Early history The original settlers of the Barrington area were the indigenous peoples of the Prairie
Potawatomi or
Mascouten tribes, which later divided into the Potawatomi,
Ojibwe, and
Odawa tribes. Many local roads still in use, including
Algonquin Road,
Rand Road,
Higgins Road, and St. Charles Road, were originally Native American trails.
19th century By treaty dated September 26, 1833, ending the
Black Hawk War, the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi ceded to the United States all lands from the west shore of
Lake Michigan west to the area that the
Ho-Chunk ceded in 1832, north to the area that the
Menominee had previously ceded to the United States, and south to the area previously ceded by an 1829 treaty at
Prairie du Chien, a total of approximately . Through this treaty, the
Sauk,
Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes ceded all title to the area east of the
Mississippi River. Between 1833 and 1835, the U.S. government paid approximately $100,000 in annuities and grants to the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe tribes, presumably as payment for the land. The first
white pioneers known to have settled in Barrington township were Jesse F. Miller and William Van Orsdal of
Steuben County, New York, who arrived in 1834, before the three-year period which had been given the Native Americans to vacate the region, and before local land surveys. Other Yankee settlers from Vermont and New York settled in what is now the northwest corner of
Cook County. but later renamed Barrington Center because it "centered" both ways from the present
Sutton Road and from Algonquin and Higgins roads. The Illinois legislature granted Barrington's charter on February 16, 1865. The last major fire in downtown Barrington occurred on December 19, 1989. The fire completely destroyed Lipofsky's Department Store, then one of the oldest continually operating businesses in the village. Nelson, though shot nine times, escaped the gunfight in Hollis's car with his wife, Helen Gillis. Nelson succumbed from his wounds at approximately 8 p.m. that evening and was unceremoniously dumped near a cemetery in Niles Center (
Skokie), Illinois. Infamous for allegedly killing more federal agents than any other individual, Nelson was later buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in
River Grove, Illinois. A plaque near the entrance to Langendorf Park, part of the Barrington Park District, commemorates the agents killed in the gunfight.
21st century In April 2009, in a
non-binding referendum, residents voted in favor of permitting
Barrington Township officials to begin looking into seceding from Cook County in part due to the county's increased sales tax. Barrington and its nearby villages are considered to be some of the wealthiest in the country. The EJ&E intersects at grade with eight major roads in the Barrington area, including
Northwest Highway,
Illinois State Route 59 and
Lake Cook Road in downtown Barrington, as well as the
Metra Union Pacific line. Then-Senator
Barack Obama voiced opposition to the purchase, vowing to work with affected communities to make sure their views were considered. On October 15, 2010, the CN railroad crossing at
U.S. Route 14, as well as rail crossings at Lake Zurich Road and Cuba Road, were blocked for over one and half hours during the early afternoon rush hour due to a stopped 133-car CN southeast-bound freight train. At times during the incident, the
Hough Street crossing was also blocked. The stopped train also caused back-ups on the Metra commuter rail service of their "Union Pacific Northwest Line", which operates over Union Pacific's Harvard and McHenry subdivisions. That same day, Representative
Melissa Bean and Senator
Dick Durbin released a statement that Barrington will receive a $2.8 million grant to fund the planning, design and engineering of a
grade separation at the U.S. Route 14 and CN railroad crossing. ==Geography==