Map of Grand Ridge village, Illinois

Grand Ridge is a village in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The population was 515 at the 2020 census, down from 560 in 2010. It is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Grand Ridge village overview:
Name:	Grand Ridge village
LSAD Code:	47
LSAD Description:	village (suffix)
State:	Illinois
County:	LaSalle County
Elevation:	650 ft (200 m)
Total Area:	0.46 sq mi (1.20 km²)
Land Area:	0.46 sq mi (1.20 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	515
Population Density:	1,114.72/sq mi (430.75/km²)
Area code:	815
FIPS code:	1730757
GNISfeature ID:	2398188
Website:	https://villageofgrandridge.org/

Online Interactive Map

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Grand Ridge online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Grand Ridge location map. Where is Grand Ridge village?

Grand Ridge location on the U.S. Map. Where is Grand Ridge village. — Grand Ridge location on the U.S. Map.

Grand Ridge location on the Illinois map. Where is Grand Ridge village. — Location of Grand Ridge in Illinois.

History

In 1860, Judge John T. and Phebe J. (Finley) Porter moved to Illinois with their son Ebenezer F.(b. 1859 at New Salem, Fayette County, Pennsylvania), and located near Grand Ridge, LaSalle County, where they lived on a farm until 1872. Porter was at first a farmer, and afterward a lumberman and grain dealer. In 1872, he moved into the town of Grand Ridge, and built and operated two grain elevators. In 1882, he moved to Florida and engaged in the lumber business. He founded the town of Grand Ridge, Florida, naming it in honor of his old Illinois home.

In 1868, Nelson Jones (b. May 24, 1819, in Ross County, Ohio) bought two houses, two lots and a shop valued at $800; he was the first blacksmith in Grand Ridge Village. In 1870, the Fox River Division of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad was completed and put in operation. The first business house was built by E. Core the same year.

There are contradicting accounts of the Presbyterian establishment. According to Church Archives of Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in the spring of 1870, Robert Morgan (born August 18, 1838), son of Caleb and Nancy Antram, and Sarah Woodward moved to Grand Ridge, LaSalle County, Illinois with 4-year-old son Caleb Ewing Antram (born February 12, 1865) after their daughter Laura died in March 1868 at just 6 years old. William, Nellie, Mary E., Joseph W., Lewis W. and Ethel May were all born to the couple while living on the Antram homestead from 1869 to 1912.

In 1871, Cumberland Presbyterian was organized in Grand Ridge, Illinois, where Robert M. Antram was an elder ever since. From 1886 to 1891, it was known as Hudson Church. Membership numbered 145 in 1890 and church structure was erected that year. In 1891, the name changed to Grand Ridge by action of Mackinaw Presbytery. R. M. Antram was Clerk of the Session and Post Office until 1907, when the organization became defunct and did not participate in reunion with Presbyterian Church USA.

Another account holds that the Presbyterian church in Grand Ridge was organized June 17, 1865, in the Van Doren school house, by a committee from the Peoria Presbytery, consisting of the Rev. Robert Johnson and Rev. John Marquis. The original members were Wm. McMillan, Jane B. McMillan, Araminta Poundstone, Joseph Boyd, Elvira Boyd, J. T. Van Doren, Sarah C. Van Doren, James H. Boyd and Isabella Boyd. Other founding Families were Sutton, Farnham and Long. The house of worship was erected in 1864, at an expense of $1,800, and soon after, a parsonage, costing $800. The first pastor was Rev. John Moore, who remained some time.

In 1874, the owners of the land on either side of the road, David Crumrine and Joseph Boyd laid off a part of their respective lands adjoining the track, in town lots, after which building was commended on a more extended scale and now it is a very handsome farm village, and is a point from which large amount of grain and product finds its way to market. In the latter part of 1876, Porter sold his elevator to F. McIlvaine. E. Cole conducts another elevator, and it is estimated that in 1877 at least 1,200 car loads of grain we shipped annually. In 1871, F. H. Poundstone erected the second business house. In June, 1873, Garrison & Hornick opened a first class dry goods, notion and grocery house, meeting with lucrative return. In 1877, it was estimated that aggregate business of Grand Ridge Village would amount to $75,000 annually. In 1877, there were nine business houses, two physicians and a proportionate number of mechanics in Grand Ridge.

In 1875, The Victor Lodge, No. 578, Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) was instituted on June 11 and met every Saturday evening through at least 1877.

In 1903, the First National Bank of Grand Ridge was organized by Thomas Dean Catlin, banker and capitalist residing in Ottawa, Illinois (born in Clinton, New York, on March 12, 1838, son of Marcus and Philena Hunt (Dean) Catlin.