Highland Water Works

Highland Water Works Municipal Water Report Info

The area was initially known simply as the Highlands from the 1850s when the Johnston family acquired 53 acres of marshy territory. The name derived from its sandy ridge that rose above the surrounding wetlands, until the town's official incorporation on April 4, 1910.

Approximately 20 years before Highland's incorporation, this rural and sparsely populated region became a bridge site for sauerkraut processing under the Libby, McNeil and Libby Company. By 1890, the community's primary industry was canning prepared cabbage grown by local Dutch farmers. Natural abundance would become Highland's legacy.

Crops including cabbage, onions, root vegetables, and summer produce like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers helped feed residents in the bustling industrial cities to the north. The rich vegetable harvests that thrived in the sandy soil along Ridge Road kept the cannery flourishing, with processed foods packaged onto rail cars and shipped to Chicago and points eastward.

The Johnstons and Libby ventures are referenced in Highland history, alongside legacies left by the Clough, Lynch, Kooy, Van Til and Lamprecht families. Together, these footnotes help complete a developing portrait of Highland's more than century of history, kept vibrant by residents like Sue Douthett and members of the Highland Historical Society. They preserve memorabilia in a large classroom at Lincoln Center that has been transformed into the Town Museum.