Prophetstown’s name honors Wa-bo-kie-shiek, a Native American prophet who served as advisor to Sauk war chief Black Hawk in the 1800s. Half-Sauk and half-Winnebago, Wa-bo-kie-shiek lived in a Winnebago village on the Rock River where the community of Prophetstown stands today.

In 1831, through a formal pact with the U.S. Government, Black Hawk and his people were forced out of the Rock Island area into Iowa, and promised never to return. But when frontier settlers broke the terms of the treaty, Wa-bo-kie-shiek counseled Black Hawk to retake his tribe’s land.

During the next year, Black Hawk and Wa-bo-kie-shiek played key roles in a series of conflicts that came to be known as the Black Hawk wars. On May 10, 1832, state militia troops commanded by Gen. Samuel Whiteside destroyed Wa-bo-kie-shiek’s village. The chief and his trusted aide survived the ensuing battle and escaped into Wisconsin, but were soon captured and briefly held prisoner. Eventually, Wa-bo-kie-shiek was allowed to rejoin his people on a federal Indian Reservation in Kansas. He died there in 1841, three years after the death of Black Hawk in Iowa.

White settlements in the area date to 1834, when Asa Crook, his wife and their nine children homesteaded on Coon Creek near the Rock River. Prophetstown was platted in 1838, and incorporated in 1859. The first retail establishment was opened by Job Dodge and A.T. Wiggins in a building them moved from Portland in 1841. By the time rail service reached Prophetstown in 1871, the community was already home to retail establishments and manufacturing concerns. The city’s first bank was organized a year later.

The first school in the area was held in the Crook cabin in 1835. The bell from this building is now displayed in the park area at the north end of Washington Street. The building was replaced by a frame building on Benton Street in 1841.

During the Civil War, more than 2,500 Whiteside County men joined the fray. A monument depicting a lone Civil War soldier stands near the entrance of Riverside Cemetery on East Third Street. The monument commemorates the battles of Shiloh, Gettysburg, Kennesaw and Resaca.

Progressive from its earliest days (the city had electric power in 1896, and municipal water and telephone service in 1904), Prophetstown is committed to a tradition of excellence. Just this fall, for instance, the city was named “The Most Arts-Friendly Small Town in Illinois” by the Illinois Arts Alliance Foundation and the Illinois Municipal League, which also presented the city with the President’s Award for a program in which Prophetstown High School students and community volunteers collaborated on a series of historically significant murals (shown on this page). It’s one more way that Prophetstown builds for the future while honoring the past.

(Wa-bo-kie-shiek)

Known as The Prophet, Wa-bo-kie-shiek was a Winnebago advisor whose village was on the Rock River, now the site of the State Park at Prophetstown. At one time as many as 2,000 Indians lived in this area. The Prophet’s fame is linked to the Blackhawk War of 1832. “Prophet’s Village” later became “Prophet’s Town” and is now known as “Prophetstown.”

Our first Rock River Bridge

The “Wagon Bridge” stood about 200 yards upstream from where the Illinois Route 78 bridge now stands. It was the first of three bridges built across Rock River.

Asa Crook House

Built in 1839 by the area’s first white settler, this was the largest house between Dixon and Rock Island and served as an inn. Asa Crook, one of seven proprietors at the inn over the years, platted the city, served as an early postmaster and justice of the peace, farmed and sold claims.

The Old School

Built in 1881, this two-story brick public school building initially housed 11 grades. Two rooms added in 1891 housed a 12th grade; two more rooms were added in 1908. The high school moved to a new building in 1928. The current elementary school was built around this building in 1951. Upon completion of the new building, this old building was demolished and buried under what is now the playground.

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad

Efforts to bring the railroad to Prophetstown succeeded in 1871. Regular passenger and freight service began in 1872 on a line leased from the Illinois Grand Trunk Railroad. In 1920, four passenger and local freight trains served Prophetstown daily. The original depot (depicted here) burned down in 1944. A new depot was built in 1949. Passenger rail service ended in 1950 and the depot was demolished in 1984. The rails were removed in the 1990s.

The Old Tom Robb Gas Station

Depicting the old “Tom Robb” gas station (circa 1928) on the southeast corner of 3rd and Washington Streets.

July 4th, 1897

A depiction of the 1897 July 4th celebration in downtown Prophetstown, looking north from the east side of Washington Street.