County surveyor Daniel W. Lamb platted two sections of DeKalb township as a new village in November 1853,[1] a village originally known as Huntley's Grove.
[2] Huntley gave the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (later the Chicago and North Western Railway) right-of-way across his land and a site for a depot.
Other railroad investors received also land for speculative purposes.
[1] Huntley co-owned the Gurler House in DeKalb with his brother Russell as well.
[1] Huntley lost his wife and three children to diphtheria in 1869.