Historic Sites

The Oswegoland Park District takes pride in remembering and preserving the rich history of our community.

Village Green Park occupies the site where the Kendall County Courthouse stood from 1845 to 1864, before the county seat was moved to neighboring Yorkville.

In 1885, the old courthouse was demolished and the Red Brick School (seen on the right) was built on the site, serving the community as its high school until 1951 and as an elementary school and junior high until 1964.

 

One block east at Jackson at Polk Street, the historic Little White School still stands where it was built in 1850 as a Methodist Episcopal church.

After the site was purchased by the Oswego School District in 1915, it served as a school until 1964. In 1977, The Oswegoland Heritage Association led effort to restore the building. In 2010, the property was conveyed to the Park District and in 2011 the building was landmarked by the Village of Oswego. The Park District maintains and staffs the building and site, along with volunteers from the Oswegoland Heritage Association.

The community museum is open to the public.
Click here for museum hours.

 

At Hudson Crossing Park, bikers and pedestrians use a restored 1867 bridge to cross the Fox River. Oswego was founded at the site where the Fox River flows across a limestone shelf that provided a shallow, smooth route used by Indians and early settlers to cross the river. Wagons and stagecoaches traveling the Joliet-Galena trail and the Fox River Trail from Ottawa to Geneva crossed the river using the ford at the site of the present Hudson Crossing Park.

Farther north at North Adams and Second streets, Troy Park (seen below) contains remnants of a water-powered sawmill and furniture factory from the 1840s. At low water, remains of the old dam at the site can still be seen.

Just across the river, the foundation of a grist mill is still visible in Millstone Park. The first mill was built on the park property by Merritt Clark in 1836.