The Township of Hanover forms the southwest corner of the county. It is consequently out of the lead mining region, except, perhaps, its northwestern border. Geographically, the township presents a great variety of natural beauty. On the western side lies a low prairie of nine by two miles in size, which from its barren nature, has been named the “Sand Prairie.” This is washed on the west by the “Father of Waters,” while on the opposite side rises the high bluffy chain of hills which extends up the river bank to Galena, broken only by the valleys of the Small Pox and Galena Rivers. A tradition was current among the noble red men of the forest that the bed of the Mississippi once passed on the eastern side of the prairie near the bluffs, and an examination of this location tends to confirm the story. It is known that, in the flood of 1828 the supposed river bed was filled with water from the Mississippi.

Beyond the range of hills lies the beautiful valley of Apple River. Up this river, in the Fall of 1827, rowed Daniel Fowler and Charles Ames—two adventurers and the first “pale faces” whom the inhabitants had seen in that locality. At the place where the Village of Hanover now stands, the voyagers encountered the Apple River Falls, and were obliged to carry their canoe around on the land. At this time, remarks our droll informant, there was here a large city called Wapello—inhabited by a tribe of Sacs and Foxes, and named after their chief. Appreciating the value of this location as a mill site, Fowler and Ames marked it with a claim stake, and proceeded up the river. The next Spring they returned, took up the claim and engaged in farming.

At this time this region was reserved as mineral land, though it was out of the mining region, and in 1827 a purse of $1,000 was made up by settlers of the county to defray the expenses of some person in going to Washington and securing a release of that portion of the land outside of the mineral region. Mr. James Craig was selected for that purpose, and returned the following Spring with the desired permission. He, also, had the Falls of Apple River in view as a location, and going there in 1828 he and his son Daniel compromised with Fowler and Ames, and secured one half of the land, including the falls. Here he dammed the river and erected a saw mill and a grist mill on the site of the present factory. The following year the family of Mr. Craig moved down from Galena.

A number of settlers soon entered farms in the valley. Among them were John Armstrong, Samuel Jamison and Stephen H. Howard. When the Black Hawk War began the pioneers hurried their families to the forts for protection. But they had left crops which must be looked after or lost. One brave man, Stephen H. Howard, determined to return to his farm and risk discovery by the Indians. While he was plowing in the field, he saw a band of Indians approach his house and drive off with four horses which had been left in the barn. He jumped on his only remaining horse and fled to the fort. A body of men were there gathered to follow the thieves, whom they overtook near Waddam’s Grove. A severe fight ensued in which Mr. Howard was killed.

Those were indeed dark days of hardships and bitterness to the resolute men who established the beautiful, and now, peaceful homes of Hanover. After peace and confidence had been restored, settlers began to fill up the valleys more rapidly. In 1835, Wm. R., son of James Craig, opened the first general store at the village, in a log house, but in the ensuing year he built a store­room which now forms a part of Nathan Craig’s residence. There was no other general store established until that of James W. White in 1845. Mr. Craig kept a public house from the time of his settlement but the first and only regular hotel was not built until 1847, by Joseph E. Milligan. It is called the “Hanover Hotel,” and now owned by George W. Clark. In 1835, Mr. Craig erected a chair factory between the two mills he had already built. He found the water power sufficient to drive the machinery of the three establishments. At this point the river is about 200 feet wide, having a natural fall over a rocky bed of eleven feet. The dam is two hundred and forty feet long and five feet high, securely bolted to the rock, making a head and fall of sixteen feet, with a reservoir or flowage extending nearly ten miles and affording, probably, the best and most secure water power in northwestern Illinois.

Mr. Craig hired a man named Shunk, at twelve dollars per month, to teach school during the winter of 1835, in a rough cabin on the present site of the Hanover Hotel. After four weeks the pupils claimed to have exhausted their resource of instruction and the institution was suspended. The first school house in the township was built during the following year on the claim of Mr. Glisson, in section 21. John Yancey first gave instruction therein. No house was built especially for school purposes until 1848; In this building Miss

Phoebe Vaughn was the first school teacher. The house, which is a substantial brick building of one story, was built by subscription and is now used for a Town Hall. The present school building was erected in 1863. It is a neat two-story brick structure, with two apartments, accommodating 200 pupi1s. In this school Mrs. Julius A. Hamilton first taught. Wm. Gardner and Miss Ella Aldrich have management of the two departments. A minister of Galena, Rev. Aratus Kent, delivered the first sermon ever uttered in Hanover Township at the house of James Craig, which was always open for religious devotion.

Benson Hunt, who was intimately connected with the early history of Galena, settled in the Fall of 1836, with his family, in the extreme southwestern corner of the township. This was a good point on the Mississippi for shipping, and the Illinois Central Railroad Company was then grading a road along its bluffs to Galena, promising another outlet to the markets. Hence Mr. Hunt decided to locate there a village, named Huntsville which was laid out and platted the following year, by Israel Mitchell. But the sandy soil proved an objection to settlers, and the parties who were building the railroad, exhausted their means, and were compelled to dispose of the road to a company who changed its location. Influenced by these facts, Mr. Hunt returned to Galena, leaving his farm under the management of one Smith, who proved to be a member of a notorious band of thieves which was scattered through this country. This band first disposed of the two teams, which Mr. Hunt had left, and then came with a barge and boldly carried away three thousand bushels of corn. Many similar depredations were committed among the scattered pioneers, and a system for protection was soon organized. The outlaws carried on their operations in a bold, defiant manner for many years, but were finally entrapped in a house at Bellevue, a village in Iowa, on the Mississippi, where seven of them were shot. Many years later, Thomas Parks made an attempt to establish a village on the site of Huntsville, calling it Parksville. He started a ferry there in 1849, and in the ensuing year Charles Jeffries opened a general store, which was followed by the stores of Daniel Mclntire and a Mr. Jackson. But, as insufficient support was received, the village was again depopulated, and at present is devoid of all business interests. The Village of Hanover has been more successful. In 1837 it was laid out on the land of James Craig. Additional stores were opened, and, in 1840, Mr. Craig tore down the old grist mill and erected a large flouring mill, having two stories of stone, surmounted by two and a half stories of wood. The process of building such a mill was, in those days, slow and costly, but it was completed in 1842, and, after running only six weeks, was burned to the ground. Mr. Craig had invested all his means in the mill, and it proved a heavy misfortune, not only to the founder of the village, but to the town itself.

The water power was idle until 1845, when James W. White purchased it; built a new dam, saw mill and flouring mill. The sawmill was afterwards torn down. The fiouring mill, which was built on the site of the present factory, was a large stone building of four and one half stories, containing five runs of burrs. In 1857, the rear end of the mill fell in, after which all the walls were removed and rebuilt, as it now stands, of stone, three stories in height. At the time the flouring mill was established, wheat was one of the principal products in this vicinity, but, in 1858, the wheat crop began to fail, and much of it was transported on the railroad to other mills. In 1864, the Hanover Manufacturing Company was organized, with a capital of $60,000, and purchased the water power and mill of Mr. White. Its officers were: J. W. White, Manager, Secretary and Treasurer; Board of Directors—Henry Green, President; R. H. McClellan, H. S. Townsend, and James Martin. For the reasons above noted, the company removed a portion of the flouring machinery, and put in two sets of woolen machinery. The capital stock was increased, in 1865, to $80,000. In 1874, the company erected the present two-story frame flouring mill, and added two more sets of machinery to the woolen mill. The cloth now manufactured is all of the finer quality of cassimere, and finds ready market among the wholesale houses of Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. The present officers are: J. W. White, Manager, Secretary and Treasurer; Board of Directors—Henry Green, President; R. H. McClellan, H. S. Townsend and John E. Corwith. Superintendent of Woolen Mill, A. C. Huntington.

In 1839, Craig (W. R.) and Laswell started a distillery one mile and a half east of the village, but soon discontinued it. In 1875, a company was organized and incorporated for establishing a wood-pulp manufactory, four and a half miles south of the village, on Apple River. The pulp is made from the white portion of the cotton-wood, or aspen tree, and used for making paper, by mixing it with one half to three fourths parts of straw and rag paper. The manufactory is run by water power, the river being controlled by a dam, ten feet in height and two hundred feet long. The water has a head and fall of eleven feet. The capital of the company is $16,000. Officers: R. H. McClellan, President; J. W. White, Secretary and Treasurer. From this brief sketch, it can be seen that the manufacturing interests of Hanover are of prime importance to its prosperity. Indeed, a visitor to the village is much surprised to find, so far from the railroad and outer world, a busy little village, nestled down among the hills, turning out a large quantity of fine cloths such as, but a few years ago, were known only as English cassimeres.”