Illinois' Second-Largest Milk Station Started as a Railroad Bet
Hampshire Township was organized in 1845, but the village itself began later, when A.J. Willing and C.A. Fasseth platted 'Hampshire Center' in October 1874 specifically to capture business from the railroad being built through the area. The settlement actually relocated in 1876 to sit directly along the Chicago-Pacific Railroad line, and the village incorporated that October by a 73–2 vote with Samuel Rowell as its first village president. By 1893, the surrounding farming community had grown into the second-largest milk producing and shipping station in all of Illinois.
Old Dairy-Era Buildings, Sited for Rail, Not for Floods
A village that relocated itself to sit next to a rail line -- rather than growing up around a river dam like the Fox River towns to its east -- means Hampshire's oldest housing and former dairy-shipping buildings were sited for rail access, not flood exposure, but they're still within the broader Fox River watershed that produced the 1996 regional flood disaster and the April 2013 flooding event. In a farming town built up in the 1870s-1890s milk-shipping boom, the water-damage risk on older buildings usually traces back to aging roofs and drainage around foundations that predate any of today's stormwater planning, rather than a nearby river cresting.
Project Paths
Planning a water damage restoration Project in Hampshire
Water category, elapsed time, hidden cavities, electrical safety, and material porosity determine the right response. This site does not promise emergency availability.