Naperville City Map Poster

About Naperville

The city was founded in 1830 as part of the construction project for the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It is named after "Naperville", a town in New York, which was near Buffalo Creek, where early settlers originally lived before moving to Naperville. History [ edit ] The area that would become Naperville was first settled by Europeans in 1831,[7] when John Woodbridge (for whom one of the main streets is named) built a log cabin on Buffalo Creek.[8] The following year he invited fellow Vermonters Hiram Capron and Leonard Meacham to join him.[9][10][11] They each constructed large homes on 160-acre lots previously owned by native Americans[12]. At what became known as Capron's Grove,[13]:p.2 they set up farming operations but later turned to trading with other settlers which led them into debt; they left this settlement within two years.[14]:p.