Paw Paw, IL

Paw Paw is a Lee County village with a mid-nineteenth-century story written along Chicago Road. In 1829, present-day Chicago Road carried Frink and Walker stagecoaches between Galena and Chicago, following an older Potawatomi trail. By 1878 the village had a railroad connection, two newspapers, and three churches, and Illinois records show its incorporation as a village in 1882. The name refers to pawpaw trees, with more than one stand helping give the settlement its name.

ATTRIvoShandor / CC BY 2.5

Today, Unit 271 operates Paw Paw Elementary and Paw Paw Junior High, while the village's library, churches, and local government keep Chicago Road as a recognizable center. The Stephen Wright House, a Queen Anne home on the National Register, gives the small village a preserved architectural marker. A 2005 federal grant helped fund an elevated water tower, another very local piece of the skyline. Interstate 39 is within reach, but Paw Paw's character comes from older routes: the stage line, the rail connection, and the farm roads that gather into Lee County.