[1] Baillytown began as a paper community, platted by Joseph Bailly in 1833 near his trading post on the Little Calumet River.

[4] When stagecoach traffic began in 1833, Baillytown was the last stop before Chicago, a journey that could take between six hours and six days depending on conditions.

It was originally populated by lumber workers who came to work in the sawmill operated by Bailly's son-in-law, and who later settled on farms in the area.

[8] Carlsson reported "a good deal of apathy" toward religion in the community,[8] but the Swedish Lutheran Church of Baillytown was organized in 1858 under the Augustana Synod.

[13] Today, the French Canadian and Swedish legacies of Baillytown are commemorated by the Chellberg Farm area of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.