The first settlers perhaps to stop at the site of the village of Paw Paw was the famous army officer General Winfield Scott. During the Black Hawk War the General and his men and staff followed the old Indian trails that led from Chicago to Galena. In his autobiography written many years later, the General mentions a stop at Paw Paw Grove.

After the war was terminated and the Indians were committad to the reservations, settlers commenced to arrive and settle in the state so the state instructed engineers to build a road crude and odd out in the prairie. Never the less progress had started so the people could travel easier. The first road was called the Chicago-Galena Trail. On this road or trail, about 80 miles west of Chicago, a beautiful grove of some 2,000 acres of Oaks, Maples and Walnut trees were in abundance. There was also a small tree that grew here, unknown to many settlers, it bore a sweet fruit similar to the taste of a banana and its shape. This was called the Paw Paw, from which this city derived its name.

The first settlers located around this grove because it gave them food, shelter and logs for their cabins. The settlers also found that the diseases that seemed to plague many of the other early settlers in the county, were not in abundance in this area.

The first permanent settler at Paw Paw Grove was David A. Town. He came from Vermont, and settled on the south east side of the grove in 1834. In the spring of 1835, Edward Butterfield built the first cabin on the present site of the village. This was not only the first house but it was the first to be built on the first claim. It was also the first home of the first married couple. It was the first store and it was the first building to be burned.

The town early on was sectioned off as East Paw Paw, West Paw Paw and South Paw Paw. They soon became to be known as simply Paw Paw. Paw Paw Township was changed to Wyoming and is located adjacent to DeKalb County.

Fink and Walker ran the first stage line in these parts. Fink and Walker also took the contract to haul mail and ran the stage coaches from Chicago to Galena. The stage line even passed the mail to the eager settlers. The postage was paid by the one who received the mail. Often the stage coach driver received his postage due in the form of produce grown by the settlers.

In 1837 a star route was started and Mr. William Rodgers became the first Postmaster in the city. Before that time, the first Post Office was located at Somonauk, 20 miles away. In 1839 a new road was built which intersectcd the Chicago Road to Princeton at the corner of Main and Peru Street. Willard Hastings began carrying the mail from Paw Paw to Princeton. The old Princeton Road is known as the Angling Road. The first Stage Station or Tavern as it was called in frontier days, the tavern was located on the Chicago Road mid-way between east and west Paw Paw. It was operated by Isaac Balding and he operated it as long as the stage line carried or ran before the railroad came.

The Village started to grow very slowly. By 1847, there were loss than 50 inhabitants. The only business that you could see was a blacksmith shop and a shingle mill. The one store was burned and never was rebuilt until several years later. Peddlers and traveling grocery men supplied the villagers with a variety of merchandise.

By 1850, however, the village started to progress and progress it did. Field and.Robinson started a general store which was followed by a wagon maker, a shoemaker, a harness maker and soon a second store. Two hotels were built at the intersection Soon ~ second merchandise store was started and built at the intersection of the Chicago and Princeton Roads. One of the first hotels called the Detamore House was erected in 1851. It stood for almost 120 years.

The first school house was a "little pole school house" which was built in 1836. Emily Giles from Fox River taught the school for $1.00 a week and she boarded around in different homes. Vacated cabins and the private homes were also used for school purposes. All early schools were supported by subscriptions. The first frame school house was built in 1846. In 1848, school districts were established. and in 1860, the schools were graded.

In 1855, Paw Paw Stock Company was organized and an academy called East Pawpaw Classical Seminary and Teacher's Institute was built. Many teachers, lawyers, physicians, ministers and teachers were trained and received their education from this institution. Thus Paw Paw and other towns, cities and villages became a part of the cultural and intregual parts of our civilization.Paw Paw has three churches. They are the Baptist, Presbyterian, and the Methodist. The Baptists organized in 1841 at South Paw Paw. In 1864, they dedicated a new church building. This building was moved to Pawpaw in 1873 and remodeled.About 1870, the Presbyterians began holding meetings in the schoolhouse. The Rev. A. S. Peck of the Wyoming Church at Cottage Hill preached to them every two weeks. By 1875, however, they had completed a building at Pawpaw. Rev. Dr. Gibson of Chicago preached the first sermon and became the minister of the new church.

In 1869, the Methodists also met in the schoolhouse, but by 1875 they too had completed a building. Pawpaw, as a seperate charge in the Rock River conference, was organized in 1879. Prior to the organization of the churches, services were held with more or less regularity by all the denominations in private homes. Several well known circuit riders visited Pawpaw, among them the famous Peter Cartwright.

After several attempts to bring a railroad to this village they finally succeeded. The Rock River Railroad was built from Rock Falls to Shabbona. The Rock River Railroad was later sold to the Burlington and it is still being run and operated by the CB&Q, The Chicago Burlington and Quince Railroad Company.

D. C. Heath was Paw Paw's first physician, but George Hunt was the first resident physician in the village. Doctor George Ryan also came here in 1850 and afterwards became a colonel in the Civil War. Later physicians were J. H. Braffet, Tom Stetler and T. D. Palmer, names still remembered in Paw Paw.

Paw Paw at one time boasted of two newspapers. In 1877, R. H. Ruggles printed the first newspaper, called the Paw Paw Herald. In
1878, E. G. Cass and J. B. Gardner printed the second newspaper of Paw Paw, called the Lee County Times.

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