| Many area farmers feared the railroad would bring
too many saloons and Irish Catholics to the area. In response to
the opposition, Robert Campbell, a civil engineer working for the
Fond du Lac line, purchased a farm two miles northwest of Deer Grove
and platted a community there in 1854. At Campbell's request, the
railroad moved the station building to his new community, which
he called Barrington after Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the
original home of a number of area farmers.
The prosperity of the Civil War era increased Barrington's population
to 300 in 1863. In order to provide a tax mechanism to finance improvements,
Barrington incorporated on February 16, 1865. Homer Willmarth became
the first village president. The village prospered as many Chicago
grain merchants whose homes were destroyed in the Great Chicago
Fire of 1871 decided to construct opulent Queen Anne–style
residences along Barrington's tree-shaded streets.
Although the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway was built through
Barrington in 1889, the village continued to serve agriculturally
based trading interests into the twentieth century. Dairy farming
was the major activity on the meadows and woodlots surrounding the
community. Fueled by post–World War I prosperity, however,
a number of Chicago business leaders built their residences on large
woodland tracts around the village, bringing an end to dairying.
Barrington, and its close villages are considered to be some of
the wealthiest in the country.[5] The village opposes the use of
the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway to prevent rail congestion
in Chicago, prefering freight trains to be routed through more diverse
communities. |
