly aware of the various business opportunities that the new road would bring.

The first house in Lee County

Dixon knew that the Chicago Road would be a key stage route that would require stagecoach stations every 10 to 15 miles or so. So, he suggested Melugin establish a stage station at a strategic point along the trail.

So, on the last week of 1833, Melugin found a grove of trees about 23 miles east of Dixon along the new road. In that grove, Melugin built the first house outside Dixon in what-would-become Lee County.

Melugin’s homestead became known as Melugin’s Grove. Today’s maps identify it as “The Burg” on Shaw Road about 2 miles north of Compton.

The magic of the 10-mile interval

Melugin’s location was actually too far away to be the first stagecoach station east of Dixon.

Frink and Walker, the primary stagecoach company in northern Illinois, wanted their coaches to run “no more than twelve miles” before changing horses.

This 10-15-mile interval had been a well-known fact of life for centuries. Even the Roman roads of 2,000 years ago featured way stations for horses and travelers every 12-19 miles.

These stage stations, around Dixon and ancient Rome, provided stables for feeding, changing and servicing the horses. For the passengers, stage stations (aka taverns) offered meals, lodging and rest from the long bumpy ride.

From grove to grove

Stage stations soon popped up 10-15 miles apart all along the Chicago Road. In May 1834, Adolphus Bliss and his wife erected a log stage station on the Chicago Road in Inlet Grove (today’s Lee Center area), conveniently positioned between Dixon and Melugin’s Grove.

Within a few months, Isaac Balding built a stage station about 10 miles east of Melugin’s Grove along the same Chicago Road. Balding’s area was known as Paw Paw Grove because of the distinctive pawpaw fruit trees there.

Erecting the framework of northern Illinois

By the end of 1834, other enterprising pioneers like Melugin, Bliss and Balding had established stage stations at strategic 10-15-mile intervals from Dixon’s Ferry to Chicago, as well as along the stage routes from Dixon to Galena, Dixon to Peoria, and Dixon to Ottawa. Soon to follow were stage routes and stage stations from Dixon to Rock Island and Dixon to Rockford.

Today the route from Dixon to Inlet Grove (Lee Center), Melugin’s Grove, and Paw Paw is still known as Chicago Road. Inside Dixon, it’s now called Chicago Avenue, but Dixon maps identified it as Chicago Road as late as 1975.

The Great Migration

These stage stations were built just in time, because “the Great Migration” of 1835 was about to bring a wave of settlers from eastern states. As they entered the haven of northwestern Illinois, they built their homes around these stations, which eventually became the villages, towns and cities of northern Illinois.

Later, in 1855 when the railroads came into this region, the stagecoach business collapsed, as did all the stagecoach stations that dotted this entire region. But by then, these stations had firmly established the location of most of the area towns.

So, we modern folk might be baffled why this entire region contains dozens of towns that are about 10-15 miles apart. But to the horse and the stagecoach passenger of old, the reason is obvious.

• A Dixon native, Tom Wadsworth is a writer, speaker and occasional historian. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament.