Welcome to the City of Woodstock, Illinois, in McHenry county.

Woodstock originally started out as Centerville, due to its central location within McHenry County after the county was split to form McHenry and Lake Counties. Subsequently, the county seat was moved from McHenry to Centerville in 1844. The name was then changed to Woodstock in 1845, and the Village of Woodstock was incorporated in 1852.

Early growth came in part from the Chicago & North Western Railroad, which ran through Woodstock in 1855 and helped grow the local agricultural business as well as industry. Post-Civil War growth further helped prompt the move from village to city status in 1873.

Woodstock became known for, of all things, typewriters. City officials donated empty factory buildings in 1896 for the manufacture of the Oliver Typewriter. Then in 1910, the Emerson Typewriter Company also moved to Woodstock to produce typewriters, which in 1919 became the Woodstock Typewriter Company.

Woodstock also has a history in the arts. Orson Welles considered it, if any place was, his “hometown” due to his time at the then Todd School for Boys. Orson Welles also made his American debut as a professional theatre director at the Woodstock Opera House.

Not to be outdone by the stage, Woodstock also served as a backdrop for several scenes from the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. This screen appearance also led to being recommended as the location for another famous movie you may have seen over and over and over again, Groundhog Day.

Woodstock also plays another entertaining role, serving as the home of Chester Gould, the creator of “Dick Tracy,” who lived on a farm outside Woodstock in what would later become the Village of Bull Valley.

Woodstock also plays another entertaining role, also serving as the home of Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy,” who lived on a farm outside Woodstock in an area that would later become part of the Village of Bull Valley.