Neighborhood

Early History St. Charles was the location of the Native American community for the chief of the Pottawatomie that inhabited the area. A city park overlooking the river was dedicated to this Native American past. After the Black Hawk War in 1832, the entire site of the Fox Valley was opened to American settlement. Evan Shelby and William Franklin staked the first claim in what is now St. Charles in 1833. They came back in 1834 with their families from Indiana and were joined by over a dozen other families later that year. The township was initially known as Charleston, but this name was already taken by the downstate city of Charleston, Illinois, so the name of SI. Charles (suggested by S. S. Jones, a lawyer) was adopted in 1839. St. Charles became incorporated as a city on February 9, 1839, and reincorporated on October 17, 1874 (under the 1870 Illinois Constitution).

Underground Railroad
There is widespread speculation of slavery-era Underground Railroad stations operating in St. Charles homes, complete with tunnels and false doorways. While these claims are not historically substantiated, an active abolitionist group called working in St. Charles around this time called the Kane County Anti-Slavery Society. The Society was founded in 1842 and had about 180 members at its peak. The most plausible connection to the Underground Railroad in the town is the Wheeler House, built-in St. Charles in 1837.

Transportation history
St. Charles was a very isolated place early on in its existence. The village was located three days away from Chicago, and the Fox River was not navigable for large boats. By the 1850s, St. Charles had begun constructing a plank road to Sycamore but turned down an offer by the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad to build a line through the town, eventually built near Elgin. In the early years, the lack of regional connections kept the city relatively small. St. Charles was without a railroad until 1871 when a branch line from Geneva was constructed and was without a direct link to Chicago until the 1880s with the Chicago Great Western Railway’s coming.

Streetcar lines
The Fox River between Elgin and Aurora was built through the city in 1896, operated by the Aurora, Elgin, and Fox River Electric company. A direct automobile route to Chicago, which eventually became Route 64 (Main Street), was constructed in 1920. Four Illinois state routes, including Routes 64, 38 (Lincoln Highway), 25 (5th Avenue), and 31 (2nd Street), now run through the city. Two major Kane County roads also cut through the town; Randall Road on the west side and Kirk Road on the east side.