Village of Barrington history

1834 - The first white men known to have settled in Barrington township were Jesse F. Miller and William Van Orsdal, who developed farms in an area which is now part of Barrington Hills.

December 14, 1840 - The township of Barrington is organized at William Otis' log house (SE corner of Routes 62 & 59). A school district is formed and the name of Barrington, for the town of Great Barrington, MA, is chosen.

1841 - The first frame house, built by S.W. Kingsley.

1845 - The first Barrington township post office opened.

1846 - The first buildings in the village, known as Barrington Station: log homes, the school house, grain shanties, etc., are built.

1850 - The first official township meeting was held in the school area known as "Town of Barrington."

1852 - The Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad was extended to Deer Grove, and a train station was built.

1853 - The first churches were built, South Church, by the Congregationalists, the North Church, by the Methodists.

1855 - Hough Street School was built.

1857 - The first kerosene lamp was used in the home of Milius B. McIntosh.

Not only was this simple, one-room school the seat of learning for a growing number of farm youngsters, it also served as the house of worship for the Methodists and the Congregationalists until completion of their own churches in 1859.

1863 - Barrington was incorporated as Barrington Station.

Because leaders believed the growing community needed tax-supported improvements, an election to incorporate Barrington was held on February 16, 1865.

1866 - The Washington Street School (320 Washington St) was opened.

1870 - Washington Street School graduated its first class.

1881 - The Octagon House (223 West Main St) was built.

1883 - The Washington Street School was closed and sold.

1888 - The first two-year high school class graduated from the Hough Street School.

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.

1897 - In June, the first electric light plant, Chicago Engineering Company, began operating near Applebee and Harrison Streets.

1898 - The first water system, water tower, and wells were dug.

In 1921 a group of these prominent Chicago businessmen purchased the 220 acres for the Barrington Hills Country Club and the nucleus of what was to become the Village of Barrington Hills was born.

The original subdivision of the Honey Lake area occurred in 1926; it was called Biltmore Country Estates and included the Biltmore Country Club.

During the great depression, the Jewel Tea Company opened a new warehouse and office in the area alongside a coffee roasting facility. As a result, several jobs were created even during the great depression in 1929.

The Riding Club of Barrington Hills, founded in 1937, has maintained a trail system throughout the Village with the generosity of landowners who allow members to ride horses across their property.

In the prosperous mid-1950’s, as post-war economic development blossomed, and the new network of roads and commuter railroads made the suburbs accessible to many more Americans anxious to move from the cities, large-scale housing developments began to sprout up on what had been rural farmland.

In 1959, area residents voted to form the unincorporated area into the Village of North Barrington so citizens could more directly influence their environment.