How Onarga
received its name remains a mystery. Realists believe Illinois
Central Railroad land commissioner John Calhoun combined two or
three consonants and added the necessary vowels to invent a
nice-sounding town name. Many prairie towns in the 1850's, with the
arrival of the railroads, received their names by this method.
Romantics believe Onarga was named for a young Native American
girl, Princess Onarga, daughter of an Iroquois Indian chief. Prior
to the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, Native
Americans controlled this part of Illinois and among the roving
tribes that crisscrossed the grand prairie were the powerful
Iroquois. Legend says that when a name was proposed for the new
town on the railroad, none better than Onarga was given. This
mystery may never be solved, but the realists and romantics agree
to disagree ... agreeing foremost on celebrating and preserving the
rich history of Onarga.