Ottawa Travel Road - Ten Mile Grove, The
CITY:
Paxton
COUNTY:
Ford
DEDICATED BY:
Ford County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
January 1, 1988 at 6:00:00 AM
The marker is located along Il Rt. 9 about 2.5 miles west of Paxton and 2.2 miles west of Interstate 57.
The Ottawa Travel Road begins in Danville. Of prehistoric origin, it was used until the early 1850’s. It wandered northwest following higher ground, fording streams and detouring around seasonal obstructions. Here at Ten Mile Grove it divided, one fork going west to Saybrook the other to Ottawa. In 1848 William (Gunsmith Bill) Trickel opened a general store and blacksmith shop which also served the area as a post office from 1848 to 1857. The Grove was so named because of the distance from the nearest camping place on the Ottawa Travel Road to the southeast.