| O'Fallon Historical Society O'Fallon, Illinois |


| O'Fallon Historical Society Museum 101 W State St, PO Box 344 O'Fallon, IL 62269-0344 |
| Office Phone: 618-624-8409 Hours: Wed, Fri, Sat 1 - 4 pm and by appointment |
| Email |
| Welcome to the new website of the O'Fallon Historical Society! We are always adding new content so we hope you will come back often. Please check out our old website, too. www.ofallonhistory.org. While it is no longer being updated, it still has much to offer. Eventually, most of its content will be transferred to this new site. |
| updated 5/19/2008 |
| Copyright 2008 O'Fallon Historical Society, Inc. All rights reserved. Click here for copyright information. |
| Visitors since 10/16/2007 |
| Preserving the history of the O'Fallon area |
| Celebrating our 20th Anniversary |
| A very brief history of O'Fallon Though Native American settlement dates back centuries, O’Fallon’s first modern-day settlement was made in 1802 by Revolutionary War veteran Capt. Joseph Ogle. Others soon followed, lured by rich land well suited to agriculture. It was here that John Mason Peck founded Rock Spring Seminary in 1827, the first college in Illinois. Within 25 years, coal mining had begun and the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad was built. The town began as O’Fallon Station, a depot of the O & M Railroad, named for railroad president Col. John O’Fallon of St. Louis, a nephew of George Rogers Clark and William Clark. The first lots were sold at public auction on May 13, 1854. The first public school was built in 1861. O’Fallon was incorporated as a village in 1874 and converted to city government in 1905. The Community Park was established in 1924 and a public library in 1930. Scott Air Force Base, founded in 1917, contributed to much of O’Fallon’s growth and I-64 fueled its rise as a commercial center. O’Fallon is the birthplace of actor William Holden and illustrator Bernie Fuchs. Today, at over 25,000, O’Fallon is one of the fastest growing cities in the St. Louis area. |
