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History Freeport’s
very name grows from local history. German settlers came from Pennsylvania
and began settling in northern Illinois in 1827, which had been the
home of the Winnebago Indians. Freeport’s founder, William “Tutty”
Baker, came to the area in 1835 and built a trading post on the banks
of the Pecatonica River.
He operated a free ferry across the river for his customers. When the early settlers were discussing a name for this growing ommunity, Mrs. Baker suggested that it be called a free port. The river town originally had the name “Winneshiek,” but by the time the town was incorporated in 1855, Freeport was the established name. The free port itself has been replaced by a number of ridges; the only port is the one in history. Freeport became county seat for Stephenson County in 1838, about 20 years after the State of Illinois was admitted to the Union. The community grew rapidly in the mid-1800s, first linked by stagecoach and then by railroad to Chicago and Galena. The first school opened in 1840. Churches were established about the same time and, within a few years, Freeport had two newspapers. The second of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in Freeport on August 27, 1858. In those unsettling days before the U.S. Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met to debate issues in seven Illinois cities. A pivotal debate was held in Freeport before hundreds of people. Although Douglas eventually won the election that year and kept his seat in the U.S. Senate, his reply to a question of Lincoln’s during the Freeport debate helped Lincoln win the U.S. presidency in 1860. Lincoln asked Douglas if the citizens of a Territory allowing slavery could vote to ban slavery upon entry into the Union as a State. Douglas replied that the citizens could make that choice. His position alienated the South, causing a split in Douglas’ party in the 1860 Presidential Election: A third-party Southern candidate opposed presidential nominee Douglas. These events ultimately helped Lincoln win the presidency, his campaign supported by the “Freeport Heresy” of Douglas and Lincoln’s “Freeport Doctrine.” When the Civil War broke out, Freeport sent many citizens to fight. The names of those soldiers from Stephenson County who lost their lives in the Civil War are chiseled on the four sides of an elegant granite monument that stands today in front of the Stephenson County Courthouse. The four figures on the corners represent the then four arms of the service: infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy. The Civil War Soldiers Monument was dedicated in 1871 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Residents and tourists alike still enjoy the area’s rich past. One can visit the site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in downtown Freeport. The site is commemorated with a large boulder and a plaque dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. In 1992, a life-size statue, “Lincoln and Douglas in Debate,” by local artist Lily Tolpo, was added to the historic park, which includes period benches and plantings. The debate site is adjacent to one of the new-est public buildings in town, the Freeport Public Library. The library opened late last year and replaced the much-loved but outgrown Carnegie library. The new library is one of several organizations that celebrates local history. The library houses the Woodhouse History Room and preserves all types of interesting documents and memorabilia of local significance. The Stephenson County Historical Society is housed in an Italianate mansion that’s listed in the National Register of Historical Places. Also on the society’s grounds are an arboretum, a farm museum, a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin from the 1840s. The local Lincoln-Douglas Society remains active in community events. Freeport’s Old River School Historic District (bounded by the Pecatonica River, Brick Avenue, Galena Avenue and Clark Street in Freeport) includes original Freeport and the city’s first street, Monterey. As the city grew, this area became known as the “Gold Coast.” A drive through these historic streets is of great interest today. Many old homes of architectural significance are in the district, including Freeport’s oldest house, built in 1838, and the Van Buren Bridge. Built in 1885 of wrought iron, it is the last surviving bridge of its type and length. The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument in honor of Freeport’s founder, “Tutty” Baker, in the area. Just outside Freeport’s city limits are several other places of historic interest. Nearby Cedarville is the birthplace of Jane Addams, well known for her social work in Chicago’s Hull House. A monument to those killed in the Blackhawk War is located on the site of Kellogg’s Grove, an early settlement established in 1827 on a mail route between Peoria and Galena and now on the National Register of Historic Places. During the Blackhawk War, Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Illinois militia, helped to bury five of the slain men. Fifty years after the Blackhawk War ended, farmers from the area collected the soldiers’ remains and buried them in one enclosure.
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