Indian Boundary Road Traditional Cache
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Size: 
(small)
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This quiet residential street near the western edge of Plainfield took its name from the events of 200 years ago.
In the early 1800s, improved land and water transportation routes were needed to navigate those “western territories” of the United States that lay east of the Mississippi River. In particular, Americans who traded with the Potawatomie and other Native American tribes wanted to travel freely between the shores of Lake Michigan and the headwaters of the Illinois River in Ottawa. It was this need that the Indian Boundary line came about. On Aug. 24, 1816, the United States concluded a treaty with the United Tribes of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi. The surrendered area consisted of a 20-mile-wide strip of land, stretching from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Fox River in Ottawa. The newly negotiated corridor — roughly centered about the Des Plaines River — provided a passage through which white men and women were supposed to be able to travel safely.
During the winter of 1818-1819, northern and southern boundary lines were surveyed by John C. Sullivan and his assistant, James M. Duncan. The land within the “safe passage” corridor was then opened for pre-emption and homestead claims. It wasn’t until 1828, when the Walker families and their companions came to the eastern banks of the DuPage River during this early wave of pioneer settlement. This area was called Walkers' Grove until it was platted as Plainfield (in 1841.) The land beyond the corridor continued to be occupied by Native American tribes. Although, pioneer settlement in northern Illinois was not restricted to the area between the Indian boundary lines, homesteading was much more dangerous outside of the “safe passage” corridor.
Today, remnants of the Indian boundary line remain throughout the western suburbs and the city of Chicago. This nearby section of Indian Boundary Road aligns with the western border of the tract of land originally ceded and runs along the actual survey line.
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