Freeport the capital of Stephenson County is a thriving town on the Pekatonica River at the junction of the Chicago and Galena the Illinois Central and Western Union Railways 121 miles west of Chicago 51 miles south of Galena and 67 miles from Dunleith. It contains a good hotel several handsome churches and three newspaper offices. Present population estimated 8,600. 

Appletons' hand-book of American travel: containing a full description of ... the United States and British provinces

Edward Hepple Hall

The Oldest Methodist Church in Northern Illinois:
In 1829 the first regularly appointed Methodist minister arrived in Galena. By 1832 a plain frame church was erected on Bench Street, but was lost to fire in 1838. A new building was built in 1841, and by 1856 the congregation had grown so that yet another new brick and stone church needed to be built. The present church was dedicated in 1857.

2 First settled in 1833, Batavia had a population of 3,018 by 1870 (Gustafson and Schielke, 59). In 1867, when many states were actively encouraging emigration, the Kane County Gazetteer promoted Batavia:

Possibly misidentified, this location my actually be North Hall.  North Hall was constructed in 1865, to be used, in part, as a University Chapel. The original recommendation, made by Governor Samuel Kirkwood, requested funds for a chemistry laboratory, chapel and astronomical observatory, and over the years, North Hall, the two-and-a-half-story, red-brick classic, certainly became a multi-use facility.