Millville Town Site

About this property

Millville is a defunct settlement in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States, located within the boundaries of Apple River Canyon State Park. Founded in 1835 and platted in 1846, the community was washed away completely by a flood in 1892. No visible remnants of its structures remain today. The site of Millville was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as the Millville Town Site in 2003. Millville was located in what is today the Apple River Canyon State Park; its physical address is within the village of Apple River. The canyon is a deep gorge carved by the Apple River when its course was diverted during the Illinoian Stage, 132,000–300,000 years ago. The old river channel eventually filled and became the South Fork Apple River. Millville was located at the confluence of these two rivers; the site is marked by a large rock formation and two plaques. Millville was initially established in 1835 along the northern Chicago-Galena stagecoach route, a roadway today known as the Stagecoach Trail. John R. Smith and the Burbridge family were responsible for the village's first buildings and a saw mill was erected between 1835–36. It developed as an important rural service stop along that stagecoach route. Millville was significant in the early history of Jo Daviess County, serving as a civic and commercial hub from 1838–53. According to 1878's The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, the town itself was platted on April 14, 1846, within Rush Township by John R. Smith. Millville faced decline after the railroads entered Jo Daviess County during the 1850s. Still, the town served as a minor commercial center for several decades after. In 1853–54 the Illinois Central Railroad bypassed Millville relegating it to a future as a "backwater town". Despite this, two prominent commercial operations remained in business into the late 19th century, the grist mill and a blacksmith shop. The blacksmith shop, eight buildings, two homes and a school are shown in town maps as late as 1872. The town's fate was sealed by a June 1892 flood which reportedly swept away all of the town's remaining buildings, leaving no trace of Millville in its wake. Heavy rains swelled the pond at the Cox Mill, ¼ mile from Millville, causing the mill dam to burst. The mill pond waters tore down Clear Creek and poured into the South Fork Apple River, rushing toward Millville. The town's buildings, unable to withstand the deluge, were swept away by the violent river. By 1847 a large grist mill was constructed in the town, replacing the earlier saw mill. Other businesses were established in what had become a thriving wayside stop with the stagecoach line running directly through it. A Mr. Dean owned a blacksmith shop, a John W. Marshall started a dry goods store, another resident, Eldridge Howard built a large house and opened a tavern within it. At its height, Millville was the only settlement of significance between Freeport and Galena.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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