First Congregational Church of Sterling

Sterling are three large flouring mills, and nearly a dozen manufactories which derive the motive power for their machinery from this source, and these take only a portion of the power, the Rock Falls mills and manufactories dividing it with them. Most of these manufactories have been built within the past few years, and the number is still steadily on the increase. How many there will be in a score of years from now, human ken cannot foretell. The stately and capacious structures which have already been erected, and the almost ceaseless whirl and hum of their machinery, indicate a constant and growing business in the manufacture of the diiferent kinds of implements and goods carried on within their walls. This must beget competition, as well as induce manufacturers of other staples, and not unlikely luxuries, to seek this favored locality, and erect other and even more pretentious buildings, containing the most powerful and improved machinery, side by side with those which now send forth to all of the States and Territories, and even to many of the foreign lands, articles which equal any of their kind in excellence of make, and beauty of finish. It is not in the nature of things for a power like that at Sterling to keep in motion only the running gear of a limited number of works. It will keep grasping continually for additional wheels, and pulleys, and spindles, and engines, until it is enabled to use all its vast propelling force. 'Sterling, therefore, possessing this power, cannot fail of becoming one of the largest and most important inland manufacturing points in the great West. The next decade may see the smoke arising from the tall chimnies of an hundred factories, and the citizens of the city daily hear the clang and clamor, the hum and the whirl, that issue from, and witness if they choose the hurry and the bustle that abound in, these hundred temples of manufacturing thrift and enterprise. The rich and prolific agricultural country which surrounds Sterling can easily furnish subsistence for the hundreds, or thousands, of mechanics and operatives whose services these factories will require, and the railroad facilities will always be made sufiicient to meet the demand for the import of the raw material, not furnished by home supply, and the export of the manufactured article.

Passage source: History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time;, published 1877.

The present city of Sterling took its rise from the combination of two towns or villages, known as Harrisburgh and Chatham. Harrisburgh was settled first, the pioneer being Hezekiah Brink, who in early June, 1834, put up a house of logs and rifted lumber in what is now the First Ward of Sterling. This primitive building was the first one erected in the now populous city. Mr. Brink's nearest neighbor at that time was Mr. McClure, who had made a claim on Rock river, near the present village of Prophetstown. Close to his habitation rolled the beautiful Rock river, the Siunissippi of the Indians, and all around him was the boundless prairie, the only variation in the landscape being here and there along the river bank a narrow belt of timber. The place was desolate enough, and illy portended the growth in a comparatively few years of a large and wealthy city. Mr. Brink was soon afterwards joined by others, as mentioned in the history of the township, and the settlement began its career. In the summer of 1836, Capt. D. S. Harris, of the steamer Pioneer, came up the river with a load of provisions, and landed above the rapids, the settlers assisting with their ox teams in towing the boat over them to the landing point. A quantity of these provisions were sold to the settlers, and for payment the Captain took a one half interest in the town, which was then, in his honor, named Harrisburgh. Immediately afterwards Capt. Harris, Elijah Worthington, Hezekiah Brink, and others, had the town surveyed, laid out, and platted, the survey being made by Israel Mitchell, of Jo Daviess county, and the plat recorded in Ogle county. The town was bounded on the east and north by the city limits; on the west by what is now Vine street, in the city of Sterling, and on the south by Rock river. A meeting was held by Capt. Harris and the leading settlers on board the steamer while it was being taken over the rapids, and among other matters discussed was that of establishing a Postoffice in the new town, and it was finally decided that a petition asking for one should be forwarded to Washington, as soon as some other preliminary matters had been settled. This petition was sent on in due time to the Postoffice Pepartment, with a request that the name of the Postoffice be Rock River Rapids, and the Postmaster Hezekiah Brink. The Department immediately acted upon it, and granted both requests, but Mr. Brink declined to accept the position, and the Postoffice was abandoned. Some error having been discovered in the first survey, the town of Hai-risburgh was re-surveyed and re-platted in 1837, by Joseph Crawford, now President of the First National Bank at Dixon. Mr. Swan, an agent of Capt. Harris, built a store that season on the bank of the river, known afterwards as the Richardson House, which was occupied by Worthington & Brink, with a stock of goods. Several dwelling houses were also erected in 1836 and 1837.

Passage source: History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time;, published 1877.

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