In the 140 years or so since the white man first settled in what we know as the greater Lee County area, many villages, settlements, towns and cities have been started; some to continue to this day, others to fade as time passed them by. Since the early settler was more interested in building his home near a stand of trees than on the open prairie because of the easy availability of lumber of which a great supply was needed for both home and fuel, groves of trees were the first stable settlement areas of the county.

The first settlements, then, bore names such as Melugin's Grove, Guthries' Grove, Know Grove, Inlet Grove, Twin Grove, Palestine Grove and Gap Grove.

Early post offices bore such names as Saint Patrick's and May Hill, both in May Township and Stone Station and Van Petten; with others being located at Brookfield, Temperance Hill and Theodia.

Early Dawn, in the southern part of Alto Township, was both an early post office and a thriving settlement for a few short years around 1880.

Shelburn, Rocky Ford and Binghamton (which was first called by the local Indians "Winooski") all were platted as towns, lasted a few short years in history and gave way to the present city of Amboy.

Ovid, near Bureau Siding (which has also gone out of existence) was a post office location in Sublette Township although the exact date is unknown.

East of the present village of Steward in Alto Township, John Grimes in 1847, started a settlement called Plum Thicket. Although he could never secure a post office for the community, he was successful in later years in securing the railroad that passed nearby to his property.

One of the more interesting stories that concerns forgotten named towns in Lee County is the one about the town of Oporto located within the city limits of the present city of Dixon. In 1836 such a town was platted by G. A. Martin, embracing a 160-acre tract on the north side of the Rock River covering, roughly, the area now called Swissville. This short-lived town became only a name on the records after disputes about property ownership arose and it was vacated by act of the Illinois Legislature in 1856. Early settlers were warned against buying lots in the disputed property called Oporto by every means available including advertisements in Chicago newspapers. The land in dispute was later returned to the government and, finally, became a part of the city of Dixon.

It may be that some names are best forgotten in history, but we can't help wondering how it would be to live in a city or village called Theodia or Ovid or Kennebec or Equator or Winooski or even "Gap Grove!"

From the book "Reminiscences" by George Lamb 1974