Chosen as a Rail Division Point for Its Water
The Frisco railroad rebuilt Villa Grove after 1902 specifically because the Embarras River offered the water supply a division point needed, platting an entirely new townsite with repair shops on 260 purchased acres. The river that made Villa Grove valuable to the railroad still runs past the town today.
Living Near the River That Built the Town
A town platted twice around the same river -- first in 1887, then again after 1902 -- has more than a century of building right up against the Embarras, and water damage restoration there should treat river proximity as a starting fact, not an afterthought. Knowing which era's platting a property belongs to helps establish its actual flood exposure.