In-Home Drug Testing Johnsburg, IL

Local Area Info: Johnsburg, Illinois

The area that came to be known as Johnsburg was first settled in 1841 when McHenry County was only 5 years old by immigrant families from the Eifel region of Germany, predominantly the Mayen-Koblenz district (Kreis), who were escaping religious persecution and oppressive social conditions. A small group of the newly-arrived Germans –Nicolaus Frett, Nicolaus Adams, Jacob Schmitt and Johann Baptist Muller – settled in this Fox Valley region and formed one of the first Catholic parishes (named St. John the Baptist) in all of Illinois in what was then called "Miller's Settlement." In 1842 they built their first church; the site has continually held a parish church since then. The church, a simple log cabin, dually functioned as a school as well as a meeting hall. The first priest to serve this new congregation was delivered there by friendly Indians who found him lost in the woods of Wisconsin. The church served the community until 1850 when a larger frame church was built to replace it. In 1867 a third church was built in the popular Gothic style of Germany. This beautiful church took thirteen years to complete and was the pride of the Johnsburg community until it was tragically destroyed by a great fire on February 19, 1900. So devastating was the fire that many grave markers of the early settlers, in the adjoining cemetery, were destroyed.

In 1990 a group of citizens, who lived in this part of unincorporated McHenry County area known for over 100 years as "Johnsburg," feared they would be swallowed or surrounded by municipalities which would provide them little or fractured input in their government. The answer to their problems was found in a neighboring village that shared the same library, schools, fire protection district and township. This small village was incorporated as the Village of Sunnyside in 1956 as a small subdivision on shore of the Fox River. It was the perfect candidate to merge with yet the "Johnsburgers" feared losing their identity. A gentlemen's agreement between municipal and Johnsburg leaders was struck that allowed Sunnyside to annex the surrounding area, thereby tripling its size, but change the name of the new area to Johnsburg after the annexation was complete. Sunnyside annexed the surrounding land in 1992. Sunnyside Village Board set out to fulfill their informal promises to Johnsburg residents and the new municipality was legally renamed to Johnsburg.

According to the 2010 census, Johnsburg has a total area of 7.674 square miles (19.88 km2), of which 7.08 square miles (18.34 km2) (or 92.26%) is land and 0.594 square miles (1.54 km2) (or 7.74%) is water. Johnsburg lies within the watershed of the Fox river.