Andover

History

Andover is the oldest community in Henry County. Andover was the first area to be settled as a town within the county and the first mill was built in 1836–37. Andover soon became a hub of wagon trails. Andover was founded in September 1835 by the Reverend [http://department.monm.edu/history/history_of_history_department/ithamar_p_pillsbury.htm Ithamar Pillsbury], as an agent for the Andover Colony. Pillsbury, who had been a corporal in the War of 1812 attached in the New Hampshire military, narrowly escaping death in the war which had convinced him to become a Presbyterian minister. Lars Paul Esbjörn, a Swedish Lutheran minister in the United States, and a group of Swedish immigrants arrived in Andover during 1849. Together they built Jenny Lind Chapel, which became the "mother church" of the Swedish Lutheran community. The church was built with funding provided mainly by the Swedish singer, Jenny Lind, while she was at that time on a concert tour in the eastern United States. The cemetery adjacent to the chapel is the resting place of Jonas Swensson, the second president of the Augustana Synod. After remodeling in 1948, Jenny Lind Chapel was dedicated as a shrine of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1975, Jenny Lind Chapel was declared to be a National Historic Site and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Andover has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  678
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  575
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  544
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  463
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  427
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  422
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  411
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  374

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2023-11-15
  1 km SSW of Standard, Illinois