The town of Osage includes the Congressional Township 30 North, of Range 2
East, the south line of Groveland or Township 29 being at first the south line
of La Salle County, along all its southern border.
Osage is a prairie region exclusively. Surrounded by prairie and distant from
the county seat, it was unoccupied until after the older portions of the county
had become comparatively an old country, and yet the early settler^ have a
lively recollection of the loneliness and privations of a new region. The first
entry of Government land was in November, 1829. The N. W. 1/4 Sec. 17 was
entered by John O. Dent; at the same time he entered for R. E. Dent, now of
California, the N. W. 1/4 of same Section.
In 1850, Daniel Grimes entered the N. W. 1/4 of Sec. 6, and John and Amos Scott
entered the W. 1/2 of Sec. 4. The pioneer practice of making claims on
Government land had about become obsolete, and a legal title was considered the
only valuable one.
The first settlers were — Daniel Grimes who settled in 1850; R. E. Dent, April,
1851; John O. Dent, 1851; James M. Collen, May, 1852; James Honer, 1852.
The town was named from the Osage hedge plant. William H. Mann grew ninety acres
of plants, and Dent & Verner grew forty acres of plants the year the town was
organized.
The town was organized in 1857 — John O. Dent, Supervisor; James B. Work, T.
Clark, G. M. Goodale, A. Ledore and John York, Commissioners; John Elliot and
John N. York, Justices of the Peace; R. E. Dent, Collector; Pleasant York,
Assessor.
The town is well fenced with Osage hedge, and numerous thrifty groves of timber
exist. It is doubtless true that a prairie region will, in the future, be better
supplied with timber than one with a heavy primitive growth, and a town entirely
destitute will feel the necessity and make more provision for the future supply
than one partially or fully supplied.
Such seems to be the case in La Salle County. John O. Dent has taken the lead in
this direction, having forty acres of timber planted on his premises, and groves
of maple, black walnut, ash, etc., are conspicuous objects on most of the farms
in the town. In this respect it is said to be in advance of any other town in
the county, and the bleak and naked face of the native prairie is thus
transformed into a beautiful variegated landscape, now a thing of beauty and
comfort.
Extracted from 1877 History of La Salle County Illinois, pages 474-475.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
 |
Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
