Spring Grove

Spring Grove may be one of the fast-growing villages in McHenry County, but life here is definitely not in the fast lane. The community is more like Nippersink Creek, which meanders its way through town.

Named for its natural springs and groves of trees, the village started as an agricultural community with mostly dairy farms in the 1830s. Incorporated in 1902, the community grew slowly.

Wieland Dairy, a small dairy opened in 1904, producing two train carloads of milk, butter and cottage cheese per day bound for Chicago. It continued to operate until the mid-1920s when the dairy moved to Chicago and ultimately became Borden Dairy.

When the town’s train station closed in the late 1960s, many downtown businesses closed along with it.

The town started to thrive again when the Intermatic Company moved its production plant here in 1960, manufacturing coin meters for washers and dryers. The company’s clock-actuated devices are the precursor to the electronic timers it produces today.

As more industry came to the area, the town was subdivided and platted across its green acres, building neighborhoods with homes on one-acre lots.

More than 5,700 people live here today, enjoying fishing, picnicking, hiking and canoeing along the Creek and the Chain O’Lakes State Park.

In addition to the great outdoors, the community hosts a noted annual storytelling festival, an annual Fourth of July celebration and parade.

The village is served by Nippersink School District Two elementary and middle schools. High school students attend Burton Community High School District 157.