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Community of Saybrook History
McLean County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

The post-office established in 1831 as Cheney's Grove [in Cheney's Grove Township] was changed in 1865 to Saybrook. When the Lake Erie railroad was built through this place, it experienced a boom. The town had given $50,000 in bonds and the township gave $10,000 to help build the road. Saybrook has a newspaper, good schools and churches and many modern social and civic organizations. The town has been visited by several serious fires during its history, but in spite of them has made a substantial growth. The population of Saybrook is 750. ["Official souvenir program, McLean County Centennial, Aug. 27, 28, 30, 1930" by: McLean County Illinois Centennial Souvenir Program Committee, Harold Lang and Eugene Funk] Marked by a water tank above its central business district, the incorporated village of Saybrook serves as a trading center for the farming community in the eastern portion of the county. Around it are dairy, stock, poultry and grain farms. The village has a population of 758. Through it passes the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Saybrook had its origin in a steam sawmill built here in 1846 by Eli Blakesley. Later came a blacksmith shop and a general store, the latter opened by J. B. Beckwith in 1854. Today, Saybrook is the only community in Cheney Grove Township, which has a total population of 1,314. First settler of the township was Jonathan Cheney, who came in 1825 with his wife and eight children. A few years later Robert Cunningham arrived with his family and staked out a claim. [This is McLean County, Illinois by: John Drury, The Loree Co., Chicago, Illinois (1955)]

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