Chemung Township was settled in 1836 by George Trumbull, Marcus Wheeler and Wesley Diggins. By 1839 it was called Cold Spring Prairie. In 1844 the Village of Chemung was named by William Seward who came from Chemung County New York. Later the township was named after the village. It is one of the oldest in this section of the county. It is claimed the first people here were two brothers, David and Ransley Shaw, who came from Indiana. They partially erected a saw mill north of the present Route 173 bridge and the old bridge on the old wagon road. They sold out to Mr. Lewis, who built the first log house on the Wooster place south of the present filling station which for several years was run by Dave Axelson and later by the late David Conley.
In 1845 Mr. Seward completed the saw mill and also built a grist mill beside it on the Piscasaw Creek. This mill was run by water power. It was abandoned about 1856.
The first religious services werre held in the Lewis log house in 1846, when Methodist Society was organized. They held their services in the log house until a small church was built and was used until 1873, when they sold it and built the present church. Rev. William Clark preached here one year before and one year after the church was built.
Previous to the building of the church, circuit riders were supplied, but since then there have been ministers, sometimes residents of Chemung and sometimes of Harvard. This church was also the first church in Chemung Township.
The first school was taught in the village of Chemung about 1840. In about 1945 the schools consolidated and all pupils from the country schools went to Harvard.
In 1856 a new water powered mill, two stories 32x42 was built by Mr. Moyer. It was made of quarry stone, hauled from county line. The mill stones were French Burr, brought from England, measuring 4 feet across and weighing about 3700 pounds. This mill changed hands several times.
In 1868 the mill was sold to Joseph J. Sinderson of Belvidere,Illinois, a native of England, who ran it until 1876. His son George J. Sinderson and a half brother, Henry Sinderson, took it over and in 1879 Henry moved his family to Rockford and George continued the business alon. He had the latest machinery to put out first grade flour. In the winter time he made 800 barrels of finest quality Buckwheat flour which he sold to neighboring towns, to Chicago, and large quantities to Patrick's at Marengo.
On May 18, 1883 the cyclone passed through Chemung, ripping off half of the roof of the mill and taking about 10 ton of bran out of the bins on the top floor as clean as it they were swept. In 1883 the mill was sold to E. E. Brown of Rockford, who ran it several years. In 1897 St. Charles Milk Company purchased the property and in 1898 built a part of the condensed factory, using the stone from the mill for the foundation. A little later it was bought by Borden Co. as one of Borden's main plants, making their own cans and so on. They employed 175 to 200 people. The population of Chemung at that time was 400. There was not room enough in Chemung to accommodate the people. A great many of them had to live in Harvard. The factory changed hands several times and is now (1976) owned by Dean Milk Company.
After Mr. Sinderson sold the water powered mill in 1883, he built one which was run by windmills, but that did not prove satisfactory. So he installed an engine and it was known as "The STeam Mills". It was furnished with a whistle and when the farmers heard it they would bring their feed. At that time he was also in the coal business.