The Cannon (recently moved to Eclipse Square) is a US Navy-3 inch howitzer mounted on a naval field carriage. This weapon was introduced to service in 1876, and all the weapons of this series were manufactured by the Ordinance Department, Washington Navy Yard. They were the first designed and built breech-loading artillery weapons of the US Navy following the Civil War. Their guns were replaced in the early 1890’s by more modern rifled cannon. This cannon is one of the last produced. The anchor indicated that it was accepted for operational service. The inspector’s initials on the barrel are for two naval officers assigned to the Navy Yard: Commander Theodore F. Jewell and Lieutenant Francis E. Greene. The number 1 marks it as the first one produced during the year. It has been valued at $30,000. Beginning in the late 1890’s and through the early 1900’s the Navy disposed of large number of obsolete cannon. Many were scrapped, melted  down for the value of the raw materials. Many were given to towns and cities for static display to commemorate the military and naval service of its citizens.

When the civil war began in 1861, more than 2500 Whiteside County men went to war. The population of the County at the time was 18,700.

Overlooking the Rock River on the high bank, at the north end of Washington Street is a bell dated 1836. It is from the first school house in the county, the Benton Street School. The Prophetstown Lions Club dedicated this site in 1970. Also in this vicinity is a stone maker and plaque recognizing a Douglas fir  tree planted as a living memorial to the war veterans of the vicinity by the Prophetstown Garden Club in 1954.

The first white settler in the area is said to be Asa Crook, who moved from Vermont to Indiana for one year, and then to Michigan for three years before moving to Illinois, to the Prophet’s town. Arriving in June of 1834 to begin farming, his closest neighbors were in Dixon, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Spending the summer building a log home, he returned to Michigan in the fall to bring his wife and nine children to their new home. In 1839 they moved into a large two-story farm house. (The first two-story home in Whiteside County). The home was also used as an inn for travelers passing through, church services, schooling, and a Post Office. This original home has been saved, and is being restored by the Prophetstown Area Historical Society. The home had to be moved several hundred feet from the original site, but is still located on land of Asa Crook’s original property. The home is located on East Third Street (Star Road) on the east edge of Prophetstown. It will be open to the public upon completion of the interior.