Sometime in the 1830's or around 1840, John Crane and their son-in-law John Miller settled in the area. On February 6, 1841, John Miller, an enterprising settler puchased 80 acres of land for $100.00. He erected a small sawmill located just south of Dempster Street near the Chicago River. The waterpowered sawmill sawed boards simplifying construction work for the settlers. A road was built to send lumber to Niles Centre (Skokie). Teams of oxen carried wood there to be sawed into boards. Later, Miller's Mill Road was an important link to Chicago. In 1858, "the great man of Niles Township," Henry Harms built a toll road from Ashland and Lincoln Avenues in Chicago to Niles Center (Skokie). It cost fifteen cents per wagon for three toll stops.

Then, Amos Snell purchased 41 acres of land from Floyd and Edward Higgins. The land originally belonged to John Miller. He purchased another 126 acres and cleared the land for lumber and hauling it to Jefferson Park (Chicago) by mule and oxen to the Northwestern Railroad. It was sold for $4.00 a cord. Frederick Koehler puchased the land for $25.00 an acre and sold the stumps of wood as charcoal for three cents a bushel.

In 1891, it was sold to subdividers Bingham and Fernald becoming Morton Grove's first sub-division (see map of the first subdivison). The site contained 177 lots extending from Miller's Mill Road (Lincoln Avenue) north to Capulina Avenue, and of Ferris Avenue to Georgiana. The price for 25 X 124 foot lot was $135.00. The streets were 66 feet wide with 30 inch wooden sidewalks installed to avoid walking in the mud.

In 1872, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad laid track between Chicago and Milwaukee. John Miller's sawmill was purchased by the railroad as a right-of-way.

In many cases, the railroad was attracted to the extensive gravel pits because they were useful for railroadbeds and fill. To tap the source, the railroad built a spur line that ran from the main line eastbound along present day Elm Street to today's Austin Park (Austin Avenue and Main Street). Also, the railroad purchased wood from local farmers for fuel.

At first, Morton Grove served as a flag-stop depot. An official from the Milwaukee Road picked it leading up to the future village's name.

The namesake for Morton Grove came from Levi Parsons Morton, a morgage holder of the railroad's bonds and later the Vice President of the United States under President Benjamin Harrison's administation. (See biography of Levi Parsons Morton in this file.)  

In 1892, the Milwaukee Road added a second track allowing trains to travel in opposite directions safely. However, in 1903, a train wreck took place north of Dempster Street where a locomotive exploded scattering animals and wreckage. The railroad carried a steady amount of local business primarily for the Pohelmann Greenhouses. Annually, they received 135,000 tons of coal.

In 1904, the railroad building a new depot on the west side of the tracks (see the incompleted train station picture). It was completed in 1905. It was a busy station carrying increasing freight business between Edgebrook (Chicago) and Golf. In fact, Morton Grove boasted a fair sized station with baggage and freight rooms, an agent and a freight agent (see the picture of the train station taken in 1970). By 1975-1976, it was replaced by a smaller structure that is the present-day station. In the 1980's, the SOO Line replaced the Milwaukee Road and it was sold to Metra in January 1993.   

Information from: Morton Grove, Illinois: 100 Years, A Tradition of Service, 1895-1995: Centennial Anniversary (1995)