Editing Oregon, Illinois (section)

==History==
The land Oregon, Illinois was founded on was previously held by the [[Potawatomi]] and [[Ho-Chunk|Winnebago]] Indian tribes. In fact, later, settlers discovered that the area contained a large number of Indian mounds, most {{convert|10-12|ft|m}} in diameter.<ref name=library1/>

Ogle County was a [[New England]] settlement.  The original founders of Oregon and [[Rochelle, Illinois|Rochelle]] consisted entirely of settlers from [[New England]].  These people were "[[Yankee]]s", that is to say they were descended from the [[English American|English]] [[Puritans]] who settled [[New England]] in the 1600s.  They were part of a wave of [[New England]] farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the [[Northwest Territory]] during the early 1800s.  Most of them arrived as a result of the completion of the [[Erie Canal]].  When they arrived in what is now Bureau County there to forest and prairie ecosystems, the [[English American|New Englanders]] laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes.  They brought with them many of their [[Yankee]] [[New England]] values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism.  They were mostly members of the [[Congregationalist Church]] though some were [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]].  Culturally Bureau County, like much of northern [[Illinois]] would be culturally very continuous with early [[New England]] culture, for most of its history.<ref>The History of Ogle County, Illinois: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, Etc., a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Illinois page 326</ref>

The first European to visit the land was pioneer John Phelps. Phelps first visited the area in 1829 and returned in 1833 hoping to find a suitable site to settle.<ref name=library1/> Phelps found a forest and river-fed valley which impressed him enough that he built his cabin there. Other pioneers followed Phelps to this site, and Phelps helped create the first church, school, grocery store, blacksmith shop, and post office in Oregon.<ref name=oregon>[http://www.oregonil.com/about-oregon-/history Oregon History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227234127/http://www.oregonil.com/about-oregon-/history |date=2012-02-27 }}", ''City of Oregon'', official site. Retrieved 4 July 2007.</ref> By December 4, 1838, due in large part to the efforts of Phelps and his brothers B.T. Phelps and G.W. Phelps, the land was claimed, subdivided and certified by the Ogle County clerk as Oregon City.<ref name=library1>Behrens, pp. 13-14.</ref> The name Oregon means "River of the West".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rees |first1=John, E. |title=Oregon-Its Meaning, Origin and Application |journal=The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society |date=1920 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=317–331 |jstor=20610168 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20610168 |access-date=22 February 2021}}</ref>

In 1839, Oregon City was renamed Florence after a visitor compared the scenic beauty of the Rock River to the Italian city of the same name. Florence was used for only about three years when the city opted to revert to its original name, without the word "city," in 1843. By 1847 the town had a [[general store]], [[sawmill]], [[ferry]], 44 [[household]]s and a population of 225.<ref name=library1/> The population continued to grow through the 1850s and 1860s, a fact demonstrated by the increasing number of churches in those decades and the building of a railroad in 1871. Industry followed the railroad and Oregon became home to an oatmeal mill, furniture factory, chair factory, [[flour mill]] and a [[foundry]], Paragon Foundry, which operated until the 1960s.<ref name=library1/>

The city of Oregon was first organized under an act of the [[Illinois General Assembly]] which was approved on April 1, 1869. By the 1870s the town of Oregon and nearby area was home to around 2,000 people.<ref name=library1/> James Gale was elected the city's first [[mayor]] on March 21, 1870, and four other men, Christian Lehman, W.W. Bennett, George M. Dwight and George P. Jacobs, were chosen as [[aldermen]]. On March 29, 1873, the city was reorganized because of an act of the Illinois legislature which allowed the municipalities to incorporate as cities and villages. In 1920, the [[Oregon City Hall]] was constructed on the perimeter of the [[Oregon Commercial Historic District|city's commercial district]] and it has been the center of city government ever since.<ref name=novak1>Novak, pp. 34-35.</ref> The [[Ogle County Courthouse]] was built in 1891 on the corner of Washington Street and Fourth Street ([[Illinois Route 64]] and [[Illinois Route 2]]).

Between 1908 and 1911, on a site just north of the city, sculptor [[Lorado Taft]] erected a 50-foot tall statue he had designed and originally named ''The Eternal Indian''.  Located on a bluff overlooking the [[Rock River (Illinois)|Rock River valley]], the sculpture is now known as the [[Black Hawk Statue]], named after [[Black Hawk (Sauk leader)|Black Hawk]], a chief of the [[Sauk people|Sauk Indian]] tribe that once inhabited the area.

The city of Oregon annexed nearby [[Daysville, Illinois]], in 1993.