Originally part of the Potawatomi Native American landscape, the Lombard region was first settled by Americans of European descent in the 1830s. Lombard shares his early experiences with Glen Ellyn. Brothers Ralph and Morgan Babcock settled in a grove on the DuPage River. In what is known as Babcock’s Grove, Lombard goes east and Glen Ellyn goes west. In 1837, Babcock Grove was connected to Chicago by a stagecoach line that stopped at Stacy’s Tavern and St. Charles Road in Geneva. Fertile land, the DuPage River, and abundant timber drew farmers to the area.
Sheldon and Harriet Peck moved to the area from Onondaga, New York in 1837 and farmed 80 acres (320,000 square meters). Additionally, Peck was an artist and original portraitist, frequently traveling to northeastern Illinois to visit clients. Peck’s house was also the first school in the area and was restored by the Lombard Historical Society. In 2011, Peck House was listed on the National Park Service’s Liberty Network – Verified Underground Railroad Sites list.
The opening of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1848 brought local farmers and merchants into Chicago by rail, and commercial buildings soon sprang up around the station. Lombard was officially incorporated in 1869 and named after Josiah Lewis Lombard, a Chicago banker and real estate developer.
