Editing Durand, Illinois (section)

==History==

Its township's beginnings initiated originally in a no longer existing settlement called Elton, an area South of Durand and including parts of the Pecatonica and Rock Run townships and settled in 1835 by Nelson Salisbury, Harvey Lower, and Scott Robb. They and nine other families settled the Southwest portion of modern Durand, Pecatonica, and Rock Run area.  Durand gave birth to Illinois' first tax-supported volunteer fire department.  Since its settlement, Durand has been prone to devastating fires.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Nelson|first1=C. Hal|title=Sinnissippi Saga: A History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois|url=https://www.amazon.com/Sinnissippi-Saga-Rockford-Winnebago-Illinois/dp/B000PU6D0G|publisher=Winnebago|date=January 1, 1968|ref=B000PU6D0G}}</ref>  Durand's early flourishings were closely linked to the development of the Racine-Mississippi Railroad later absorbed into Western Union.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grant|first1=H. Roger|title=The North Western: A History of the Chicago & North Western Railway System|date=December 4, 1996|publisher=Northern Illinois University Press, First Edition|location=Dekalb, Illinois|isbn=0875802141|edition=first}}</ref>  The line reached Durand in 1857, en route to Freeport, paving the shift from the Elton community into modern Durand and deriving its name from the railroad's first president, H.S. Durand.  At this time, Durand saw the beginning of its prosperity which entailed the demise of the Elton settlement.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Church|first1=Charles A.|title=Past and Present of the City of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois|publisher=Repressed Publishing|date=August 1, 2013|ref=1462266479}}</ref>