History of Warsaw
Hancock County, Illinois, USA

Forts from the War of 1812

During the War of 1812, the British had a military installation at Rock Island, about 100 miles north on the Mississippi River. To counter the British presence in the area, the US built two forts on the bluffs above the Mississippi at Warsaw. Neither fort is in existence today, but a monument was erected in 1914 on the bluff site of Fort Edwards.

Fort Johnson

• built in 1814 by Major (later President) Zachary Taylor
• abandoned soon after

Fort Edwards

• named for Ninian Edwards, first governor of the state of Illinois
• erected in 1817
• protected movement of supplies up the Mississippi
• US fur trading post from 1818-1822
• from 1822-1832 was part of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company

Beginnings of the town of Warsaw

Warsaw was surveyed in 1834 by speculators who thought the area would become important in manufacturing and shipping on the Mississippi River. Today, a large section of Warsaw in on the National Register of Historic Places.

Home of Burgemeister Beer

Warsaw Brewing Company in Warsaw was the home of Burgemeister Beer.

John Hay, a famous citizen of Warsaw

• born in 1838 in Salem, Indiana
• attended school at Tompkins (Little Brick) in Warsaw in the 1840s
• graduated from Brown University in 1858
• studied law in Springfield with his uncle, Milton Hay
• private secretary to President Abraham Lincoln
• Secretary of State under presidents McKinley and Roosevelt -
  secured treaty which allowed USA to build Panama Canal
• poet - author of Pike County Ballads
• novelist
• author - biographer of Abraham Lincoln.
• Warsaw celebrates "Hay Days on the Mississippi" every October [Oct 14-15,1995]