Forreston, IL

Forreston is an Ogle County village whose 1854 plat was drawn twice in quick succession: George W. Hewitt entered one on November 5, and Illinois Central executive David A. Neal filed another beside the railroad on November 17. The tracks reached the village that winter, leaving a V-shaped business district and the flat-iron village hall built in 1902. Northwest German, especially Ostfrisian, immigrants were among the first settlers, and the village name points to the forests around the original site.

ATTRBen Jacobson ( Kranar Drogin ) / CC BY 2.5

Forreston's best-known food story began in 1913, when Sauerkraut Day grew into a free meal that drew more than 20,000 people before the tradition ended in 1960. The celebration has returned as Sauerkraut Days in August, with food and a car show, and the village still lists it among its sponsored events. Forrestville Valley School District 221 keeps elementary, junior-high, and high-school life tied to the village; the library, parks, ball diamonds, veteran's memorial, and volunteer fire and ambulance crews fill in the everyday map. The local scoop is a railroad plat with a German accent and a cabbage festival big enough to make national news.