Lake Oliver

Lake Oliver and Homesite Development Chatsworth, IL

Home
Lake Site Plan
About Us
Management
The Area
Slide Show
Contact Us
Lake
About Us 
Oliver's Crossing
Chatsworth, IL 60921

 

 

 

 



Oliver's Crossing is a proposed lake and homesite development near Chatsworth, Il. The 891 acre development site has been annexed to the Town of Chatsworth and will have access to municipal utility services. Our engineers are finalizing the dam and site designs for the permit process with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corp of Engineers to construct a 311 acre lake. The development site is 100 miles from the Chicago Loop, 57 miles from the intersection of 1-55 & I-80, and 40-50 miles from Bloomington, Champaign and Kankakee.

 

What's in the name?

 

 

 

 

Franklin Oliver was the first European settler in the Chatsworth area and is the great-great-great-grandfather of the Kurtenbach family, the developers. In 1831 Oliver was traveling from New Jersey through northeastern Illinois on his way to California when he came upon a natural lake and a large grove of trees that housed a village of nearly 600 Kickapoo Indians.  Oliver and his family befriended the tribe and lived with them through their first Illinois winter. Some newspaper reports indicate that one of Oliver's three wives was from this tribe. After the  Indian village re-settled further west, Oliver acquired some 4,000 acres of the local prairie, including some parcels that comprise the current 900 acre development site. Franklin Oliver spent the balance of his long, contentious and remarkable life in the area of the development site.

 

A stage coach line, running between Champaign to Rockford before the Civil War, crossed through the middle of Oliver's Crossing.  The stage coach wheel ruts can still be seen in some undisturbed locations. The site has revealed numerous artifacts including  harnesses, arrow heads and hatchet heads over the years.



Development Stage

 

 

The development site has been annexed to the Town of Chatsworth and a Tax Increment Financing agreement has been approved by the Town Board. The project engineer, Robert Russel and Associates of Pontiac, Il, is progressing through the design and permitting process for the the 311 acre man-made lake, streets and utilities. Rick Harrison is finalizing the layout of houses and streets. The site developers are actively seeking builders/developers as joint venture partners to help realize the project's full potential. 

 Chatsworth Memories
 Saathoff Chatsworth History

 


 

 Oliver's Crossing

 

Ken Kurtenbach, Manager

 

 Office Hours: by appointment

 

    Chatsworth, IL 60921
   Phone  (815)635-1064

 

  E-Mail:berniedeany@hotmail.com