Lewistown Trail
CITY:
Center Hill
COUNTY:
Carroll
DEDICATED BY:
Carroll County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
January 1, 1971 at 6:00:00 AM
The marker is located in a large turnout area, 3.3 miles west of Mt. Carroll in Center Hill Cemetery, just west of Center Hill Church along US 52/IL 64.
Lewistown Trail ran from Springfield to Galena via Lewistown. From 1827 to 1837 it was one of the main routes to the Galena Lead Mines. In general the trail ran in a northerly direction, crossing the Rock River at Prophetstown. It then zigzagged over the glaciated slopes of Carroll County and at this point turned northward again toward Plum River, six miles away. In 1837 when a state road was established to Galena via Savanna, this portion of the old trail became a local wagon road. By the 1850s it was a post road to the mill towns of Jacksonville and Polsgrove.