Introduction
Today, only a few homes remain along Chicago Road between East Sandwich Road and the Somonauk blacktop.
Freeland, Illinois, often remembered today as a quiet rural crossroads, was once part of the earliest settlement activity in DeKalb County. Located along the old Chicago Road between East Sandwich Road and the Somonauk blacktop, the community grew from a cluster of cabins and stopping places near the Somonauk Creek crossing, where travelers, mail carriers, and early settlers passed through as early as the 1830s.
Though never incorporated as a village, Freeland developed into a small but active community, with homes, a school, a post office, churches, and local businesses. Over time, however, the forces that helped build it, roads, migration, and trade, would also lead to its decline.
Freeland was not just a name on a map.
For a time, it was where the story began.
Early Settlement Along Chicago Road (1830s–1840s)
The earliest permanent settlement in what would become Sandwich Township developed along what is now Chicago Road, an important early route connecting Chicago to the west.
In the 1830s, Reuben Root established a log cabin in this corridor, often described in later accounts as being at or near Freeland Corners. Around the same time, William B. Poplin built a home nearby and brought his wife to the settlement in 1835.
These early homes formed the nucleus of a growing rural community.
Some evidence suggests that this initial concentration of settlement activity may have been centered slightly to the west, in what later became known as Franks. As was common in early settlement years, place names and boundaries were not yet fixed, and references to “Freeland Corners” often appear to describe a broader area along Chicago Road rather than a precisely defined location.
A Post Office and a Place to Gather
By 1837, a post office had been established in the area, initially named Somonauk. It served the scattered farms and early settlers along the route and became one of the first organized services in the township.
A tavern, later operated in what had been the Poplin home and associated with the Beveridge family, stood along the Chicago to Dixon mail route. It provided food, lodging, and a place of gathering for both travelers and residents.
Together, the post office and tavern helped define this early settlement as a point of connection in an otherwise rural landscape.
School and Early Institutions
Education and community life also took root here at an early date.
A school was established as early as 1836, with Lucius Frisbee serving as one of the first known teachers. In 1845, a more permanent one-room schoolhouse, often remembered as the “Little Red Schoolhouse”, was built along Chicago Road.
Religious life followed a similar pattern.
A Seceder Presbyterian congregation was formed in 1844 with nineteen members, meeting in the vicinity of Freeland Corners. As with other early references, the exact location likely overlapped with the nearby Franks settlement area, where some of the earliest families were concentrated before institutions gradually shifted toward Sandwich.
By the mid 1850s, many of these members relocated, and a formal Presbyterian church was organized in Sandwich in 1857.
A Working Rural Community
Over time, this area developed into a functioning rural community.
Historical accounts and local records describe several small but essential businesses, including:
- a general store
- a blacksmith shop
- a cheese factory
These, along with the school, church gatherings, and post office, supported daily life for the surrounding farming population.
Though never formally platted or recorded as a town, Freeland existed as a recognizable place, with homes, businesses, and shared institutions.
The Freeland Cemetery
One of the clearest signs of a settled community was the establishment of a cemetery.
In 1879, Bathsheba A. Hummel deeded one acre of land to DeKalb County for use as a burial ground for the Freeland neighborhood. The site, located along Chicago Road, served local families and marked the area as a place with lasting roots.
By 1899, the cemetery was officially closed. Later accounts indicate that burials, possibly including members of the Hummel family, were removed and reinterred at other cemeteries, including Oak Ridge in Sandwich.
Today, no visible trace of the Freeland Cemetery remains.
The Shift Toward Sandwich
Freeland’s role began to change in the 1850s.
With the arrival of the railroad to Sandwich and nearby communities in 1853, patterns of trade, travel, and settlement shifted. Businesses and institutions gradually moved toward the growing village.
The post office, renamed Freeland in 1855, continued for several decades but was ultimately discontinued in 1886.
As transportation and commerce centered on the railroad towns, Freeland slowly faded as a focal point of activity.
Families Who Carried the Story Forward
As Freeland declined and Sandwich began to grow, many of the families who helped build the early community did not disappear—they relocated, bringing their experience, businesses, and leadership into the developing village.
Among them were:
- the Patten family, associated with early landholding and community development
- the Hummel family, remembered for their tavern, property, and later contributions to local life (see: J. M. Hummel)
- and the Davis family, whose story reflects the broader movement of settlers into the region
- the Beveridge family, early residents at Freeland Corners whose influence extended beyond the township, most notably through John L. Beveridge, later Governor of Illinois.
Freeland didn’t fade, it became part of what came next
How Freeland Was Remembered
Freeland has not always been described in the same way in historical records.
Some accounts present it primarily as an early settlement that declined as Sandwich developed, part of a broader transition from scattered rural communities to more centralized towns.
Other records show something more complete.
For several decades, Freeland functioned as its own small but established community, with homes, institutions, and a defined presence along Chicago Road.
These perspectives reflect the realities of early settlement.
Freeland was both:
- an early center of activity in the township
- and part of a broader landscape of nearby settlements, including what later became known as Franks
Its story is not simply one of disappearance, but of transition.
What Remains
Today, little remains to mark Freeland as a distinct place.
A few homes still stand along Chicago Road, on smaller parcels, originally used in Freeland, that wouldn’t be allowed today, and the land continues in agricultural use. The post office, businesses, and cemetery that once defined the community have disappeared from view.
Yet the history remains.
Freeland represents one of the earliest chapters in the story of Sandwich and the surrounding area, a place where settlement first took hold, where institutions were formed, and from which the region continued to grow.
Freeland’s story is not one of disappearance, but of transition, its people, institutions, and influence continuing on in the growth of Sandwich and the surrounding communities.
Continue the Story
- The Lost Cemetery at Freeland
- Freeland Post Office and Early Mail Routes
- Early Churches of Freeland and Sandwich
- Franks, Illinois: The Settlement Along Somonauk Creek
- William Patten
- Jule J. M. Hummel
- Captain William Davis
Research & Sources
- DeKalb County records (1879 Hummel land deed)
- Sandwich Township historical accounts (Bud Burgin collection)
- DeKalb County Archives (Joiner History Room)
- Early plat maps and postal records