1700–1850 — The Pontiac Legend and the I&M Canal

After Ottawa Chief Pontiac was assassinated by an Illinois warrior in Cahokia around 1769, the Ottawa and their Potawatomi allies cornered a band of Illinois on top of the rock and besieged them until they starved. That is the legend that gave Starved Rock its name.

Daniel Hitt bought the parcel from the federal government in 1835 for eighty-five dollars as compensation for his Army service. He sold it in 1890 for fifteen thousand.

The I&M Canal opened in 1848, connecting the Mississippi to the Great Lakes through LaSalle. The town that would later become Little Reno's capital was, in this era, the western terminus of the most important inland waterway in the United States.