Stockton, IL

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Nestled in the scenic northwest corner of Illinois where the hills begin to roll and the views become spectacular, Stockton is truly the eastern Gateway to beautiful Jo Daviess County. The village of Stockton is the youngest village in Jo Daviess County. It was established after the Minnesota Northwestern Railroad decided to build a station in Section 2 of Stockton Township in 1886, which through mergers later became named the Chicago Great Western Railway. The railroad tracks were removed in the early 1970s.

What is now Front Street in Stockton was then a dirt road which served as the main thoroughfare to Lena. In April 1887, one Charles Hermann became Stockton’s first business owner.

In 1914, the Kraft Brothers opened a cheese factory in Stockton, and operated it until Kraft sold the facility in 1998. This was the birthplace of the Kraft Corporation and the first cheese plant opened by J.L. Kraft.