Durand, IL

Durand is a Winnebago County village with a motto it earned the hard way: Village of Volunteers. Its roots reach back to the vanished settlement of Elton, where Nelson Salisbury, Harvey Lower, Scott Robb, and nine other families settled in 1835. Railroads helped shape the village, but repeated fires shaped its civic muscle. After fires destroyed the school, hotel, elevator, warehouses, and several businesses, Dr. T. H. Young organized Illinois’s first community volunteer fire department in 1925. It became a tax-supported fire protection district in 1930. Today Saelens Memorial Park carries the town’s everyday side, while the old fire truck still appears for special events. Durand’s story is practical, local, and hard-earned.